But, this did occur to me: since he's the one who put the liner in 10 years ago, why was the bottom and lower walls so pitted and devoid of any soft fill material? It was bare concrete (rough, at that). There's nowhere for any fill to exit? Does this mean 10 years ago he put the new liner on that rough, bare concrete? I should've asked him this, but it just didn't occur to me at the time. Are you saying that the wet vermiculite he put down will then stay in place and not need replacing in 10-15 years? I'm glad you think the $450 was reasonable.
And you're right about all those "invisibles" it takes to run a business -- the office suite he rents, payroll, etc. etc. etc. As it turns out, he's maybe not as honest (or as good) as I thought, however. My beloved 83 year old neighbor, Jim (who's living with lung cancer and heart failure and still cooks for himself and keeps his beautiful acre mowed) came over last night to look at the pump. It is NOT leaking at all -- the leaking is coming from the 2ndary skimmer basket -- it does that when the pump is turned off even with fresh lube. It's never a concern because my pump runs 24/7 when the pool's open and it gets prime and doesn't leak then. It just leaks a little amount when pump is off, and not continuously either, just for a while.
Secondly, Jim knows why the motor's seized. The PVC that attaches to the pump was demolished, and the liner guy had to pry the threaded PVC out of the opening. No doubt a piece of that is stuck in the impeller. Certainly this guy should know this? It's very very evident to even me that the pump is not leaking. Since this is an insurance claim, and I've already paid him for a new pump/motor unit, I'm not going to tell him his failures here. I'll just let him replace it (hopefully today). I wrote him a note asking him to leave the old one behind, as Jim said I can use that for a "spare." Jim will tinker with it and fix whatever needs fixing, but likely there's just a piece of PVC stuck in it. And Jim said if he doesn't show up today he'll take it apart and remove the PVC from the impeller and we can fire her up tonight. It kills me to have this new pool and the water just sitting there unfiltered!
By the way, it didn't take long: the mediterranean blue pool now is nothing short of gorgeous! I'm going to hate to cover it this weekend (or maybe I'll wait until the next -- depends on how many storms are forecast). The only thing I can think of failing for a number of years is the multiport, I suppose. Are they expensive? Thanks for all your guidance Vinyl Guy -- I've really, really appreciated it so much!
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