What did you do to your Pool rig today?

Mikey081057

schwarcw wrote: »

steveinaz wrote: »

polrbehr wrote: »

I contemplated demolishing it and moving to Fla or AZ...

Our extremely dry Arizona air makes a solar cover mandatory. I will easily lose 6-8 degrees OVER NIGHT because of evaporation and single digit humidity. As hot as it gets here, it also cools quickly once the Sun goes down. Keep in mind I am in high desert, at about 4600ft elevation--- 6-10 degrees cooler than Tucson.

Egyptians figured out how to freeze water at night in the hot desert. Placing very shallow clay pans of water on a stack of reeds. The water lost so much heat to the black sky it would freeze. Google it if you want to read more. Interesting heat transfer problem.

LOL

If they were so smart then why did they live in the desert!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgUICswZuY

Geez he was funny

codycatalist

Mikey081057 wrote: »

schwarcw wrote: »

steveinaz wrote: »

polrbehr wrote: »

I contemplated demolishing it and moving to Fla or AZ...

Our extremely dry Arizona air makes a solar cover mandatory. I will easily lose 6-8 degrees OVER NIGHT because of evaporation and single digit humidity. As hot as it gets here, it also cools quickly once the Sun goes down. Keep in mind I am in high desert, at about 4600ft elevation--- 6-10 degrees cooler than Tucson.

Egyptians figured out how to freeze water at night in the hot desert. Placing very shallow clay pans of water on a stack of reeds. The water lost so much heat to the black sky it would freeze. Google it if you want to read more. Interesting heat transfer problem.

LOL

If they were so smart then why did they live in the desert!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgUICswZuY

Geez he was funny

Hey man I live in the Desert! I know that 2 + 2 = 7 and my CBA's okay?!

steveinaz

Received the Dolphin Saturn, very pleased with the results. Finally tweaked my TA to 60ppm, as 50 is a bit low. Cover went on yesterday with water temp at 61degrees, we'll see what she measures Friday.

Mikey081057

Keeping your TA on the high edge and your pH @7.2 to 7.4 is awesome with a SW chlorinator.

steveinaz

My TA is normally around 120ppm---and likely because my fill water is 120ppm. But for some reason, this year, it plummeted to 50ppm! Which is crazy. I must have been over-shooting acid all Winter...couple of boxes of Baking Soda brought TA up to 60ppm quickly. End of this swimming season I will have to do about a 65% drain, thanks to calcium at 850ppm. Not a big deal, but a bit of a pain. High calcium fill water is the nature of the beast in Southern Arizona.

Mikey081057

Summer here can reek some havoc with the amount of rain we get which causes overflow to drain some of the water out of the pool so I keep an eye on it every week. We have to fill in winter and drain in summer. We get 30-40 inches in summer May-Oct and then another 15-20 in Winter Nov-April. This winter has been on the wetter side. Last year we were dry as a bone going into April. They actually rationed our irrigation water... Not this year tho.

steveinaz

Holy crap. We get 7" of rain a YEAR.

Mikey081057

We get alot of rain in the summer... almost every afternoon. But we rarely get above 94*

steveinaz

Ordered a pair of Polywood Vineyard curved back adirondaks in 'Aruba" color:


Didn't want to spend that much, but I want something I can set and forget, and these pups are durable. We'll order more once we see how we like them.

Next up is a large articulating umbrella, and either 2 more of these chairs, or the Nautical loungers from Polywood. Most people don't lay in the sun in Arizona...LOL

steveinaz

Finally received our Polywood chairs. Got a set in Aruba blue, and Lime. Love these things:

Mikey081057

Nice splash of color... where did you order them from?

Willow

Nice Steve. Well mine went from green to white in the last 24hrs. I shocked it. Waiting for it to stop raining and warm up a bit more to add other chemicals and get it running. Probably in the coming weeks.

steveinaz

Mikey081057 wrote: »

Nice splash of color... where did you order them from?

The 2 Vineyard curved backs (Aruba) I bought direct from polywood. The other 2 were bought from Home Depot---though they still ship from polywood. LOL. The Aruba chairs are a bit larger, and are $319/ea; The Lime model is a bit smaller/lower to the ground, and were $199/ea. Both are warranted for 20 years, so it was a "cry once" scenario. Both sources were free shipping.

Now we just need to pick-up our Hampton Bay Cantilever umbrella to go over the Lime chairs. (Sunny end of the pool deck).

Looks like the best pricing on Polywood furniture is either Home depot or Hayneedle.com; though neither is hugely cheaper then Polywood direct (save you maybe 15-20 bucks on some items), and all 3 offer free shipping.

charley95

I've had a cantilever for years now with the solar lights. The lights are just barely bright enough to not attract bugs and perfect to have on summer nights. Don't know how much wind you get in your neck of the woods but you have to be careful with those. Wind can wreak havoc on those if your not mindful of it being open.

Willow

Got it all hooked up yesterday. Pool lights working...check- Pump working...check. I went to check the pool this morning and I can see the bottom of the deep end. Not 100% yet but I'd say 75-80%. Pump is running 24/7 right now until it's all clean. Then I'll put the timer on again. Heater was serviced last fall and I'll turn it on much mid-May.

Mikey081057

I think back to the days in NJ where you would open and close the pool for 3 months of use...June July and August. It was a lot of $$$ for 3 months and you had to use a gas heater to get the water warm enough to swim (to me 84* is min.) Shrinkage was a problem.

Here is SWFL with solar heat there are maybe 15 days where water temps (caused by cloudy days and cool nights which there are very few of in winter) go below 75*. My solar heat setpoint is a 90* right now and I hit it most afternoons when sunny. Right now at 08:47 AM the water is 87* , didn't lose much over night last nite.

I do not miss NJ 1 bit.

steveinaz

I don't close my pool either. I do take the salt cell out, and replace with a bypass; because it will only generate chlorine down to 54 degree water temps. During the winter I just chlorinate with bleach. We (Southern Az) can generally have swimmable temps (82 and above) from late April to early/mid October if you don't have another source of heat. Bev & I are "seasonal" swimmers so we likely won't bother with solar, though I do have the plumbing solar "ready."

The only things I do for Spring start-up is clean the filter elements, replace the SWCG cell, and test "everything" TA, CYA, CH, and salt levels. FC/CC and pH are tested year round.

Willow

We've been swimming as early as April 26 to Nov 10. We get way more than 3 months worth. Couldn't do it without the gas heater as our pool is kept at 89F ish. We use a liquid solar blanket too. Generally though we can get about 5months worth of swimming. Really opening the pool is no more difficult then what Steve does. remove the generator. Plug things up toss some antifreeze in pipes and gear, toss some chems in and lower the water. All done easily in an afternoon.

afterburnt

Mine is covered in boxes of brass and stuff. I never did much like pool, not enough action for me.

Willow

afterburnt wrote: »

Mine is covered in boxes of brass and stuff. I never did much like pool, not enough action for me.

I'm assuming you're not talking about the same pool as we are. Nothing beats a late night swim with your significant other

afterburnt

Whoa hold on there Chauncy, she was at the bottom when I found her!

Mikey081057

Now you sound like William Shattner

Willow

Pool is at 89 kids and their friends spent the afternoon in it. Having some issues with the heater. It heats and was tuned up last fall. But it turns on and off constantly unless I turn it up to 95+. Have to look into this.

Mikey081057

I took a nice long nap in the pool today after spending about 6 hours gardening and cutting and trimming. Air was 91* pool was 90* i was horizontal.

pitdogg2

Mikey081057 wrote: »

I took a nice long nap in the pool today after spending about 6 hours gardening and cutting and trimming. Air was 91* pool was 90* i was horizontal.

Just don't wake up like Whitney Houston

steveinaz

Doing some swimming this weekend. Pool is at 83, because our nights are still pretty cool. Felt good though yesterday, the Sun was HOT, combined with yard work.

steveinaz

Yard improvement video w/outdoor audio preview, recorded yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtS0T78OM6w&feature=youtu.be

Mikey081057

Great vid Steve...

steveinaz

Thanks Mikey.