Giving in to swimming pool, What can I expect?

[Tim Morton]

I have a 30' above ground 52" pool...i throw 4-6 gallon of clorox in it during the week and i spend 15 minutes vacuuming it saturday morning, and i have the cleanest most sparking water you could imagine.

Less is more...get a good test kit and google the BBB method of cleaning pools...

Heres a start:

http://x.havuz.org/viewtopic.php?f=6...d439d8e4711496

It works....and its cheap.

[Tom Godley]

Most large pools use sand filters because you can purchase them in higher capacities and they can have much higher flow rates. I have around 50k gallons in my current pool and installing an integrated single DE filter in that capacity was not then possible. DE filters will remove particles that are smaller than a typical sand filter is capable of removing -- but having owned both I can not tell the difference in the water clarity.

I may not have been clear -- you definitely want an automatic feeder for the sanitizer. I have always used chlorine, but other sanitizers are available. A small constant flow keeps all the nasties at bay and reduces problems. I also have an automatic pool cleaner (Polaris) that runs off a separate pump - to clean the sides and bottom.

In a typical week -- on Thursday -- I backwash the filter and add 8 chlorine pucks to the automatic chlorinator -- it takes me maybe 10 min. Each morning I walk around with my coffee and look in the skimmers and check the bag on the Polaris. Depending on the trees and the wind I may have to switch out the cleaner bag and empty the skimmers. Checking the water chemistry is easy using simple test strips and after a while you can predict the extra needs caused by storms and heavy use. The BBB method works for me also -- keep it simple.

Getting insurance has never been an issue - lots of people have pools. Getting higher limits is prudent.

[David Weaver]

We had a pool until I moved away from home. As a kid, I liked it. I skimmed leaves off the surface for fun sometimes, but never had an obligation to do anything on it (that helped a lot).

What I didn't like was that all of my friends wanted to come over and get in the pool all the time, and I usually had enough of it and wanted to do something else.

You'll find that all of your neighbors think like you do - the best pool is the one the neighbor has. They'll prove it by being in your pool more than you are.

Look out for the assessor - the pool is the only thing you can put on your property (around here) that increases the assessed value and lowers the resale value and eliminates buyers who would otherwise look at your house.

As a final note, when I left, my parents got tired of playing with the pool, which probably took them 10 minutes a day, and put goldfish in it - no kidding. It was like that for years, they didn't have to treat the water then, and they were pleased with it. Once it sprung a leak, they had it removed and the dirt refilled and had a proper year-round fish pond with a waterfall installed.

I like the fish pond a lot better - it's more entertaining, and the little kids like the fish and the frogs as much as they'd like a pool. Older kids, maybe not so much.

[Russ Filtz]

I have a pool now and HATE IT!!! Hard to maintain, expensive. I have a salt water chlorine generator. WHEN it worked it was great, kept everything even. But it broke down at least 4 times in 3-yrs (and not cheap initially, maybe $800+). Kept frying boards or something. Last time it was out of warranty and I was not about to pour more good money into it. Went the chlorine tablet route and those things are EXPENSIVE! You can go through a $50 bucket of the stuff in weeks. Then there's the weekly shock treatments (maybe $5 a pop), algae treatments, clarifiers, cyanuric acid to stabilize, etc., etc.

Then there's the auto vacuum system that doesn't always run due to fluctuating or low suction from the filter getting clogged (when it's not getting stuck in a corner). Mines is $60 a pop and simply rinsing doesn't always do the job long term. End up buying several per year.

Run far away!

[Belinda Barfield]

Then there's the auto vacuum system that doesn't always run due to fluctuating or low suction from the filter getting clogged (when it's not getting stuck in a corner). Mines is $60 a pop and simply rinsing doesn't always do the job long term. End up buying several per year.

Run far away!

LOL . . . clogged filter just reminded me of my favorite part of having a pool. I have no kids or cleaning out the intakes would have been their job! There is nothing quite like removing the top from the intake on a hot July morning and finding a bloated bullfrog. EEEW! I quit counting how many frogs died that way. I have also removed rats and the occasional snake. I looked out the window one night and saw a snake swimming around in the pool. I got him out so at least I saved one.

We lived on 15 acres at the time so neighbors weren't an issue.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

you will adore a pool.
I bought my home in NJ, 20+ years ago.
It had a large ingrown pool built using the same equipment and methods as a building foundation of poured concrete 8" thick. Prior, I'd never thought about owning one.
Now It's like I don't want to vacation anywhere else.

"Where are you going on your Vacation?" They ask us.
We answer: "Home."

Maintenance is easy. Spring opening is the only real effort.

[Neal Clayton]

it's not as bad as people make them out to be. the only major expense every years as others have stated is getting it initially clean after you uncover it from the winter. plan on 200-300 bucks at that time in chemicals to get the water clear and free of algae. after that, just maintaining the chlorine tablets and vacuuming/netting leaves once a week until you cover it for the next winter.

[Jerome Hanby]

I'd expect to spend a considerable amount of time grouching over cleaning and maintaining the thing full time when it gets used a few times a month

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

plan on 200-300 bucks at that time in chemicals to get the water clear and free of algae. after that, just maintaining the chlorine tablets and vacuuming/netting leaves once a week until you cover it for the next winter.

That's a lot more money and effort than I ever undertook.

I don't vacuum but maybe that one time after I first open the pool up.
I use a pool cover that anchors to the concrete around the pool so leaves don't get in.
I don't use chlorine tabs they cost too much money.
When I open I use a few sacks of shock, some algicide, some floccing compound and that's pretty much it.
After that I use liquid pool bleach which is 12% Sodium hypochlorite (I just pour it in the skimmer) and a little Muriatic acid to adjust the hypochlorous acid and then during the summer maybe two boxes of Baking Soda to make the water silky.

I have solved all my "maintainence issues" involving settlement and leaves etc., by making a lead collar weight and little PVC jet nozzle for a $40.00 pool vacuum hose and rigging it up to my inlet so the thing snakes around all the time keeping the pool agitated and circulated. This keeps every thing in suspension so the filter can take it up.

Once it's open I really don't do much to it at all, except add chlorine and keep the water level up.

[Ed Kilburn]

Swimming pool = hole in the ground where you throw your money. Somewhat like a boat, except you can't sell it without giving up your home. My 2cents

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

I owned a home in Phx with inground pebble-tech (sp) for 8 years and loved it. I used a fairly new product, in the chlorine family, but much more stable and no smell. And less cost. anmd in 8 years no green pool. Actually everone commented on how clean you felt after getting out of the pool. Required 2 Xs per week attention in swimming season, 1 to 2 Xs per month in off season.

Make sure when you build the pool that you get a very good, and low noise motor and pump. And that they put in a cleaning port with a volume control for some kind of automatic cleaner like a gator. Gator cleaners move around the pool and clean as it filters. I would never be with-out one. If you have round edges between the walls and the bottom, some gators will even climb the wall and you will find you never have to brush. Mine would even get the "ring around the tub" pretty good and I did not have to brush much at all. And we used the pool every day in summer. I'll see if I can find the name of the stuff I used.

[Tim Morton]

All these problems make me chuckle....keeping a pool sparkling clean is super easy if you use the BBB method. It could not be easier....

I feel like i am preaching mac's to PC folks here

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

I use to use bleach...etc. But still had to test a lot. AND I did like the BBB method, but the AZ sun seemed to make it hard to keep the sanitation level up. Or I was not doing it right for the pool?? I always used the BBB in the spa, work good as the spa never saw the sun.
But in the pool the synergy system from OMNI was the easiest I found.

All these problems make me chuckle....keeping a pool sparkling clean is super easy if you use the BBB method. It could not be easier....

I feel like i am preaching mac's to PC folks here

[Chris Harry]

I use to use bleach...etc. But still had to test a lot. AND I did like the BBB method, but the AZ sun seemed to make it hard to keep the sanitation level up. Or I was not doing it right for the pool?? I always used the BBB in the spa, work good as the spa never saw the sun.
But in the pool the synergy system from OMNI was the easiest I found.

Bleach will work, but you manually need to add cyanauric acid (aka stabilizer).

UV rays will eat your bleach alive. Tablets work because they have CYA built into them. The problem with tablets is that too much CYA is a bad thing, because the only way to get rid of it is dilute the water (i.e. partial drain and refill). If your pool is only open 4 months out of the year, its not too bad, but in the case of AZ I assume it was open year-round. Tablet use would catch up to you quickly.

Bleach works great and is cheap, but its unstabilized so you need to manually add some CYA. Not a big deal, and not really costly either.

As far as a previous comment about 800.00 in chemicals, PLEASE check out www.troublefreepool.com or www.poolforum.com or the other link to BBB posted earlier.

I have my 22K gallon inground costing me about 100.00/yr for 4 or 5 months worth of chemicals. The water is perfectly balanced, crystal clear, and I rarely vacuum it because the only thing that gets into it is outside dirt (silt from the lawn, leaves, etc). No algae blooms, etc. Im actually trying to get it less than 100/yr because I think I can, Ive just been careless about how/when i fill my bleach feeder.

Electricity cost is another thing.......investigate some good efficient pumps, 2 speed is even better if you can afford it and have the wiring. You can run a 2 speed at low speed all day and it will still cost less than me running my high-efficiency single speed for 8 hours.

[Pat Germain]

I use to use bleach...etc. But still had to test a lot. AND I did like the BBB method, but the AZ sun seemed to make it hard to keep the sanitation level up.

When I lived in Arizona, we tried a few different kinds of chlorine. As I said, the tablets just didn't work at all. Liquid chlorine worked, but only briefly in the brutal Phoenix sun. We had a professional do some work on the pool and he recommended a granular chlorine. I think it was actually called something like "Arizona Granules". It was developed specifically for swimming pools in very hot climates. It came in a big, plastic tub and it had a picture of a saguaro cactus on the lid.

Whenever the test kit showed the chlorine level was getting low, I would throw a few scoops of those granules in the deep end of the pool and it was good to go for several days. In the winter, it didn't take much at all. I added chlorine only once in awhile.

We didn't use our pools year round, but we did keep them filled and clean all winter. I think that made maintenance much easier. Obviously, you can't do this in a cold climate.