Moving all the pool equipment above ground

[iteles]

The pool equipment has been underground in a very badly built machine room for a couple of years and has all begun to rust and corrode already 🙃

Also, we've never had all the equipment actually working at once.

Sr. Pinheiro

I spoke to Sr. Pinheiro who has said: 'If you're able to get all of the machines above ground, nós pomos isso tudo a funcionar'.

He sounded just as committed as every time he's spoken to us for the last 2 years (excellent salesman) which means I have zero confidence he will actually do anything before September.

What we need to determine is how much we think he will do as part of the work he owes us.

Daniel Oscar

He came out and mentioned a few things (@nelsonic he mostly spoke to you so please add to this list):

• Recommended we fully empty the pool, clean and refill (personally this is my preferred option)
• The pH doser is in a place that could lead to excessive corrosion of the equipment/tubing because it should be placed after a piece of equipment

He gave us a quote of €1700 to include (in Portuguese so that I can just copy paste this list to send to him to confirm) with the important note that if any piece of equipment is completely non-functional, that is no longer part of this quote:

• Tubagens novas em tubo rijo, com lógica e acessível para manutenção/em caso de problemas, etiquetados
  • Nota: Temos de ter em mente que vêm aí mais algumas tubagens para trazer a água do furo para a piscina e para torneiras exteriores
  • The idea behind this is two-fold: to reduce patches but also aesthetically and for maintenance, to make it accessible and obvious
• Alterar localização das torneiras para terem mais lógica (mais perto da saída da sala subterrânea) e etiquetar
• Alterar localização dos filtros para estarem mais perto da saída da sala subterrânea
• Pôr bombas, operadores de sal e quadros elétricos cá em cima, fora da sala das máquinas, incluíndo quadro eletrico e bomba que o Sr. Pinheiro vai ter de deixar cá
  • Nota: Temos também de deixar espaço lógico para a bomba da água do furo
  • Note: I have been calling SPinheiro every day trying to guarantee the machines are actually here, no luck yet 😠
• Pôr todo o equipamento e a cobertura a funcionar
  • Nota importante: Se algum equipamento estiver completamente avariado, já não faz parte deste orçamento, teria de ser orçamentado à parte, ou com sorte, à responsabilidade do Azul Piscinas
• Esvaziar piscina (not sure how this will be done without being into our garden? 🤔 )
• Limpar telas e piscina completamente
• Ligar chuveiro a um ponto de água, se houver
• Depois da piscina estar cheia, voltar para ter a certeza que está tudo a funcionar e com os níveis de sal corretos para podermos usar só sal sem cloro

I asked about the pool lights and he suggested that pretty cheaply we can buy a little remote control and he can set that up for us so we can switch off lights from the house. Also that he could put on a little timer for us.

Estimated 1 week of work.

Carlos Pinheiro seemed to think he was very good.
He sent me some photos of past work which seems mostly orderly and neat:

What could we get 'for free'?

From what I can tell, the only part of this that Sr. Pinheiro's crowd could do as part of the work they owe us are:

• Installing the quadro eletrico and pump that are still in his possession
  • Personally, I feel like I would rather the other guys did this so the whole setup of the equipment is done by one team with the same logic
• Making sure all the equipment 'is working', but Daniel says that's just a part of moving the equipment - how can they guarantee the move has been done correctly if they don't test the equipment and get it working
• Emptying and cleaning the pool
  • This could save us some money, potentially a chunk (I would have to ask how much) but from our previous experience, I have no confidence that he will get this working without chlorine
  • I also feel like they'd say that if we wanted to fully empty the pool and clean it as opposed to dumping in chemicals, they might have to charge us, but I'd have to check this.

Conclusion

Sadly, I think we have to get Daniel to do the bulk of the work and then just rely on Sr. Pinheiro for any malfunctioning equipment and getting the final things sorted like #106 and the outdoor shower (I added it in above but until there are pontos de água, it can't be done).

*BLOCKERS:

• Sr. Pinheiro MUST provide us with the missing quadro and pump before the work starts
  • This is by far my biggest concern
• Ideally the water pump is sorted so we can refill from our well Water Well / Poço de água #79 (comment) - Daniel mentioned this would ideally be when the work is complete so they can do all the checks and get it working with the water but 1 week at most after the work is complete so you don't have to worry about the pool lining degrading
  • Daniel did say that we can always sort something out temporarily and just get a pump to pump in water - 'isso arranja-se, não há problema'

[iteles]

Spoke to Sr. Pinheiro from the pool people again today.

Unsurprisingly 'they sent the wrong quadro and now they're discontinued but they have an obligation to get one to us', same old same old BS.

But he says they can bring a motor that we're missing so it's something.

I agreed with him he'd come next week (date to be confirmed) and 'get everything working' so that when we move all the machines above ground:

• He cannot say they were broken by other people and absolve himself of responsibility
• Francisco cannot say they weren't working before and absolve himself of responsibility too

Once I have a date from him, I'll speak to Francisco.

[nelsonic]

Daniel and Pedro visited on Tuesday (7^th May) and we agreed what work needs to be done in terms of moving the pool electrical equipment. They will return next Tuesday (14^th May) to initiate the work. 📆 🚧

@iteles please get a written price quote from Daniel before he starts the work. 🧾
We don't want a surprise bill at the end of the work. 💸

The BLOCKER on getting the pool fully working again is the Water Source; specifically the well: #79 🔥
I've opened two issues for the tasks that need to be done to get the Water Well sorted: #270 & #271 🙏

[nelsonic]

D&P we’re here today as promised (🤯) and they worked 08:00 - 18:30 to move the electrical systems and pipes to the west wall:

this is not what I thought they were going to do…
My understanding was that you had agreed with them that they would move them to ground level for easier access. 💭
@iteles Do you have a paper trail for the agreed work? 🤷‍♂️

not saying what they have done is necessarily “bad” … just not what I was expecting …
Daniel said he would organise an RF remote control for the lights so we don’t have to go downstairs to turn them on/off.

[nelsonic]

Emptying the spa revealed the extent of the rust damage from Miguel dropping bits of metal into it while he was welding … 😢

Daniel says there is no product we can use to get the rust “burn” marks off… 😭
Changing the “tela” (vinil layer) will be around €1,200. 💸🤦‍♂️

this probably deserves a separate issue … 💭

[nelsonic]

Separate/dedicated issue for repairing (repainting) the spa liner: #274

[iteles]

WHAT? 100% the work was to move the electrical stuff above ground!!!!! This is ALL we talked about when he came the first time. Did he just forget? W. T. F.
It's not about access, it's about how it's absolutely impossible to maintain anything down there, they have to be above ground so they don't all rot in 2 years!!

Why is this comment hidden away 3 comments ago in an issue? Why wasn't I told about this major discrepancy straight away as the work started never mind the end of the first day? Isn't the west wall even further away from ventilation?! We need better systems. 😢
I'm going to have to call him tomorrow.

[nelsonic]

@iteles please come outside tomorrow morning and see what they have done
before you get too excited and call them ...
Definitely call D to get an update on when they will be back,
But put your "work" shoes on and head outside first. 🙏

[nelsonic]

Follow-up issue to get Daniel back to finish the work that is almost complete! #280

[iteles]

Also, you and Daniel agreed on a different solution to the one written up in this issue which I have no visibility of.

I only realised this later and Daniel said he'd give us a cheaper quote as there was less work but I don't think you agreed a number with him before the work started.

[nelsonic]

Inês, “agreed” is a very strong word in this context.
Daniel said it was going to cost significantly more than his original estimate to move all the pumps & electrical consumer units above ground and the benefit did not justify the cost if we are eliminating the hatch that caused the excessive humidity.

[nelsonic]

As far as I’m concerned if he finishes the work and gets everything running again (including the pool cover) the original quote is a bargain. We just need him to come back ASAP and finish the work!! ⏳

[iteles]

Quite. But if he destroys the pool motor and then ghosts us, not great.

[nelsonic]

Inês, all of this is totally moot if you just take 20 seconds to come downstairs to the machine room.

[iteles]

Latest on this:

• I managed to get our electricians to come our on Friday to hook up the pool pump as this is quickly going green again
  • The pool pump was not working at all so this was a wasted trip for the electricians 🙄
• On Monday Daniel put in a new pump - he is still taking the old one to see if it can be repaired and unfortunately put in the old one if possible. I'm not expecting to be charged for this but he's probably expecting to charge us
  • He connected the pump directly to the térmico (sem passar no contactor) just so it could start clearing the pool
• On Wednesday I managed to get the electricians (Rodrigo, the young guy from Bruno) out again. He connected the pump properly, went out to buy a new button for door of the electrical cupboard and got that all working
  • The wires in there are all over the place and will need a proper 'go through and label everything job', about half a day at some point
• Daniel's folks are coming by at the end of the week to vacuum the algae from the bottom of the pool and also vacuum the spa so both should be useable by the weekend

The salt machines that were moved further away from the humid areas are BOTH not working now and are about €1500 a piece. Of course Daniel says it broke on its own from the humidity and not from the move. Daniel will check this at the end of the week and we can reconvene on what to do.

[nelsonic]

@iteles thanks for the update. could you please check with D if he needs payment for all the work he has done and now equipment installed. Feels like he's doing a lot of work on "spec" and should be paid for at least some of it so he can pay his people/suppliers. 💰 💭