NEW POOL TO BE DEMOLISHED: No less than criminal as to what this company did to my wife's 30 feet by 40 feet pool construction job, a $70,000 inground pool and it was a sabotage-in-progress effort. The pool was to be used for therapeutic purposes and required the water restriction to my wife's shoulders. This was a basic 4-1/2 foot pool depth requirement obviously hammered by my wife in the mind of a Southern Outdoor pool "expert", and a relative to the owner of the company. The pool depth was spec'd to be 4-1/2 feet deep and ended up being 3-1/2 feet deep wading pool. Pool is not level, and the concrete bonding is a substandard depth with lots of rocks in the concrete. Electrical not to code, a near surface burial of 240 VAC/100 Amp nonmetallic conduit service run to the outdoor pool (should be at least 18 inches below the surface but is about an inch). When asked about the conduit depth, no comment. The "pool guy" uses less than three words when answering a question. Circuit breakers are used as switches. Poor water circulation ... pool freezes at the ends. No drainage provided for the retainer wall, so if the pool overflows the rainwater puddles around the steel framework. A major theatrical display of pool "experts" occurred when looking for the source of bubbles exiting the first water jet closest to the high-pressure return source (the pool equipment. No bubbles came from the second water jet furthest away from the high-pressure line. When I covered the first water jet outlet using my hand, no bubbles exited the second water jet as it should if the main high-pressure water line contained bubbles as the pool "experts" claimed. Of course, my demonstration went in one ear and out the other or they would simply walk-away as I was about to demonstrate some basic physics. Since bubbles never exited the second water jet, this infers there's an air leak in the vertical piping branching off to the first water jet. Of course, everything is buried, and they never did an air leak test before backfilling. I inserted a water flow meter in the outlet line indicating 50 GPM water flow. Performing several calculations, the water flow is too high for the 1-1/2-inch PVC piping installed in the first place. The piping should have been 2-inch in size. Now let's discuss the level of "genius" these pool guys represented. At the beginning, I commented about using 2" piping because research stated 2" piping should be used for greater efficiency. When I asked about the piping size of 1-1/2" they were using, I asked why. The answer provided was "That's what I use in my pool." This is like asking, "Why do you drive a Chevrolet" and someone answering, "That's what my dad drove?" I've got news for the pool genius; my dad always drove GM products and I never did. I know the 1-1/2" piping was used for nefarious reasons, a plain and simple reason: to botch the pool construction project. As it turned out, the pump had difficulty drawing in water because of the 1-1/2" plumbing, and this resulted in a major spectacle of plumbing guys that knew what was going on, but obviously were "playing dumb." Dumb comes in many different categories, such as stupid dumb, dumber than dumb and playing dumb. These "expert" pool guys were simply playing dumb. And when calculating the water flow speed, any bubbles in the main water jet line would have passed over to the second water jet. The water velocity was very high, preventing all the bubbles to only travel up the first water jet pipes, there had to be bubbles in the second water jet. I proved the bubbles should have appeared at the second water jet, (1) using the method of covering the first water jet with my hand and (2) calculating the speed of water being too high to prevent all the bubbles only flowing up the first water jet pipe. They were clearly busted using common-sense reasoning. Why the production of trying to find the source of the leak when it has to be in the vertical pipe section feeding the first water jet? Was this for my entertainment? The pool experts really can't be this stupid. Or can they? They had to have known the water flow was being restricted by simply looking into the strainer window of the pump! That's another story. The aforementioned "bubble" escapade I firmly believe is due to chicanery performed near the backside of the first water jet, now buried under rocks used for backfilling. There were some mysterious wires near the ground surface that were not present prior to backfilling and then later disappeared when installing the pavers. Since the pool will eventually be demolished, I will soon investigate what went on with the first water jet plumbing and invite a criminal investigator to examine my findings. I could go on and on. Highly not recommended for any sort of pool work of any kind. These two guys can be dangerous when working together. Beware of anyone looking like Tweedledee and Tweedledum, spells trouble. read more

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