In-ground Cleaning System Vs. Adding More Returns

[scubasumy]

My wife and I are in the planning stages of getting a pool. We are weighing the options of having an in-floor cleaning system installed or having additional returns installed.

We live in Maryland and do not have sandy soil, or lots of trees. A friend of ours has the in-floor system and loves it. He says the in-floor system keeps the bottom clean and improves the circulation of the water throughout the pool. He also says it eliminates the thermal gradients that can happen in a pool without the in-floor system.

During the process of interviewing contractors, one contractor admitted he does not frequently install in-floor systems and suggested we add additional returns to the bottom of the pool to achieve the circulation results.

Is this a feasible solution? Are/Will we get the same circulation performance from adding additional returns in lieu of an in-floor system?

[Pathfinder]

What type of Pool-Vinyl-gunite-fibreglass?? Also how deep is the potential pool and also what size of pool are you looking at. All of these are pertinent to how a system is designed for your pool.