11m x 4m outdoor swimming pool in 3 weeks (with paving)

[JulianPH]

Sunday lunch Algarve style...!




Got to admit the 'pool' here is quite a bit bigger than mine at home! Cheers everyone!

[PorkInsider]

[Chris Type R]

Saw this news article and thought of this thread - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-essex-656...

[Andeh1]

[AlmostUseful]

JulianPH said:

Thank you!

Your pool will be stunning in that spot and you have done the one thing I would have done had I more time - a concrete shell.

I have to take my hat off to you big time for the Forky based man maths (I read your eariler post), I would have done exactly the same!

Cheers and let's make it a new PH tradition, break a garden fork and you HAVE to build a swimming pool! - it's the law

Haven’t displayed Forky2 yet, but we commissioned the pool last august (pretty much missed the heatwave) and I got started on the landscaping a few months ago. It’s all nice and useable now. Pool is 29° and is used every day







Regrettably I don’t have an LRDisco or any sort of budget so I is to build it myself, from digging the hole to the rebar, blocks, rendering, plumbing and wiring. It’s far from perfect and yet it’s absolutely perfect. Couldn’t be more pleased I decided to build it, our own little bit of paradise.

[mart 63]

Brilliant job

[Bonefish Blues]

Respect if you diy'd that! We've just had ours renovated, so the big hole in the ground was already there, but even then, not something I'd have contemplated.

[gregch]

Blimey! Just stumbled across this and can't believe how good it's looking now; and must be massively satisfying to have done it yourself - that's a fair bit of work.

Might have missed an earlier post, but how is it heated - heat pump or some such? We'd planned as part of our pool refurb to add a heat pump but haven't done it yet... right now the pool is at 26 deg with no heating at all so it's OK without, but still considering it.

Also - can I ask people about the filter? Our whole plant room was renewed as part of the refurb, including a new Pentair Triton sand filter. All going well until the first backwash, after which the water level in the filter dropped massively and I can't persuade it to refill. I know this one has a manual air bleed (the old filter just purged itself of air and worked fine) but surely it can't be the case that you have to open a manual air bleed and leave it for 20 mins plus to refill after every backwash? Apart from that, ours is finally looking good!

Edited by gregch on Sunday 18th June 09:38

[mart 63]

Can't really suggest anything about your filter, but we got rid of the sand and changed to glass. Much quicker to backwash and does a better job, do you rinse after backwash.
26c is very good temp in the UK for the middle of June. We are in the Costa Blanca with full sun on the pool all day and it's 28c.

[gregch]

mart 63 said:

Can't really suggest anything about your filter, but we got rid of the sand and changed to glass. Much quicker to backwash and does a better job, do you rinse after backwash.
26c is very good temp in the UK for the middle of June. We are in the Costa Blanca with full sun on the pool all day and it's 28c.

I'd heard mixed reviews of the glass media, but interesting to know it works well. Might well be that the filter has to get emptied anyway.

Yep, rinse after backwash but with the previous filter I never lost much water from the filter (pool level would drop a bit of course) and the filter would refill and purge any air straight away once it was back on filter.

This new Triton filter (or maybe how it was fitted) basically half emptied itself during the backwash and rinse, and stayed half empty when set back to filter. I've tried purging the air manually with the bleed valve and even leaving the air bleed open while running but it makes no difference, it refuses to fill. Doesn't help that he didn't fit a pressure gauge either so hard to pin down what's going on.

I wondered if anyone on here has one of those Triton filters and maybe there's something that has to be done differently?



PS Yes 26 deg is pretty exceptional for an unheated pool in the UK! We got a new summer cover last year which is supposed to use solar heat gain and although I was sceptical is really works. Of course we've had a sustained run of pretty warm weather which definitely helps, and it'll cool down fast once the weather turns cooler!

[mart 63]

My neighbour is a pool cleaner, and has replaced a few parts our filter station. If I see him tomorrow, I will ask him if he has any idea's.

[gregch]

mart 63 said:

My neighbour is a pool cleaner, and has replaced a few parts our filter station. If I see him tomorrow, I will ask him if he has any idea's.

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

I've just about got it working again today, I risked doing another very quick backwash and rinse to see what would happen; during the rinse I noticed the water level was suddenly up into the dome a little bit so I quickly shut off the pump, switched to filtration, and the thing refilled fully with water and now seems to be OK (albeit full of crud because it needs a decent backwash, and making slightly odd rattling noises).

I still wonder if maybe the air relief tube is not fitted properly, or is clogged, or maybe the multiport has debris in it.

[Tim the pool man]

gregch said:

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

I've just about got it working again today, I risked doing another very quick backwash and rinse to see what would happen; during the rinse I noticed the water level was suddenly up into the dome a little bit so I quickly shut off the pump, switched to filtration, and the thing refilled fully with water and now seems to be OK (albeit full of crud because it needs a decent backwash, and making slightly odd rattling noises).

I still wonder if maybe the air relief tube is not fitted properly, or is clogged, or maybe the multiport has debris in it.

I've been in the pool industry for over 20 years (in Perth WA) and thought I could reply, but this filter isn't used here so I googled it... appears that the fittings are on the side of the tank?? This is a very strange design (I've never seen one like this!) all our sand filters have the MPV mounted on top of the tank, so any air in the tank gets purged immediately. I can't imagine any reason to do it any other way...

[Routemaster]

Are you heading to Portimao next month Julian? Hopefully see you there!

Nik was doing a good job holding the fort at Silverstone!