Scott, what if the temp outside is 40 degrees and she wants the spa to reach 100 degrees? My understanding from my PB is that the heat pump only increases your temp relative to the outside temp (maybe 40degrees more). now she is stuck at 80 degree. I am getting a gas heater because I want to get in the hot tub in the cold winter nights and relax. If it is 40 degree outside, I don't want that tub to be below my body temp because I will feel cold. I want it 100 degrees and I know a gas heater can do that. What I think watermom wants to do is extend her swim season in Connecticut where the swim season is relatively short. that would be pretty expensive using a gas heater although it can do it easily and quickly. I am thinking about getting both since I want to extend my swim season in April and October but want the advantage of a hot tub in the winter. Is that overkill? I am holding off on the heatpump until after our first swim season to see how much we want to use the pool during these two months. Have you or any of the other pool builders done pools with both? would you recommend this or is it a waste of money? Watermom, I live in North Carolina. The gas heater is for both my spa and pool. this is my first pool so I am learning just like you are. I plan on using my gas heater for times we want to swim and if I find we are using it more than 1-2 times a month for the pool, than I will add the heatpump. my set up is ready for the heatpump to be added.

Peter- Thanks for the link to the Intelliflo technical discussion. Obviously this was an Intelliflo only discussion and only addressed low speed efficiency. Variable speed pumps with BPM motors will always use less power than a PSC motor at low speed. There is no argument here. However, variable speed at higher speeds suffers from large power consumption due to two primary power robbers 1) high current inversion of AC to DC power in the VFD, which is very inefficient and produces a lot of waste heat as a result 2) Compromised impeller design because the impeller can not operate at peak efficiency for a large gpm range so the engineers have to make a choice where they want to optimize the impeller and at the same time a choice at where the impeller will not be very efficient. In the case of Intelliflo, from their published power, TDH and gpm curves, they have optimized for low speed operation and rightly so, but this choice also causes the higher speed efficiency to be miserable. Also of note, while I agree with your warning of using FLA to estimate power consumption, I would also add that the Intelliflo curve is true power consumption in watts and not FLA. Using FLA to calculate 2 speed pump power is worst case and, to your point, will only be better in the real world which makes the 2 speed even more favorable over variable speed. Just wanted to offer a balanced view here. Variable speed has its own merits, mainly low speed efficiency and ability to tune flow to plumbing resistance for optimum performance. But, to suggest using a variable speed pump for multi-tasking, which requires higher speeds, is not doing the energy conscious homeowner any good. In the case of pools with multiple water features or in-floor cleaners which require higher flows, multiple 1 speed or 2 speed pumps that are tuned for the higher flows will always save energy over a variable speed that is trying to inefficiently cover a large operating range. jj- In your case with a floor cleaning system...the floor cleaner will have to run for about 2 hours a day to get full rotation of the heads and full cleaning. For other hours of the day, the pump can ran at low speed allowing the pump to operate easier against lower resistance providing turnover and filtering for your pool. A variable speed or a 2 speed will both provide energy efficient operation for your cleaning and filtering needs. Only you can make the decision if you want to spend the extra money for the variable speed. To help you justify the extra cost for variable speed over 2 speed, use 200 watts per hour savings over 2 speed at low speed and 1,000 watts per hour cost over 2 speed at high speed. Knowing how long you will run the pump at high and low speed will allow you to calculate how much money is saved per day with variable speed and 2 speed, helping to make your decision. Hope this helps!

I am a pool builder myself and after reviewing your quote I would say it is a very fair price. Considering the waterfall, upgraded systems (pump, controls, lights) and sprinkler repairs (which can easily add $1500.00) you should be fine with this bid. I would get at least 3 bids for any project, and compare apples to apples "where possible". Ask for recent and past referrals as well. Even go look at a couple of the builders jobs, something other than just pictures ! And when it is all said and done see if the builders sales rep will also be on the job site, we do not have salesmen ourselves . . . the person selling the pool, "builds the pool". We are designer / builders and find that our clients enjoy knowing that! Enjoy your new pool !! Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Lagoon Pools

After you get a few more interviews and ideas from other builders, it will give you a better feel if this design proposal fits. It's a great sign that you feel good about this builder. We actually chose our builder first because he had a great local (and online) reputation and didn't even interview anyone else. I'm sure he's more expensive too, but we wanted a quality product that worked not a cheap pool with problems. We knew the features and design we wanted and worked with the builder to come up with the final plan and costs, tweaking a few ideas that were not able to work on our lot or too costly. On a side note, he left the decking pricing out of the pool contract to be determined later - just gave us a price per sq foot idea and of course I chose a more expensive material - and it was definitely a very expensive component. So you need to budget for decking! Point is a great builder can build you anything and tweak their design and proposal. From their perspective they just don't have time to fine tune every proposal until they know you are committed to using their services. HTH