Gary - I thought I ran the numbers right. It was an extreme 24 hours of using 10 therms. I don't know the actual usage since I have NG and HP. My worst winter bill was $70 or about 60 therms. But throw in some electicity use and it might be 180 therms total for the month. So I figured a cold 24 hour period might be 10 therms. Now I figure most of that is at night or early in the AM. It is a fairly large house with lots of windows and our average temps this winter were just about 10 degrees below average. So all in all, I expect 4 therms to be an average daily usage in the coldest month, with the heat loss overnight to be about 2 therms or just under 1 degree drop. Someone on another board actually suggested not insulating the sides or bottom. Because 60 degrees in the summer is great (probably no shortage of heat) and 60 degrees in the winter is probably great also. Now - in the shoulder months, you might get the water to 70 degrees and need some heat in the am. But the delta T is small with the earth and either way, the COP is high. Good point about the solar cover not being that efficient in the winter. That may be a big deal. I can always use an underground storage tank for solar heated water. There would be less heat loss. That has to be balanced with the heat gain of the solar cover. And then the efficiency of the panels would be better because the pool water is colder. That is a hard one. I was ideally planning a solar cover and then a night time insulating cover. Might be a bit much....

To whom it may concern, I am writing this letter to bring to the attention of Blue Haven pools issues in which I have concern and experiences I have had in the dealings of. I recently contracted Blue Haven Pools of 7575 N. Loop 1604 West, San Antonio, TX 78249 on the 30th of June 2016 to fulfill the dream my family and I had of being pool owners. Our sales person was Mr. Peter Herrera. Mr. Herrera remained helpful, knowledgeable, professional, and courteous throughout our entire experience. He was able to help my wife and I find a pool within our budget and went the extra mile when it came to dealing with our local neighborhood HOA. Unfortunately, this red carpet treatment was short lived. Mr. Herrera knew of our dilemma to have approval from our HOA before we could start building. Although we also were anxious to have ground breaking, it was of some importance to us as a family to abide by the rules of the HOA, no matter how ridiculous they were, in order to keep from getting fines. Upon meeting the superintendent, George, we signed the necessary forms in regards to pool layout and excavation. We were told at this signing of certain and possible damage that may occur, but with that, were assured that every possible effort would be made to minimize damage such as cutting and capping sprinkler lines. This sounded fair to my wife and I and we planned to have a sprinkler service come in and mark the lines while we waited for HOA approval on the job. This plan was relayed to the superintendent. However, seven days after the pool layout and excavation checklist and acceptance was signed, on July 15th, heavy equipment showed up for excavation early in the morning. The super was not called and told that the job had been approved as well as the fact that I was not able to have my sprinkler service come out for another two days. Due to feeling pressured and not wanting to inconvenience Blue Haven, which now had a large back hoe on a diesel in front of my house, I gave the go ahead for excavation to begin. I was never informed the excavation would start this day or even that equipment was on its way to my house. As a customer I was left in the dark having to make split second decisions. At the beginning of the job, everything seemed to go smooth. However, upon ground breaking, my sprinklers were uprooted as I had expected, but there was no stopping to cut and cap the sprinkler lines. They were tore up like the rest of the ground which I am sure has caused problems throughout the entire system now. One resonating fact though that began to play a large inconvenience, was the lack of communication by the superintendent to notify us when workers were going to be at our house. Although there is an understanding that this was Blue Haven’s job site, it seemed the relevance of this being my family’s home was overlooked or better yet dismissed. Often we were told someone would be doing something at our house on a certain day, and we would move our schedule to accommodate, only to have them not show. In retrospect, people would show without the respect of announcement or notification, unidentified as Blue Haven employees or sub-contractors thereof, leaving us at the inconvenience of being completely in the dark as to who was walking around in our backyard. And yes on one occasion someone who was not part of the job was walking around in our backyard staring at the pool construction in curiosity, seeing there was a plastic fence as the only deterrent. During these different work crews time spent at our house, it was not uncommon to see the workers walk behind my shed and urinate. This was not just one crew, but almost all of them. Blue Haven did not install any kind of portable restroom for their employees or their subcontractors, and my backyard became their urinal. This occurred not 5 feet away from where I grow my vegetables that my family and I do consume. This was unacceptable behavior. Another reoccurring theme seemed to be the use of my personal hose by various work crews. Even though I really didn’t have a problem with it at first, the disconnection of my hose set up followed by missing washers from the attachments soon began to upset the process of my day to day life. Beyond this lack of respect, the hose was often left unspooled with dirt and debris clinging to it. Something, I once again had to shoulder the task of cleaning up. At one point, construction came to a halt for a little over a week. We were not notified of this. Upon inquisition, we were told that the filter we had purchased in our contract was on back order and work was halted till it could come in. Although it is not my place to tell anyone how to run their business, it would seem logical only to sell something that you possess, a practice that seems well under the standards of professionalism. Instead a compromise was reached in order to keep the work going, so that a smaller cheaper filter would be installed, and when the other arrived, it would be replaced. We agreed to this. However, once the paid for part came in, it was installed with a broken handle / ring around it. Kind of like buying a new car with a flat tire. Once the gunite was put in, my wife and I shouldered the responsibility of cleaning the back walls of our house. Although some form of make shift wall was put up, a fine mist of cement coated our windows and the entire back side of the house. I spent nearly two hours removing this cement and washing my windows and screens. Once the plaster was put in, a whole other slew of problems began. We were amazed that in an approximate 3 hour time frame, a crew had entered our backyard and completed the plastering of our pool. My family and I had left to somewhere, and when we returned, our pool was plastered and the hose was already filling it. Never did we see or hear from the plasterers. We were impressed. However, this two was short lived. Upon the pool filling, as per the instruction of George the superintendent, I began noticing discoloration. George’s response was that the pool needed to be brushed a minimal of 2 times per day for the next 10 days while the plaster cured. THIS IS SOMETHING I DID RELIGIOUSLY!!! However, some of the areas did not seem to be affected. I continued to contact George and make him aware that the discoloration was not going away to which I was told to continue brushing it two times a day. Although I informed him that I had been brushing it two times a day, it seemed I was dismissed with disbelief. After George giving us the okay to swim in the pool, my neighbor’s children and my own began playing in the pool. When they emerged after approximately 1.5 hours, all had raw bleeding toes. I contacted Blue Haven again to discuss my concerns. I continued to complain and even took pictures and sent then to Mr. Herrera. Once Mr. Herrera was notified, a service tech was scheduled to come out to fix the issue. Although the tech speculated as to what was wrong and the issue was not fixed, I was offered a “pool school” sheet to sign in which I would assume liability and responsibility of the pools chemistry. I refused to sign it on the basis that this seemed like a ploy to shift responsibility to me the customer as opposed to fixing the problem. It did not get fixed, and communication began to crumble between the construction, sales, and service departments of Blue Haven. I was being told several things, all of which were different, and chaos ensued in which the problem was never fixed and fingers seemed to be pointed every direction within the Blue Haven Company. Beyond this, the cleanup had been ordered. The crew showed up and worked, however, rain debilitated their finishing of the job. This sat unfinished for another week with piles of dirt in my yard. On Wednesday the 31st of August, Hervey, the owner of the plaster company came out and I was told this was due to the water and chemistry. I was informed that the proper steps to maintain the chemistry during the curing process were not adhered to and I could brush the pool all day without it changing anything. He recommended that Blue Haven add 4 gallons of Muriatic Acid to the pool. In essence, I was wasting my time brushing the pool twice a day with no acid to dissolve the calcium build up. I contacted Blue Haven and let them know of the plaster’s recommendation to add four gallons of Muriatic Acid to the pool. I was contacted by a tech who I explained the circumstances to, although he does not recall this conversation, and was told that either Thursday or Friday the acid would be added. At this point, I had a prearranged business trip to attend to in which I left my wife to oversee matters at our house. I made her aware of the plans to add acid and instructed her to contact Blue Haven if she and the children must use the pool. On Labor Day weekend, my wife took a water sample to Leslie Pools to have it inspected. Leslie Pools said the PH balance was way off and that acid needed to be added. My wife contacted George to know if it was safe for the children to swim and to tell him of the recommendation of Leslie Pools. He told my wife first that he was on vacation, second that his guys had already added the acid, and third that it was safe for the children to play. Anything else was to be directed to the office. Due to this, my wife decided against letting the children in the pool. Upon my return, I was a bit upset to find no acid had been added to the pool. A crew had shown up, unexpectedly again to finish the clean-up, while I was gone. My wife reported she had awoke to find unidentified persons in my back yard working. Although, these were sub-contractors of Blue Haven, my wife was eerily surprised to find several unknown men in our yard while she was alone with our 3 small girls. I contacted John, head of construction, immediately upon learning of these events, I informed him I no longer wanted anyone stepping in my yard without my consent. I felt my patience with unprofessionalism was way beyond its extent. When I returned home, I was further displeased to see that the clean-up done had left various rocks, trash, and other debris within my yard a good 10-13 feet away from the pool coping. This was something not there prior. I once again got to experience first-hand the lack of work ethics as I mowed my lawn and thin wiring that was left in my yard tangled in the blade of my mower causing it to ruin. A tech did come out and remove two of the spots I was concerned of that were raised and of different texture the Wednesday after my return. On the 9th of September, I signed the certificate of completion. I did not sign it because my wife and I are happy customers. I did not sign it because the plaster finish in my pool is beautiful. I did not sign it because the job was completed competently or with finesse. I signed because the job was done. With a discolored finish. With trash in my yard. With rocks I now have to pick up and pay to have removed. With piles of dirt not even leveled out. I signed it because it was better to wash my hands of our dream turned nightmare, rather than to have our voices fall on deaf ears and excuses.

I showed my husband the picture of your stamped concrete and he told me to print it out to show the guys when they come and do ours, I really like that. Also he is sold on the idea of sod now, but he wants to go to a landscaping company and get an estimate. I think he is afraid if we do it, it won't take. As for your pool going over your house, that is scary on a windy day. The first pool company we went to two years ago told us that going over our house is the only way they could get a pool in our yard, then WE would be responsible for having the power lines taken down so the crane can put the pool over our house, we nixed that idea. Then last year he went to another pool company, the guy came and said they can bring a pool through the side of our house and our neighbors but we had to have permission of course to use his driveway, which he said was fine. That is why we had to settle too on a smaller pool, one like yours Jersey Pool, would never have fit through the homes. I'm waiting patiently now for all this to be done, the pool was supposed to have been installed in May, after lots of phone calls and visits to the company they came last week. I will post pictures when everything is finished, I appreciate all your help. By the way I did look up on Wikipedia that some one posted and after reading that and seeing your pool, I'm convinced our water will be blue. I worried for nothing.

I had the same problem. I did find NPT tile I liked for the waterline but not for the accent pieces on my spillway wall and along the step edges. For the spillway I used Sonoma Tilemakers Tantrum Raffia 2x2 and for the steps & swimouts O used AFI Navajo Sienna 2x2 (the picture shows 6x6). Neither was "pool tile" but were rated for such use by the manufacturers on their web sites and in their printed info. I purchased them from the same supplier that I bought all the tile from for my house and I evidently was one of many that could not find suitable "pool tile" You could easily do the same for waterline tile, but if you are in an area that gets cold (I am in FL) make sure the tile can handle the freeze cycles.