Pool upgrades are they worth it

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R

reefkeep

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Feb 27, 2010
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Ponte Vedra Florida
Hello folks, I'm about 1 week away from the hardware installation, pool is build, pavers installed, screen cage is under construction and well on my way to having water in the pool in 2 weeks. :party: I have a few questions in the last phase of my build..... Any incite on upgrades would be appreciated....


1- Pool Plaster

My pool builder is suggesting I upgrade my plaster from Krystallkrette to the Aqua Pearl Plaster at a cost of about 1800 -2200 more. Obviously the Krystallkreete was in the original contract and is included.

http://www.magic-technologies.com/aquapearl.php
vs.
http://www.clindustries.com/pool_finish ... lkrete.php

I'm not seeing a lot of difference other than the upgrade is a 3M product, is this upgrade really worth 2k.

2 - Pool Automation

My pool builder has offered me an upgrade from the "easy Touch 4" with a remote to the "IntelliTouch" system for an addition 1600 without a remote but with the PC interface. This seems rather expensive but I figured I would bounce if off you folks.

3 - Salt

My pool builder is not a fan of salt, specifically he feels it causes issues with the equipment and leads to rust issues. He "included" and ozonator and a nature 2 systems, all of the references were installed that way and seem to happy. I have read for the past couple of days and the N2 system is not well received on this forum, is it possible it works better with our Florida hard water? Just grasping for straws of course.

Any help would be appreciated folks, thank you so much...

:cheers:
 
AquaPeral vs Krystallkrette is a question of name brand vs off brand. In some areas the off brand is just as good. In other places the quality control on the off brands is not as good, though almost always still acceptable. If you have local references for Krystallkrette pools and they are happy, then it doesn't seem worth the money to upgrade.

That seems like too much money for an IntelliTouch upgrade, especially without a remote. Did he say which model of the IntelliTouch? Having more relays is always a good thing in case you find uses for them later, but there won't be any significant short term difference.

I, and many other people here, are very happy with our SWGs. This is the single best upgrade I ever got. Ozone and N2 are both a waste of money at best and might cause problems.
 
A big welcome to the forum. :lol: WE all like new pools and always like to see pics if you have time.

1. I have no experiemce to have an opinion.

2. I am personally not a big fan of automation. I see lot's of posts here that are automation issues. That said, I personally like to be outside messing with the pool just about anytime. Others will comment on the benefits of the two systems.

3. Strong opinion on this one. Ditch the Nature 2! No one here is a very big fan and many here will tell you they hated (past tense) theirs. It will add metals to your water which are difficult to remove and can cause staining issues. Similar feeling about the ozonator.....it's just not very effective. The references that are happy do not have enough knowledge (yet) to recognize the significant drawbacks.

SWG's, on the other hand, are the single most popular way to chlorinate your pool of the new pools being built. There is a convenience factor that is hard to beat.

Any rust issues are pretty easily overcome by using fiberglass ladders, etc. or using really good quality stainless. You will hear from many folks on this forum of the value of an SWG. I don't have one but I don't disagree with their testimonials.

You could always choose to manually chlorinate at first and leave a little room in your plumbing to install what you want after you learn a little more. Most would opt for thje SWG.

(Jasonlion beat me to the post but I just can't let all that typing go to waste!! :roll: :roll: )
 
Welcome to TFP :wave: where you will find many friends experienced and nonexperienced :shock: ( Like me still learning :-D )
I cannot comment on questions 1 and 2 however we are very happy with our SWG. See the sig bar for info :cheers:
Please post pics of your new pool as it is being built :goodjob:
We all love this :party:
 
Welcome to TFP! Glad to have you here.

Yes, you would do well to skip the Nature 2 system. They simply add metals to your water and these can pose problems over time. They are also expensive when it comes time to replace cartridges. The best description that I can come up with for the N2 is that they are designed to avoid problems that you don't already have and that will be avoided anyway with good water balance in the first place. I ditched mine and never looked back.

An SWCG would be a nice thing. Some seem to prefer them and some don't. I like the idea of "messing" with my pool water on my own and so therefore, I'm fine without one. But sometimes, I think that it would be nice to have one so that I don't have to haul bleach around either. But it would be easier to go ahead and get one now as opposed to adding one later.
 
I'll chime in on the automation. i'm a big fan. I have an Easytouch 8. I did not see any big advantage of the Intellitouch. I like the Easytouch 8. Gives you more relays for future add ons. I have my pump on the automation of course and the SWG tied to it as well. My intellibrite pool lite is on another circuit and I have an outdoor light feature on another. I've posted before I'm not a big fan of using any pool automation for sprinklers or landscape lights, but having the 8 relays gives more flexibility for the future. But then again, right now i ony use 3 of the 8. At any rate, my opinion is the easytouch is plenty for most needs.

As far as the salt, big fan of that here too. I have Pentair that works nicely with the Pentair Easytouch. Lots of brands, but i like my Pentair. You didnt say what size of pool you are getting, but if you opt for a SWG, get an oversized one relative to your pool size.
 
Wow, lots of great responses (and quickly). Let me answer a few of the questions asked.

1. It's an 11,000 gallon pool / spa
2. BrentR - I live 30 minutes south of you, I have included some photos below...

Jason is Krystallkrette the name brand or the off brand?


Below are a few pictures of the progress over the past three months, I'll add some from Today as it's still very much a work in progress.

Thank you all

IMG_0594.jpg


IMG_0604.jpg


IMG_0789.jpg

IMG_0790.jpg

IMG_0792.jpg

IMG_0806.jpg

IMG_0807-1.jpg
 
AquaPearl appears to be a local branding of 3M Colorquartz, a well know high quality producer. KrystalKrete says they are also using colored quartz, but don't mention their supplier, so I am assuming it is an off brand.
 
Since you have a spa and no auto-cover, I agree with the rest WRT to the salt cell.

Easy Touch 4 if you have on or two pumps and a blower and pool lights. If you think you might want landscape lights too, then the ET8 is a good idea. An indoor wired or wireless wall mounted control panel is useful. You can add Intellibrite Landscape lights too. They are LED based and you can run a lot of them with little power use.

If you go with the EZ Touch 8, an iS10 remote at the spa is very convenient. With the EZ4, asnd iS4 is simpler and all you'll need.

Add an Intellichlor IC20. The PSU for it is in the cabinet.

While ozone is an effective oxidizer, it isn't needed and will require servicing later, which will be a recurring theme.

If you want to hook up a remote camera, control the pool from an iPhone or your computer or from work...that is where Intellitouch shines. It is also able to handle more Inteliflow pumps than EZT.

Best of luck!

Scott
 

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75%?

Thats the point. I never run mine more than 50% on a 14,000 gallon even with heavy load. And, you dont need to run the CYA sky high either. Besides, you can also run the pump less if you wanted too. I dont think they are that much more expensive. Whats a few hundred extra bucks when you spending tens of thousands.
 
Brent, what you can't see is that behind that wall is yet another wall, 30 inches or so between the two retaining walls. I will be planting Bamboo in between the walls. My HOA had your same concerns, fortunately it all worked out. As you can see I had a bout 10 foot decline off the back of my house, thus the yard was worthless until this project.

A few more from today....


IMG_1009.jpg

IMG_1011.jpg

IMG_1006.jpg

Great stuff guys, thanks for the help!
 
I think that this was a well planned project. The use of your space was brilliant. Love your pavers too. Keep the pics coming.......
 
PoolGuyNJ said:
I don't think an IC40 will last any longer.
Click to expand...

The IC40 will laster longer than an IC20 (unless it is defective, gets smashed with a hammer, blown up, dropped from the top of a skyscraper, or something else similarly unlikely happens), and more than pay for the price difference in a longer lifetime. Getting a larger than required SWG, within reason, saves money in the long run and thus is in-line with the principals we promote.
 
Thanks Brent,

In case anyone is wondering that middle door is new, we had to make an access from the house other than the two rooms as one is a guest room and the other is my oldest child's room. The master is actually up stairs as is the living room, dinning room, and Kitchen. Eventually we want to put a spiral stair case from the pool to the second floor and then to a third floor deck. The estimate on the spiral stair case to the second floor was 10K, I just can't do that now....
 

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