With a plethora of manufacturers and models for pool solar controllers, it can be challenging to put together a system that just works, without resorting to sourcing everything from a single manufacturer and buying their overpriced controllers.

Once the core project is complete, we’ll be having someone install solar-thermal panels on the roof of the house. It’s the one job I’ve decided to outsource as I’m not keen on spending a few days on the second story roof securing them. I also don’t have the requisite safety gear to work up there and am not keen on buying it just for one job.

As discussed in the “How to avoid your pool turning into a boat” post, the project requires a great deal of drainage:

The original plan called for placing the skimmer on the deck side of the pool, simplifying the pipework and avoiding any interference with the retaining walls on the other sides. This also would have simplified the bond beam concreting for the skimmer, with the ground providing natural formwork.

Once the inspector had completed inspecting our glorious temporary fence, it was time to finally get some water into the pool. A milestone to be sure.

With the 3D design to guide me, I set about building the pump/filtration system and connecting all of the suction and return pipes.

Suction and return fittings As explained in the pool plumbing design post, we have a skimmer and two wall suction fittings to extract water from the pool and three return eyeballs to return water.

A pool’s plumbing system is designed to keep the water clean and hygienic. It consists of one or more suction fittings in the pool that draw water and debris in, a bunch of equipment located somewhere near the pool that processes the water, and one or more returns, where the clean water flows back in to the pool.

We finally had the plumber here today to repair and reroute the pipes that were “discovered” during the excavation. Because they connect to the public utility, we’re not permitted to repair the pipes ourselves, but we can (and did) prepare the trenches for the new route, so it was just a matter of laying the pipe and cementing a few connections.

There are many drainage aspects to this project.: A plethora of drainage locations Long drain behind the upper retaining wall to prevent water placing pressure behind the wall. Trench drain on top of that wall for surface water. Trench drain on the pool deck for splash water and rain. Subsurface drain for edge landscaping. Drainage for flower bed. Drain beneath pool to prevent hydrostatic pressure. We’re addressing this last one today.