1. We are big Stargate SG1 and Atlantis fans. We've discovered that looking up, from under water, at the water coming off the slide looks just like when the Stargate engages. Also, putting your face through the "sheet" of water coming out of the waterports is like the scene where they first walk through the Stargate. We've had a lot of fun with this and our imagination. I know...we're totally geeks. 2. We've made up various rules for retrieving diving sticks and rings and other pool toy objects. The most strenuous is retrieving them one at a time and having to place them on the porch which requires getting completely out of the pool. Now that one will provide your exercise! 3. We love playing with the Toypedoes. They really glide under water. We assign points based on which step you can get it to land on. 4. We made a see-saw out of noodles. 5. We just have a tremendous amount of fun playing "keep-away" with a $.96 inflatable beach ball. Great cheap fun. 6. The most relaxing thing in the world is to simply put on a mask and snorkle and just float around the pool face down. We had abalone shell added to our PebbleTec and we pretend we are treasure hunters and have found an underwater land full of diamonds. Again, I know we're weird, but it's fun. I'm glad you started this post. I can't wait to see what others do as well.

Sorry -- I had not checked this threat in a long time. Posting an update for folks. We have loved our pool configuration and the choices we made nine years ago. Heating the spa does require a few hours pre-planning. We ran underground lines for gas in case we wanted to switch to gas instead of heat pump, but the heat pump has worked well enough that we've never switched to gas. Depending on the weather here in the midwest, we will start the spa heating 2-5 hours prior to when we need it to make sure it is comfortable when we get in. We tend to stop using the spa once it gets below 50 degrees out (air is too chilly for us!) If you want quicker heating for your spa, you will need gas. The heat pump has worked for us since we are planners. Most of our pool components have continued to operate well even after nine years. We did go with Pentair lights and at this time (9 years later) only one LED color is not working in one of the lights but otherwise all is good there. A few Jandy valves have needed replacement due to minor seepage (but it has been 9 years!) Also, the spa-side remote from Pentair (maybe called the Spa Command?) has been junk -- we replaced it twice in our first three years and finally gave up and moved to controlling everything via Pentair's wireless phone app which has worked well. The River Flow swim current has continued to work well for us. It has gotten a lot of use this year with the pandemic shutdown. We were very pleased this year to have our own swim current to exercise in! We probably used it more this year than all 8 prior years combined. It does require some work each year to winterize properly (using very large marine plugs). We do that in the early fall before the pool water gets cooler. Overall it has been a fun splurge that is used more to create fun in the pool (currents for floats, etc.) and occasionally for exercise until this year when it got heavy use for safe exercise in our own back yard. Our pool cover also is still doing well. We went with a mesh cover (believe it was Merlin) that had attachments in the ground over and past the raised bond beam wall as well as into our travertine decking. They also designed in reinforcement rubber in spots where needed. We have cushions that are placed at rub points. The cover seems to be doing very well. It is typically used November - March and stored inside when the pool is open. Snow weight has not been a problem due to the mesh design and the milder winters we now get in the midwest. The travertine pool decking has held up very well. We have some minor spalling on a few tiles (winter freeze/thaw), but not enough to cause any worries after 9 years. The travertine has been an amazing pool deck surface. It stays cool in the summer and also does not seem to get slippery when wet. It has continued to look very nice. We occasionally have had a few weeds growing between some tiles occasionally over the years, but it has been minor (maybe because I pull them promptly if I see them!) Overall our pool has been very nice and I very much appreciate all of the helpful feedback I got many years ago when we were building it. Hopefully this information helps the people currently with pool projects "in the works". We are getting close to ten years now with our pool!

ronnatalie...I agree with you 110%. Theory of electricity isn't rocket science...at least at this level. (there are applications when it's above all but the best minds in the business) But knowing the codes and why they are there is what separates those who think they know from those that really do know. I don't know. That's why I'm here...and regardless of my previous post directed at you, I really do appreciate all your input. You obviously know much more about this than I do. I have a copy of the NEC. And I still don't get all I need out of it. So I'm in awe of you guys that know this stuff like the back of your hand. But I do have another question for you pros if I may. One thing we are doing here is cleaning up a bunch of switches, relays, timers, etc into one enclosure. The enclosure we are using is an Intermatic with provisions for a timer and another switch of choice...which will be an air switch for the spa jet pump. We are also going to mount the timer for the floor cleaner valve that needs to cycle every half hour. Plenty of room for this. But some of the existing boxes are plastic, one is metal. None are grounded...not even through the rigid conduit. (rigid conduit only goes to plastic box) The new enclosure has a grounding block. Since the feed from the main panel has 3 sets of hots for 240V pumps plus one hot and neutral for 120V service to the pool, and one green ground wire, would I be safe (legal) to run the ground from the house panel to the pool panel grounding block and distributing it from there to where required? Also, none of the boxes (metal or otherwise) are bonded. I intend to attach a bonding wire of correct size to the existing bonding wire for the pump motors with an approved copper or brass lug and attach the other end to the new panel enclosure. Should that be safe? According to what I read in the NEC, that should do it, but it's not specific. And lastly, the existing rigid conduit out of the ground will not align with the new panel enclosure knock outs. I want to shorten the rigid conduits and attach flexible metal conduit to them to run to the new enclosure. I can't find a reference to this procedure anywhere in the code. Is this safe and legal where it's obvious the rigid conduit isn't uses as a ground? And even if it were, wouldn't tying in my ground wire to my enclosure take care of compromising that ground with flexible metal conduit? Thank you for your advice.

I have an endless pool (well it's in storage now because we took it out of the house we were living in and we've not constructed the room it's going back in). In our previous house it was just sitting on the basement floor. I built steps to get up to it. We're probably going to build a deck around it when we reinstall it. The problem with the pool-spa is that if you're actually going to swim in it, you probably don't want to keep it as warm as you'd like to keep your spa. We already had the spa, so we really didn't need to go there. I think that our EP cost us about $19K all told (pool, the solid surface coping, mechanicals, manual cover like the one in the picture above). If you're going to put this inside, you do want the cover. It comes with one about the consistency of bubble wrap that you throw on top, but the roller cover is much better. Keeps the pool humidity from condensing all over the place. I installed it myself. The only task that I needed help was to push the assembled side panels up against the wall (mine was in a corner). I had a few coworkers come over for a beer. It took us about five minutes.