Landscaping - Swimming pool removal?

Haha yeah, good point on the weight. I have a 2kg one and a 7kg one and a midground would probably be handy. Although i don't really use either very often.

Render is a weird thing, some bits come off so easily and in big chunks and others seem bonded to the base!
 
Have you got a pool cover - even only something temporary ? I can imagine all kinds of muck getting in there while you are getting all that manky render off.

Looking good btw ! Lots more work, but there's a visible upside in front of you now the pool is a pool as opposed to the swamp you started with.
 
No pool cover at present, there will be one by the time we're finished as we intend to introduce heat at some stage - which is a crazy idea if you're to leave it uncovered!
 
Great work, it looks fantastic. Heat an a cover will be essential if you want to use it all year round. Keeping on top of the chemicals is also a bit of a job but easy once you get the hang of it.

I've got a small above ground pool that my daughters love to use. It's not huge, but even in the summer they find it too cold to get into, so I made a heater/filter/pump out of the pool pump and an LazySpa heater which got the pool up to a decent temperature fairly quickly to make it more useable for them.

Been enjoying this thread from the start so keep on with the updates!
 
theone8181 said:
You got and "friends" that you don't like that could give you a hand:cry:.
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https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/35414976/ ;)

We gave him the 7kg Hikoki :cry:

Matt-Page said:
Been enjoying this thread from the start so keep on with the updates!
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I enjoyed your conversion too, and will be stealing ideas from it to convert our pump house/store in to a shower room.

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's been hard work as we've done as much of it as possible ourselves and by hand, but there's still a long way to go!
 
Right guys, I need to learn what I need to do in preparation to have lights and sockets on that back wall, anyone here able to teach please? :D

I understand I will need to chase the wall out, but what am I chasing it out for? Am I chasing it fit in conduit?
Do I need a junction box at the top for where the light fitting will be, or just loose cable hanging out the wall?
Do I go armoured cable to a buried junction box, and from that armoured cable/junction box to normal cabling to connect the lights to?

What thickness cable do I need for lights?
What thickness cable do I need for a double socket?

All cables will be run back to the plant room where there will be a small consumer unit for the pump, pool lights and chlorinator.

I'm clueless as to the wiring, but if I can do the wall prep and cable runs leaving enough slack then it'll save me money.
 
Lots of options

Generally armoured from source if it needs to go underground or in an area at risk, option is to use trucking for that as well and non armoured inside.

Its a bit about look, do you want the neatest (underground cable to wall, sunk cabling to lights etc, or a consistent look of trucking across the whole)
Access of course is also an issue, its why many places tend to have surface trunking as opposed to sunk.
Sunk trunking gives you the best chance of being able to pull a cable in future should something happen (like it being drilled through) if you want the minimalised look

Most people seem to use pond cable for outside wiring, as your only probably going to pull something like 100w its hardly anything, assuming your going LEDs

The double socket however leads me to think your probably better running an armoured cable to that, then spurring off that to a 3 amp circuit for the lights which is how my garden is wired. You need to consider this is max at 13amp of course for the sockets and lights so depends what you planning to run, if its close to that or more you would need a dedicated line put in rather than a spur.

You mention a pump house so thats probably already got a proper spur to it?

Just to link you the pond cable
https://www.screwfix.com/p/time-318...ns7P00puZgXiJEJG7eYaAt_OEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
How many lights do you want? What kind of fitting? How many sockets do you need? How do you want to control the lights? Will you want anything else out there Wifi? Sonos? When I put our top patio in our garden I ran a 6mm SWAC straight from the house CU that would give me a 40A supply if I needed it for a Jacuzzi at a later date (which is currently downrated to a 32Amp supply). I have 3 x IP rated double sockets and 5 wall lights (controlled by a Shelly 2.5) and 20m of festoon lights (controlled by a Shelly 2.5), I also put local IP Rated switches (to offer local control of the lights) in and installed wifi into the garden (which allows my to use my HEOS speakers on the Patio). Planning took longer than the install. IMHO it is better to put an over-rated SWAC armour in and down-rate it at the CU, than not to have enough capacity.

You could use pond, SY or arctic cable but its questionable if it meets current regs, better to use SWAC where you can as it offers much better mechanical protection. Or at least run SWAC from the pump house to a local JB and spur from there.

Chasing or conduit is a personal choice and depends on the aesthetic and how much work you are happy to do.

Having wifi will make the space a lot more useable - stream music, movies, surf the net and have wifi lighting control etc. You could even put a wifi cam overlooking the pool. If you are running SWAC from the pump house, you could run in a SWA Cat 6 cable as well, then terminate that either into an IP rated switch or an outdoor Wireless Access Point. SWA Cat 6 is around £1 a metre. The switch or the WAP could then be powered POE from your pump house. Food for thought.

Some pictures of install
 
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I'll likely route a CAT 6 cable in to the pool house too, and mount an AP to the outside of it.

The pool house currently has no fixed supply, but it will have lots of power going to it when we're done - over 40a given that we want to run a ASHP which will demand 5kw at full chat.

SimonR said:
Or at least run SWAC from the pump house to a local JB and spur from there.
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This sounds like a good shout. I could mount the JB the back wall, then run all sockets and lights from that in a more localised area. If I was to run that to the back corner of what will be the patio area it'll be hidden by the shed/bar building we're planning on putting on it.
 
In simple terms, 1.5mm for lights (6A breaker), 2.5mm for sockets on a 20A breaker on a radial or 4mm for sockets on a 32A radial.

It can be in SWA or high tough cable depending on where it’s being located. You’ll want SWA if it’s being buried underground.

I’d discuss with your installer as you’ll need them to do it anyway to meet the regs. An RCBO on each circuit would be nice given the outdoor application.

Chases or conduit is your choice really. Think about where you could hide cable for minimum effort for example, you could run the cable along the top of the wall to save a lot of chasing/trenching as it will be out of eye line for the most part.
 
Okay, I think I'm understanding it a little more now! Does the below make sense?

The electrician sticks something like a 5 way 100a CU in the pump room with a chunky boy cable going out to it from the house.

We then have something like;

1 x 25a breaker to heat pump
1 x 6a breaker for the lighting circuit
1 x 32a breaker for a couple of double sockets
1 x 25a breaker for the pump room circuitry (pump, chlorinator, pool lights)
1 x spare/blank for future usage up to 12a?
 
Yes but don’t forget your individual fuses can add up to more than the total supply size as not all the circuits will be pulling their max draw all the time, far from it usually. For example, all LED lighting will be pulling less than 1A in reality. The breakers are sized to the max load of the cable and not the appliance.

100A supply means running a 25mm cable, that’s very big, it’s probably overkill. What’s the supply to your house?

Is that 5kw heat pump the output or input power? If it’s the output power then it will probably top out at 16A at the very most.

Same goes for sockets, what are you planning on actually powering? 32A seems overkill and 20A is probably more than fine. 4mm is a thick cable and will add considerably to cost and running 2.5mm in a ring adds complexity.

I don’t think there is a 25a breaker, it’s either 20A or 32A in the pool house itself.
 
I ran 23m of 6mm 3core SWAC from a 32a RCBO to an IP rated JB. This feeds a 4mm SWAC radial to all of my sockets. I also took a 2.5mm feed (in conduit) to a 3amp IP rated switched fused spur which feeds 1.5mm to a Shelly 2.5and 2 sets of lighting in 1.5mm in tough cable. I could probably drop that 32a RCBO down to a 20a in all reality. The cost between running a 4mm SWAC and a 6mm SWAC was about £15 (over 23m), which for me was a no brainer. I did all of the install myself, then asked my spark to do the final connection to the CU and Part P it for me and issue a Cert. (He knows my work well enough that he is confident to Part P it for me).
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
The breakers are sized to the max load of the cable and not the appliance.
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This makes a lot of sense.

b0rn2sk8 said:
100A supply means running a 25mm cable, that’s very big, it’s probably overkill. What’s the supply to your house?
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100a was number plucked when looking through consumer units in general - something like this https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-...way-populated-main-switch-consumer-unit/4274x likely won't be drawing anywhere close to it - the only thing I know for certain will be run from the sockets is a beer fridge!

b0rn2sk8 said:
Is that 5kw heat pump the output or input power?
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The 5kw is the input for 21kw output of pool heating.
 
Ah that’s a big boy heat pump then!

The rating of the main switch isn’t something to worry about on a consumer unit in terms of how big a cable to feed it as it doesn’t provide any overcurrent protection. It’s just how much you can put through it before it melts. You can use a smaller cable with a 100A main switch without issue.

As the sub main is going to be long it will probably need over current and RCD protection upstream where the cable terminates in the rest of the house. That’s what will protect the supply cable going to the pool house.
 
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