How many 2" pipes should I bury now?

[PoolDoc]

1. In my area -- Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia -- virtually 100% of the pools over $100,000 (what a pool like your would cost here) have SERIOUS mechanical / structural problems. This includes those built by the 'premier custom pool builder' in Atlanta, now in its 3rd generation of family owners. This generation is adept at marketing, but either lacks the pride or the ability to build a good pool. They LOOK great . . . for 5 years or so. But they have serious operational problems from the get-go.

2. I haven't tracked pool publications intensively for 5 years or so, so it's possible there's something new. But as of 7 years ago, the BEST pool design / repair / operations pools had SERIOUS errors -- in many cases, I have those errors marked with Post-its.

3. California has much stricter structural requirements, so my guess that those problems might be less than they are here. But many of the 'energy-saving' functionally-stupid circulation designs that permeate the industry today originated in California, so I have to suppose they are still present.

4. I've joked, for years, that in the Southeast, commercial engineering firms tend to design 2 or 3 commercial or community pools every decade. The smart ones design 2 per decade. The dumb ones design 3, because it takes them longer to figure out they don't know what the h### they are doing! I used to think it was only a joke. It's not. Most engineering firms lack a clear, practical understanding of how to design a pool. Any concept or method not shared with other, more conventional, construction, they get wrong.

I once watched 3 "top mechanical engineers' parade around a indoor pool, trying to figure out why swimmers were complaining about how cold the air was . . . even though the engineers were dry-skinned in pants and shirts and the swimmers were wet-skinned in suits. In theory they understand the difference between wet-bulb and dry-bulb temps, but it never occurred to them that the swimmers were all 'wet-bulbs' in a room held at 30% relative humidity by their mis-applied and mis-managed "heat recovery system".

5. Pool buyers -- like yourself -- tend to recoil at the idea that a pool they will like in 10 years will cost them perhaps 10% more than a pool they will hate in 2 years. To be fair, I think few pool companies try to SELL superior functional or operational design -- in any case, many companies probably lack the ability to deliver such designs. But if there's no seller 'push' for better functional design, there's no buyer 'pull', either. All the money goes for flash and show . . . and then when the glitz is gone, it's time to sell the property.

6. I can help you. But that help won't be via the forum for the most part, and won't be free. But, you gotta ask yourself: do you want that kind of help? Nothing I could do for you will make a guest, who's walked out onto your pool deck, go "Oh, wow!". It will just help prevent some from saying, under their breath, "Oh, yuck!".

________________________________________

Oh, yeah. To do your pipes right, you pretty much have to design your hydraulic system now. By putting in extra, you can possibly leave yourself some flex room. But without seeing site drawings and layout plans, I can't say how much flex you can leave.

Good luck!