Hi Mike, OK, Im glad I understood its the red one. Something right! Whoo To Mike, buyorsell888, and calamity_j, The kitties are totally stressed out right now, but I think they'll be OK. The one black cat seen in the pix above, had some teeth pulled, but he seemed almost fine the next day. His brother on the other hand - totally freaked out. The anesthesia didn't wear off, he was scared, and probably in pain all night, so I stayed up with him. Ever since, he's been sleeping in kitchen nightly, which is unusual for him. (The outside boys aren't allowed in any further than the kitchen - long story). The girls indoors - well the one with recurring cancer is acting very needy and wanted to be close *all the time* *every minute of the day*. I cant blame her, shes stressed. Shes had a several surgeries and doesnt like the vet much at all As you can imagine. The other girl had to have some tests, but after a few days, we found they all turned out all right. Shes still feeling a bit crabby with us about having been taken to, The Awful Place. (She holds a grudge, as many of you with kitties will probably know what I mean!) Thanks for asking and well wishing. :) Even though the girls are in their senior years now, theyre like my babies and I stop everything when they are ill. Its so hard that they are getting old! As to the pond, our plan is like something out of a slapstick movie, though we are hoping it might work anyway. Were going to hook up the hose, as Mike suggests, and weve got a tarp weve put a slit in and will place the fountain through, then duct tape, so that any runoff from inside the pipes and fountain gets funneled over the tarp and out to the trees not into the somewhat clean pond water. Its about 105-110 degrees out there today and neither of us are looking forward to working on it!

Looking at things rather simplistically, it takes the same number of BTUs to heat a volume of water from one temp to another. The difference in heaters will be the length of time it takes to heat the water. Again, theoretically, a 400kBTU heater will heat the water in half the time a 200kBTU would take to heat the water. For a larger pool, I generally advocate using a 400k heater. When you want heat, it'll give you heat. If you heaat your water full time, or most of the time, then a lower BTU heater can maintain a temp fairly easily. It'll just run longer while doing so. As to which brand, I prefer Raypak, as they are well built and easy to DIY install, maintain and repair. You'll find that installers in your area may be beholden to one brand or another, so that may sway your choice.I had issues with my old Pentair heater, the electronics in it just seemed too finicky and temperamental. Pool pump? I truly believe a variable speed is the way to go. My old single-speed 1-1/2HP Pentair WhisperFlo would run 10-12 hours a day, using over 2000 watts as it ran. A couple of years ago I replaced it with a Pentair variable speed pump. After a bit of trial and error, I run this pump at 1400rpm, which uses less than 200watts as it runs. Roughly 1/10th the electrical consumption of my old pump. When I put the cleaner in, I press the "quick Clean" button on the pump and the speed ramps up so the floor cleaner has enough flow to clean well. The pump paid for itself in just about one season. Beyond that it's been pure savings. It's easy to program the pump for any schedule; run it at a certain rpm for filtration most of the time, with an occasional bump in speed for a floor cleaning cycle, for example. How to find someone? Ask friends? Neighbors? You can find installers through manufacturer's websites, though not all seem to give complete referrals. You can call pool companies and see what they have to say. If there is a gas company in your area, you can call and ask if they install heaters. Just one pool owner's opinion. Good luck!

Hi Rebekah, I came across your question and felt that I could add some further information. In my opinion, water circulation and filtration is an essential aspect of any sustainable ecosystem. In over 40 years of designing and building the above, it has been my experience that much of the information circulating is somewhat helpful, but seems to need a little 'back to basics' thinking. If we look to what we observe in the creation all around us, we can recognize the perpetual systems that have been functioning effectively since the beginning of time, despite mankind's meddling, which somehow often seems to come up short, causing no end of complications, high maintenance and underwhelming results. There are numerous ways of keeping a pond clean and healthy, but circulation and filtration are an integral part. I have come to learn that if you circulate water over and through natural stone, which is one of nature's most efficient biological filters along with appropriate native fish, aquatic plant life, and desirable bacteria, you will have the basis for a sustainable ecosystem. The sun's UV rays will typically penetrate approximately 3 meters (or 10 feet) deep, depending on tannin levels of water, which means that your actual water vessel itself should be at least slightly deeper than that for the photosynthesis process to be subdued enough for certain varieties of aquatic plants to thrive in shallower water, but not at the deeper levels, leaving much needed oxygen available for fish & the water itself. Aeration is an excellent method of dealing with some issues in a pond, which of course requires some measure of power to drive it. I have had substantial success by studying and applying the rules of nature as briefly outlined above, but much, much more is involved in order to establish these aspects of a long term, very low maintenance, and if desired, completely frost free ecosystem (able to operate the entire system year round) that you would be pleased to look at, swim in, fish in, or even drink in. An amazing additional aspect that we have included in our 'toolbox' of elements are 'floating wetlands'. The root structure grows through the strata allowing the roots to require more food and micronutrients than can be provided, which forces them to seek it elsewhere (i.e: the water beneath). In doing so, the root structure becomes somewhat of a natural vacuum cleaner for your pond, as they begin extracting the excess nutrients, nitrates, and heavy metals from the water, essentially filtering it and stealing it from the algae. If you are going to be aerating your pond, you may want to consider employing a stream and waterfalls, with a 'bottom draw', which will accomplish the aeration aspect, by simply circulating the water through the biological filtration as well as de-stratifying the water column. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask! Thanks, Randy Tumber.

I installed a tankless 6 years ago and will never install a tank again. I did it myself and will do it again if I am ever in a new house. I have a 120k Noritz unit that performs flawlessly. I just don't get it guys. Installing a tankless without recirc is like trying to start your car with a half dead battery. Really! "Your builder is right, it defeats the purpose of tankless" nonsense! I did not have recirc initially. I learned by experience you do not just replace a tank with a tankless. It is a bad result for hot water supply. Slow and inconsistent. Internal recirculation tanks might help but never having used one I have no opinion. But unless you circulate water and insulate your pipes to maintain the heat you are really missing the boat. Recirculating inside the heater means your pipes are cold and it takes longer to get to a tap because unlike a tank there is no pressure in the lines to radiate towards the taps. Why store water inside your heater when you need the heat in the pipes for faster delivery? That is just a limited solution to the issue in my opinion. How much does it cost to keep the lines hot. Depends on heat loss and vol. of water in the lines. Insulate!!! I would say my pipes take very little in cost to keep hot. Maybe $5-7 a month. I used 3/4 inch pipe for recirculation to store more water for start up and to feed 110 degree water into the heater. I do not have a timer to shut off recirculation at night so I could save a few bucks if I did that. Its a simple thing to lay out. You go to the last tap in the system and put a return to the heater from there. You need to have a cold water supply for the recirculation. A one way check valve between the recirc and the street supply prevents hot water from pumping back to the street as hot water pressure rises. A second check valve goes between the last tap and where the street supply feeds the recirc line to prevent cold water pressure from the street from back flowing through the hot water lines. Why any builder would not just put a return line back to the heater is beyond me. Its really not a lot of extra work. Especially with all the cheap Pex being used now. A small grundfos 1/25th hp pump is all that is needed in most cases. I use a Honeywell aquastat to trigger the pump. The pump engages maybe once an hour for maybe a minute to raise the water temp from 105 to 110. Heat loss? Did you insulate the pipes you say are losing heat from? You can lnstall a timer to turn off recirc in the night so you use no energy at all. You can do the same during the day when you are not at home. For some families you could have a daily timer that changes recirc to match your schedule. The hot water works with the recirc off, it just does not work properly as iz well known. Tankless is a superior technology. I did not think the endless supply would matter to me, its noticeably better. A tank cools as soon as you start using water out of the tank and cold water replaces it. The temp drops and drops the longer it flows. A tankless heats water on demand and it is maintained at the same temp. Its really is an advantage. But, as has been stated here by users, un managed hot water supply sucks and who cares if it costs a little bit of money to heat and pressurize your pipes so hot water is instant. Its way less expense than keeping 40 gallons of water hot in a tank. I would never heed the advice by someone on this thread that you don't need recirc. Have your builder install a true full house recirculation system. Don't pay attention to this "you don't need it stuff." If the builder balks or talks down to the idea get someone who knows what they are doing to come install it and over ride their obstinate attitude. Just do not listen to the talk of having a better system is not needed. You are going to great expense to have the best hot water supply you can have. Don't let someone with out your best interests in mind wreck your enjoyment of a great tankless system. Recirc all the way!!! Gee people, why would anyone not do this in new construction when its way easier to do.