More Electrical....

Late Friday afternoon, after the PebbleTec guys were gone, I called around because ground water was coming in the deep end. I was reassured that someone would be back later to set up the pump again (didn't happen). I was told that the PebbleTec needed to be dry for 4 hours before the guy could acid-wash (apparently not the case). Not sure what was going to happen. When we left Saturday morning, we expected that upon return, the acid-wash guy would be done and the pool would be filling, as scheduled, but the forecast isn't promising.
When we got back home, just after a big storm passed through, the pool wasn't much different than when we left. Somebody had come along and put a sump pump in one of the drains to get the ground water out of the deep end, but it wasn't running.

The electrician had spent several hours doing more of his stuff, including installation of the discussed GFI outlet, into which the sump pump was plugged (see orange cord in the picture). And the GFI was popped, which is why the pump wasn't running. So I reset it. And later when I checked it, it had popped again.


Fortunately, it was still running Sunday morning - I just think the extension cords needed to dry out. It was the LOUDEST pump of them all. Ugh.

I should mention that there is also a small defect near the deep end outlet. The acid-wash guy will fix it when he comes out, which is looking like Monday now. Apparently he didn't come out because of the forecast rain with the front passing through.

Anyhow, the electrician finished up his work. He had to put an extra junction box in to run the power over to the left side of the equipment. (He had originally run the wires from the pool up to the right side of the pad, but then they put the heater there and he had to re-work his plan, which is not exactly the prettiest solution, but not too bad.) Also, we have a white Goldline box mounted near the power box. I think it controls the salt chlorinator, but I'm not completely sure. This picture looks like a mess, but it's not so bad looking until you angle yourself like this behind everything.

The switches have been installed on the lanai. They're a lot more industrial than I though they would be, but I suppose that's what an outdoor switch is supposed to look like. I think the left one controls the pool and spa lights, and the right one controls the spa. I don't know if that means the spa heater or the spa pumps or both. I do know that all the lights are hooked up to the same transformer, so we won't be able to turn on the pool and spa lights separately. It has something to do with the LED circuitry and the disco patterns being sequenced properly. Whatever.

PebbleTec!!!

Friday morning, and the PebbleTec guys show up at 6:45 and start setting up. (So much for that late 10am start.) This is really, really cool.
There are two guys on the truck mixing the stuff up. The white bags are Portland cement and the brown bags behind, where the second guy is leaning his elbow, are labeled "Blue Lagoon" (whew, they brought the right color). They set up the first slurry box in the front yard there where there's no grass anyway. I do actually notice a lot of 20oz plastic Coke bottles - there's one sitting in the back of the truck. They're scattered around. Hmmmm.

Here comes the blue goop! One guy is shooting the hose (more like dribbling) and six guys are troweling, mostly pushing the goop up the sides of the walls and some evening out the steps and benches. There is no sign of pebbles, other than that sort of crunching concrete sound as they scrape the trowels around.

This is an amazing procedure and all nine guys are really busy. I know of people who freaked out at this stage of the installation because they didn't realize that it looks like a very odd color of plaster when it is applied, but it will start looking like PebbleTec very soon, trust me. Anybody who's ever done grouting work will understand this. And you can definitely hear the pebble texture.
The guys on the truck are worried because they're already running out. This is a really big pool (for this area). So they're on their cell phones calling for a delivery of more ingredients.

When they start covering the bottom of the pool, they have to start wearing the funny shoes that have big spikes on the bottom that elevate them above the wet PebbleTec. And they're walking funny. Isn't that just a lovely color?

I notice one of the guys throwing stuff out of a baggie onto the surface, and I realize that it's the "Shimmering Sea" abalone shell. Not a very sophisticated application method, but I guess it works. That explains why it's very uneven, which is how it's supposed to look, I guess. The shell bits don't look very pearly or iridescent at this point.

The plastic Coke squirt bottles start to come into play as the guys are smoothing out the concrete. Now it's really starting to seem like grout work, where you're keeping it wet and pliable until you've got it where you want it. They just keep working it over until it's smooth and even.

Of course there's a nifty tool for getting the step and bench edges perfectly smooth and rounded. There's a similar one for the inside corners.

Next is the spraying and rolling. This is where they're using the slurry box in the front yard to dump all the waste. The second box is built after a very short time, and we end up with a third one half-full. The best thing is that the pebbles are starting to reveal themselves at last.

The last of the slurry heads down the drain...up the suction hose...and out to the slurry box in the front yard.

When the sun comes out, I can see some sparkle at the right angles. If you look closely at this picture, you can see reflective bits in the curve between the wall and the floor of the pool. You can see it better on that sunny spot on the right seat in the spa.

I'm starting to really like the color now. It's just gotta be blue. I am so ready to SWIM!

So apparently they leave the slurry boxes to rest so that the sediment all settles to the bottom. At some point, they're going to come back and drain off the water and drag the sludge at the bottom away. I notice that the third slurry box is sort of on the neighbors' property. I just hope they don't kill his grass or break any more of his sprinklers.

The rest of us are busy, but my mom will be home over the weekend. They expect the acid-wash guy to do his work on Saturday and then we get to start filling the pool...

Electrical

Thursday, the electrician came and did several hours of work: pulling wire for the switches in the lanai (which meant yucky attic work) and setting up a new power control box on the side of the house.
The box was supposed to be near the corner, where he had previously run the wiring, but since the heater was placed there, he's going to have to move it to the other end of the equipment pad.
Also, we discussed the required electrical outlet. Newer code requires, for some reason, a GFI outlet at least 4 or 7 feet away from the water (can't remember exactly) but no further than 20 feet away. The dock outlet is about 30' away and the one in the lanai doesn't count because of the screen.
Also, Jeff came out and finished hooking up the heater and the salt chlorinator (which is between the heater and the DE filter so can't be seen in the photo below).

The PB couldn't get me to see a Blue Lagoon pool, but he's confident that I'll like the color. He does warn me that the city water will be green at first, so I'm not to panic when it starts filling. The PebbleTec guys have to do a smaller pool first, and then they should show up around 10am on Friday. Yippee!