The whole hydraulic side of your pool, from the pipework cast into the shell to the plant room, automatic water treatment, lighting and heating. AstralPool equipment, for contractors, developers and villa owners.
It covers the fittings embedded in the pool shell (skimmers, main drain, return inlets and vacuum points), the pipework to the plant room, the pump and filter, automatic water treatment, lighting and commissioning. iStarTec installs all of this for villa and development pools across the Algarve, using AstralPool equipment. Building the pool itself is the builder's job.
A pool's hydraulics go in at two different points in the build. The first part ends up hidden in the concrete: the fittings the water leaves and returns through, and the pipes that connect them to the plant room. The second is the plant room itself, where the water is pumped, filtered, treated and, if you want it, heated. We do both, to the same standard as the water systems we install in the villas themselves.
In a properly built circuit the water always follows the same path, and the order of the equipment matters:
A residential pool should turn over its full volume every 4 to 6 hours. We start from the volume, taken from the plans and sections, and choose the pump and filter as a pair. A real example, from a 12.50 × 5.50 m pool we quoted in Albufeira:
Pool volume, at an average depth of 1.20 m.
Circulation flow, delivered by a 2 HP pump.
Time to turn over the full pool volume.
About 0.50 m² of filter area, matched to the pump.
The balance is what matters. A bigger pump on the same filter pushes water through the sand too fast and filters worse. A bigger filter on the same pump costs more and gains nothing.
With salt electrolysis, salt is dissolved in the water (about 5 g/L, a tenth of sea water) and a cell turns it into chlorine as the water circulates. Once it has disinfected, the chlorine turns back into salt, so consumption is low and you no longer buy, carry or store chlorine. At the same time a probe reads the pH continuously and a dosing pump keeps it between 7.0 and 7.4. In the Algarve this matters: hard water pushes the pH up, and at high pH chlorine loses its effect.
No tablets or granules. You only top up the salt lost in filter backwashes.
Fewer chloramines, the compounds behind the chlorine smell and stinging eyes.
Protects the finish, seals and equipment, and prevents cloudy water and scale.
We place the embedded fittings and pipework before the pool walls and floor slab are poured. We need to be called at that point, because afterwards there is no clean way to do it.
Once the pool is finished, we fit the pump, filter, treatment, control panel and heat pump if there is one, then commission the system.
For a villa pool, around 6 to 8 working days on site, split across the two stages and fitted to the build programme.
So there is no confusion between trades, here is what we do not do:
We also supply equipment only (filtration, treatment, heating and control panels), already sized for the pool, when another team is doing the installation.
We install every water system in the house, so the pool, hot water and heating are coordinated by one team.
See all our services →No. We do the hydraulic side and the equipment: embedded fittings, pipework, plant room, water treatment, lighting and heating. Excavation, the concrete shell, waterproofing and tiling belong to the builder, and we coordinate with them from the start.
Before the walls and floor slab of the pool are poured. That is when the skimmers, main drain, return inlets and the pipework that sits inside the concrete go in. We come back later to fit out the plant room, connect the equipment and commission the pool.
For most villa pools we recommend salt electrolysis with automatic pH control. The salt (about 5 g/L) is turned into chlorine inside the system, so there is no chlorine to buy or dose, and the pH probe corrects the water continuously. This matters in the Algarve: hard water pushes the pH up, and at high pH chlorine works poorly.
Yes, as an option. We install a pool heat pump sized to the pool volume and the months you want to swim, connected to the filtration circuit ahead of the salt cell.
Yes. Where another team does the installation, we supply AstralPool filtration, treatment, heating and control equipment, already sized for the pool volume.
It depends on the pool volume, the number of embedded fittings, the distance to the plant room and the treatment and heating you choose. We quote from the pool drawings or plan, free of charge, within 24 working hours.
We install pool hydraulics across the whole Algarve. Quote requests answered within 24 working hours.
Send us the pool plan or drawings. We will quote the hydraulics and equipment within 24 working hours.