Patio/ Yard Project

[UncleDave]

Every destination is better with water, my old wooden patio had to go.

My old back yard and patio were basically unusable.

This is a combo swim spa and jacuzzi. I like having both a cool body of water and a hot one close together..
both are filling up tonight.

Concrete solves the deck rotting flexing problem.

Lot of work and not quite done.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

Going to look nice.
Just in time for a long summer.

 

[UncleDave]

Going to look nice.
Just in time for a long summer.

Thanks. It will basically be 100 for 4months now.

I didnt really want these above grounds but I living the mountains and was worried about an unmovable granite boulder where Id have to dig and it looks like we found just that so compared to my unground this is a tiny bit ghetto, but it will be nice to cool off on hot days.

 

[UncleDave]

Back yard is graded, filled with base and leveled ready for another pour.

Were intending to cover the pool/jacuzze and a substantive portion of the space with pergolas, and trying to figure out if multiple off the shelf units will suffice vs something custom made.

 

[UncleDave]

So 1/3 of the backyard is 2/3 done - next step pergoli and furniture.

The left and right "wings" need hundreds of tons of crushed qaurtz basically brought in by hand up hill from each side. (this is going to be rough)

The swim spa (little pool) and jacuzzi are up to temp and ready to enjoy.

You can see the electrical load for the jacuzzi the afternoon of the 23rd, then the swim spa was heated in two steps - 70-80, then 80-85.

I wanted to see if Mrs Uncle Dave was good with 80 - nope she's not getting in anything colder than 85, and the jacuzzi is to hot at 99, so 98 it is.

 

[RhondaHonda]

Cool project. Will you have to add cold water in the summer?

 

[UncleDave]

Cool project. Will you have to add cold water in the summer?

Thanks.

Great question- I dont think so. These will soon be shaded by the pergolas (unless I open the pergolas) which will be the exception vs the rule.

Thermal stability is the secondary benny of being approx 1/3 submerged in the ground it gets cold here pretty much every night except a few weeks a year.

I'm eager to learn how efficient it is.

Although I have a much better view into load than most guys I do not have true isolation and reporting like id get with a span panel per breaker.

 

[UncleDave]

This was fun..
The tandems are great, they really buy back space on a panel.
I still have a bit of space and consolidation left.

 

[Nessism1]

Wow! Looks awesome!

A friend was telling me yesterday that he wants to install a swim spa!

 

[UncleDave]

so 1/3 done but also 80% of the hard stuff done.

Just used the setup last weekend for the first time.

It tool a long time to get the bugs sorted out with some electrical and plumbing stuff, Ivenever had some much trouble with gear liking and not liking GFCI breakers.

In LA my inground pool and jacuzzi share the same equipment and share the same water, so setup and service is pretty simple.

With separates like this everything is redundant and there is much more gear - between the two units they have something like 6 or 7 total pumps, each has an ozonators & uv, heaters, as well as mineral carts.

Two different control panels with completely separate logic and functionality getting it all setup and running properly is a bit of a chore.

The pergolas have been great, but Im stalled at getting the screens installed. Without the shade the backyard's basically unlivable. The louvers have good range of motion, and the lighting is nice.

I'm 95% like so far with 5% stuff that maddens and disappointments tossed in - because the universe.

 

[UncleDave]

Boo.

Yay!