For several months now I have been lurking, reading and trying to get a basic knowledge of pool designs, while building our Dream Home. We are almost finished with the house and now I am trying to get the pool designed and built. I have read about needing bigger drain and return lines. I have also read you need to oversize the filter. I voiced these concerns to my PB and this is what he has quoted. Plese help me review and change. My pool will be 18' x 40, 3 1/2' - 6' depth, with automatic cover. The spa will be a prefab unit built in, not connected to the pool. There will be a separate water falls that does not empty into the pool, but recirculates from a catch basin. There will be 3 sheer descents emtying into pool. The following is a list from the pool quote. two 2" main drains w 1 1/2" safety vent in pool 2. Four 1 1/2" return lines 3. two SP 1082 Commercial skimmers 4. Two Multi color pool lights 5. one 1 1/2 HP 4 speed intelliflo pump 6. one 30" high rate sand filter ( I said I wanted the filter oversized, is this?) 7. Aqualink RS8 auotmatic pool controler 8. Lutron / Aqualink interface 9. PCC2000 automatic in floor cleaning system CL free system w/ dual CO2 tanks ( because of automatic pool cover company does not recommend SWG, so PD suggested I use this or the Ozone, I asked for both to make sure pool stays clean. Good idea or not???) one Ozone Generator automatic hydraulic pool cover w/ stone cover brackets for cover lid Pool Coping: cast in place w/ okra colored concrete and troweled to a smooth finish. Diamond Brite 1/4 - 1/2" thick Heat Pump Heater: I have asked for the highest SER rating, waiting on his reply. Sorry for the long post. I want an efficient operating pool, low maintenance and clean water. What do I change or add? Thanks for the help in advance.

Spa advice: Set your kitchen chairs around in the pattern you're getting (circle?) and use a tape measure to approximate the sizes you're considering. Then sit a bunch of people in the chairs and see how it feels. Are your knees all bumping together? Then, have someone measure the height from the seat of the chair (bottom of your butt) to the height that you want the water when you're simmering in the spa. Around here the standard is 18", but I had mine dropped to 21" because I wanted the water over my armpits. If you have a tall torso (or big butt in my case) the standard height would put the water just above my sternum - too low for me. I also had the PB stagger the heights of the jets, so that each seat would hit a different part of my back, although the range is not huge. Hope this helps.

whitesand, 1. VS pump would be better because you have greater control of flow rate. Translates to lower cost. 2. Always 2" minimum. Gets better flow rates even for a small pool. 3. Separating drain and skimmer just allows more flow with the VS pump. 4. Best to use a 3 way valve on the suction side. No need to use shut off valves on the return side unless the equipment is below the water line. Might use a 3way valve for the deck jet. Would suggest you add a auto-water filler for the pool. Would also suggest a larger filter. Even though the pool is small it is better to have more filter capacity. It will extend the time between cleaning and no one complains about too much filtering capacity. 300 sq. ft. would my recommendation. How about a pool cleaner? It's not on your list. Not sure why you would need 2 skimmers. General rule is one per 500 sq. ft. of surface area. Why 6 vacuum points?

I don't know if you saw my response to your previous post, but we have almost exactly the same pool, size, equipment and pool cover that you have. The auto fill cost us $390, which included installation. Please double check the combination of an automatic pool cover with a salt water system. My pool builder highly advised against it because of corrosion problems. I called 2 pool cover companies and neither would warrant the pool cover with a salt system. I suggest you do a little research, as there have been reported problems. With the 10K cost of the pool cover you don't want to have problems 5 years from now from corrosion. I decided to not take the chance and nixed the salt system. :( We went with pre-cast stone coping in 24" x 16" x 3" with a bull nose finish. We love the way it looks. Keep in mind that the coping end with the pool cover will not be permanently grouted in case of the need to pull them up to for maintenance of the pool cover mechanics. The custom made brackets to hold the coping cost us $5K. Our pool builder prefabricated them in his shop. I have pictures of them if you'd like to see them let me know. We are looking to use a rope rolled in silcone and sand stuffed in between the coping pieces for a finished look. I think that it will look fine when its done. It's too cold out now to do it. The coping needs to stick out a minimum of 3" if you are going to have an undermounted track, which is what we have. It is a nice, clean installation and you really don't see the track much at all. We don't regret spending the extra $10k on the autocover & $5k for the custom brackets - we love it. We also love the in-floor cleaning system. There are several on these boards that say they are a waste of money. I disagree. Ours works great and I don't have any hoses or creepy crawly things running around and laying around the pool area. And the pool stays VERY clean. The costs of the Pentair Intellitouch i9 is high. We paid $2500 for the same model and that included a wireless remote as well as the indoor pad. We love it. Definately worth the money. And no, ours didn't include any decking. Price $80K. Amost apples to apples here. Also - small things not to forget: A drain in the pool cover vault. Ours ties into our storm drain. When planning your utility trenches plan for everything, electrical, gas, water, speaker wires, low voltage garden lighting and drainage. Once you cover it with your decking theres no going back to add something. Once you have a drawing of your plan - post it - you'll get lots of great feedback here. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Our Pool Photos