In the Trenches

   With the completion of the pool patio, the week ended with all the trenches dug and conduits and plumbing lines laid.  The electrical and gas to the equipment pad still needs to be laid, but that will be done next Monday, with Tuesday being slated for inspection  before the trenches can be filled back in.  It's a good time to take some pictures for posterity in case this area needs to be ripped up again for landscaping, or if service work needs to be done on any of the lines.

 

   Here's what the trenches look like from the pad.  The trench on the right is going towards the house and where the electrical and gas penetrations will be from the under deck storage.  Code states that they have to penetrate the house at a certain height above grade, so they'll be visible before they run down the wall  into the ground.  It's very minimal visibility.  The both of the conduits coming from the house are buried a bit deeper than required, at 24", which is good since we won't have to worry about hitting them when we come back in for landscaping in this area.  The main water supply pipe for irrigation was severed for the utility trench, but Tango Pools will reconnect it before the trench is filled.

   Here's the main trench for all the supply, returns, and lighting.  Although the lines towards the pool were buried before the patio started construction, some of the brick edge needed to be removed to gain access to the pipes to connect them to longer lines.  The gray vertical conduit sticking up near the patio will be for the pool side power plugs.  We'll use those for a robotic pool cleaner, or just plugging whatever we need at the side of the pool.

 

    Here's a look at the pool trench from the patio side.  You can see the edge of the patio that needed to be removed, and hopefully the repair will be just as strong as the initial installation.  The vertical conduit for the pool side electrical outlet is more visible, and will be cut down to code height.  It will probably be sitting in some plantings so it won't stick out like a sore thumb.

 

    Here's a closer look at the pipes in the trench.  The four gray conduit lines carry power for the 3 pool lights and lights for the bubbler.  On the water side, there are three  2" lines for the two skimmers and single bottom drain.  There are three 1.5" lines for the returns.  One is for the bubbler, and two for the four returns.  The pool has 4 return jets and they're grouped in two's; the grass side and the lake side.  Both of these lines will be connected to the pump outlet  on a single valve so all four jets should have fairly equal flow rates.  I've seen recommendations to have each return on it's own valve, but I've also seen plenty of installations without it.  If it's useful in the future, maybe I'll modify the pool to have a valve manifold, but the only advantage I can see is either for flow balancing or winterization.  The bubbler has it's own line since it will be on it's own power actuated valve.  We'll probably crack the valve open slightly for normal operation so the sun deck as some water flower for filtration purposes.  The Jandy app will allow control of the lights and the bubbler valve, which I can also integrate into our Control4 and Home Assistant systems.

   Here's were all the lines from the pool come down to.  The gray conduits are terminating where the primary panel will be.  Electrical from the house will come to this point and there will supply the panel.  There will also be an additional outlet here that I can plug the future landscape lighting panel into.  The water lines continue past and will hook up to the pump and filtration system.  

 

   Here are all the water lines, with a good shot of the equipment pad and all the equipment we'll be using.  I thought the pad was just going to be a simple concrete pad, but Tango Pools took it a step farther and used the same color stone to create a nice looking pad.  You can see they excavated down a few feet and compacted stone for the base.  There's probably some concrete inside the pad, but it's capped in stone.  The water flows in the supply side from the pool, into the pump, then through the canister filters, heater, salt water generator, water sanitizer, then out to the return (pressure) side.

 

   Here's the heater we're using.  It's a Jandy KXIQ400NK Versaflo 400K BTU.  The gas line will connect to that blue connector, and all the plumbing connections are on the other side.  I think the top can be removed and reversed, which would be nice since there's a control panel on the other side.  The main exhaust will be coming from that black box that says "HOT" and will just vent to the air.

   This is the "versaflow" part of the system.  It's valve that shunts the water from the input to output when there isn't a call for heat.  That saves on some wear to the heat exchanger, which is only made of copper.  I've read that as long as your pool chemistry is good, you don't have to worry about premature wear on a copper exchanger.  The top plug with the green line is also a sacrificial anode for the heater.  We'll also be installing a secondary sacrificial anode, so hopefully both of them will help extend the life of the equipment a little.  Pool heaters should last between 15 and 25 years with proper maintenance.

   Here are the boxes for the water sanitizer and salt water chlorinator.  I'm not sure where the sanitizer will sit in the flow, but the chlorinator should sit after the water heater I think.  The sanitizer is the Jandy TruGuard Mineral Sanitizer and the chlorinator is the AquaPure saltwater pool system.  I was unfamiliar with the mineral sanitizer, but it looks like it's just a cartridge system that leeches copper into the water to minimize algae growth.  It claims to reduce chlorine usage but I've read mixed reviews about it.  Some people say that the copper can build up in your water and cause staining.  You're supposed to replace the cartridges every 6 months, or once a season, so I'll have to keep an eye on it to determine if we want to use it in the system.

   Here's the canister filtration tank.  Initially, we were shipped the CL series filter, which has the input and output on the same side, but Eli exchanged it for the CV series, which has the ports on opposite sides.  It allows for better flow and easier integration into the system.  Inside are 4 filters that will require maintenance throughout the swimming season.  You just have to close the valves, loosen the retention ring around the middle and wash out the filters.  There's a bottom drain on the back side of the unit for winterization and flushing any sediment that gets trapped inside the tank.  I'm planning on getting extra filters so I can quick swap them and wash off the dirty ones so they're ready for next time.

  The pump we'll be using is a 2.7HP Epump from Jandy. It's a variable speed pump, so you can run it at lower speeds for longer times to reduce noise levels, but still get the calculated pool water turn over rate you desire.  All the Jandy equipment is controllable so not only will it be easy to turn lights and pumps on, I'll be able to program run times once I calculate actual flow rates after head losses so I can really dial in the filtration times.  I'm looking forward to figuring out all the controls and integrating it into our home automation systems.

   That's if for now.  Monday will see all the lines connected, ready for inspection.  We're expecting everything to wrap this week and final plaster either Monday or Tuesday next week.  I still have to get information about water for the initial fill, but hopefully we'll be swimming soon, if the weather holds out a little bit more.