Swimming Pools 101: What to think about if you’re considering a pool. (vacuum, color)

[JayCT]

This is a great thread and very timely to me since we just took down our 25 year old above ground pool to make way for an addition. I did not realize how much of an eyesore the above ground was until we took it down and saw our large backyard. The family is demanding a replacement so I am thinking we will go with an in-ground.

Now I need to research the best type of pool for us. We have dogs so a vinyl pool is out. We have very sandy soil and do not want/need an unusual shape so I am thinking we could either go with gunite or fiberglass. I am thinking at least 700 square feet since that was the approximate size of our above ground. Still we thought that one should have been bigger so I am thinking 20 by 40. Anyone have any thoughts? Jay

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by TheImportersWife

We've been tossing around the idea of putting one in. I'm hoping we can start getting estimates this winter. This is what we have in mind: Haven Pools, LI - In-ground with auto cover

my wants:
*gunite (we have Labs and will always have Labs or Newfies)
*automatic cover
*built in spa
*built in steps
*heated
*salt system
*water feature - fountains like in the photo
*lights, like the photo

I don't think I'm asking for too much.

There are very few homes in our neighborhood without a pool and we're one of them. Well, our home had a beautiful in-ground gunite pool with spa near the back of our property, but previous homeowners didn't keep enough water in it one winter and it heaved.

Just remember that if you decide to go with salt water generator that the salt makes your water more acidic so you need to adjust things like pH, alkalinity and calcium levels to match the amount of salt in the pool along with the temperature to keep the water balanced.

Salt is cheaper than chlorine and you don't have to worry about the stabilizer that's added to the chlorine tablets constantly being increased in the water till the point that you have to drain the pool so you can bring the cyanuric acid level down in the pool so that the chlorine becomes effective again. At a 100 ppm level of C3H3N3O3 chlorine is basically useless and it doesn't take long to get there with chlorine tablets.

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

Very interesting thread. I moved to Florida from Alaska. I wanted a pool, I was getting a pool, period. Above ground pools? Absolute eyesores and make no sense down here IMO.

We only shopped homes that had pools... so I don't think they hurt the value of a home. In our instance homes with pools had a higher price than those without. The price difference was not nearly as much as a new pool would cost to build though.

A hole that you throw money into? Hardly. I do all of the maintenance myself. I spend $10/month on liquid Chlorine to shock it. $5 in Acid and $5 in Chlorine Tabs. My Pool pump adds about $25/month onto my electric bill. This is a very small price to pay to have a pool in my back yard.

Its also has a screen enclosure around it. I wouldn't trade my pool for the world. It does need to be resurfaced (Gunite Pool), but once that is done it should be good to go form another 10+ years.

If you get a wild hair type all of your conditions into this and see how balanced your water truly is:

The Pool Calculator

You'll need something like a Taylor Test Kit K-2005 and a thermometer to test for all the parameters you'll need to input into the calculator. A lot of people are surprised to find out that there's a whole lot more to keeping your water balanced than just chlorine and pH. You even need to adjust chemical levels for water temperature changes (which means you need to be checking your chemicals in winter too).

The balancing of water is crucial to preserving the pool liner and using the least amount of chemicals to keep your pool clean, bacteria free and trouble-free.

[nitram]

If a person wants a pool they won't stop til they get a pool and you can't talk them out of it. Our circle of friends that had pools say the two times that they enjoyed their pool was the first month or two and then when they sold the house. The cost, maintenance. insurance and worry after awhile was just a headache.

[chris410]

Originally Posted by nitram

If a person wants a pool they won't stop til they get a pool and you can't talk them out of it. Our circle of friends that had pools say the two times that they enjoyed their pool was the first month or two and then when they sold the house. The cost, maintenance. insurance and worry after awhile was just a headache.

Sounds like the saying, The two happiest days of a boat owners life is when they buy the boat and when they sell the boat.

At least if you get a boat, you can still sell the boat to recoup some of your loses when you decide your sick of the maintenance and hassle.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Now I need to research the best type of pool for us. We have dogs so a vinyl pool is out. We have very sandy soil and do not want/need an unusual shape so I am thinking we could either go with gunite or fiberglass. I am thinking at least 700 square feet since that was the approximate size of our above ground. Still we thought that one should have been bigger so I am thinking 20 by 40. Anyone have any thoughts? Jay

We have 2 huge dogs and a vinyl lined pool. One dag swims every time we swim and sometimes swims on her own. I would not rule out vinyl. While dogs claws can pierce the vinyl it is rare. Happened maybe 3 or 4 times in 6 plus years. Solution is simple - patch it. Takes about 15 minutes and the patch is not very visible unless you are inspecting the sides. Vinyl gives you a lot more options.

20x40 is about 25,000 gallons if it is not a diving pool. When you get to that size, you are needing a lot of chemicals (unless you have a salt/chlorine system) Ours is roughly the same size (18 x 40). We fint ir would have been better to be longer, narrower woudl be fine. 40' does not leave much room for laps, you are not far apart for volleyball or just whacking a ball back and forth. If you are each 10' from the sides, you can only be 20 feet apart. That is three steps. At 40' if you swim laps, you basically go from one push off to the next with maybe three or four strokes between.

If I had to do over, I woudl go with 15' wide by 60 feet long. .

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

Just remember that if you decide to go with salt water generator that the salt makes your water more acidic so you need to adjust things like pH, alkalinity and calcium levels to match the amount of salt in the pool along with the temperature to keep the water balanced.

Salt is cheaper than chlorine and you don't have to worry about the stabilizer that's added to the chlorine tablets constantly being increased in the water till the point that you have to drain the pool so you can bring the cyanuric acid level down in the pool so that the chlorine becomes effective again. At a 100 ppm level of C3H3N3O3 chlorine is basically useless and it doesn't take long to get there with chlorine tablets.

We have a salt generator system. We almost never have to do anything to the water except throw in a couple of bags of salt once in a while. Water sofetener salt (99.5% pure) is substantailyl cheaper than pool salt (99.8%pure) and works just as well. Keep in mind with a generator, you have to replace the cell every 3-4 years. A replcaement cell will cost about $800 in a pool store, or about $350 online. However when ours was not working for a season, we spent considerbly more than $350 on chlorine and other chemicals.

THe slight salinity of a salt based pool seems ot be easier on your eyes. That makes sense since we are salt water creatures.

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

We have a salt generator system. We almost never have to do anything to the water except throw in a couple of bags of salt once in a while. Water sofetener salt (99.5% pure) is substantailyl cheaper than pool salt (99.8%pure) and works just as well. Keep in mind with a generator, you have to replace the cell every 3-4 years. A replcaement cell will cost about $800 in a pool store, or about $350 online. However when ours was not working for a season, we spent considerbly more than $350 on chlorine and other chemicals.

THe slight salinity of a salt based pool seems ot be easier on your eyes. That makes sense since we are salt water creatures.

Part of the maintenace of the cells is to pull them and soak them in muriatic acid for about 30 second. The best time to do that is when you need to bring the pH down so you're not wasting the acid.

Just curious, have you done your CSI calculations in the winter compared to the summer? Keeping the water balanced is important for things like the pump, cells, screws and anything else that may get in the pool like hair clips and even more important for your pool surface?

[Ellwood]

We installed one a few years ago and have really enjoyed it. Although our fenced backyard (our property goes back another .7 acre beyond the fence) is 40x60, we chose a kidney shape 28x16. I would highly recommend using a salt generator versus chlorine. It is much nicer on your skin and bathing suits and costs considerably less per season and uses very little chemicals. We also installed a heat pump with the capacity to switch to solar. This is the second home we have installed a pool in.

Did not choose automatic cover, as neighbor has one and rarely uses it. Plus it takes up quite a bit of space. He also has a 32x40 and is sorry he made it so big, especially now with the kids grown. He also told us not to get a diving board (glad we listened) as it can cause accidents.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

Part of the maintenace of the cells is to pull them and soak them in muriatic acid for about 30 second. The best time to do that is when you need to bring the pH down so you're not wasting the acid.

Just curious, have you done your CSI calculations in the winter compared to the summer? Keeping the water balanced is important for things like the pump, cells, screws and anything else that may get in the pool like hair clips and even more important for your pool surface?

No idea what CSI calulations are. We take some water to the pool store for testing once in a while if we are going there for some other reason. Otherwise we use a basic test kit whenever my wife feels like it. It is extremely rare that we need to change anything. WE are still using the bottles of PH plus/minus that came with the pool. We do not run the pool in the winter. Sometimes we drain it 1/2 wa and blow out the pipes, sometimes we just let the pump run 24/7 to keep it from freezing and then heat it up for Thanksgiving and Christmmas breaks. There is so much fog in there in the winter, you cannot see three feet if you are in the pool. Still it can be fun.

One amusing thing we learned yesterday. We had the underwater light on and left it on while we went accross the street to watch fireworks. When we returned, the entire surface of the pool was covered with millions of dead bugs. THey were trying to get to the light. Too bad they weren't mosquitos. I guess we had not left the light on for any length of time before, since we have never seen that before. The bugs were literally the entire surface of the pool, I thought it interesting but some people found it disgusting . We were able to get 95% of them out by skimming for about 15 minutes (with two people skimming), so it was nto a disaster or anything, but it was pretty wierd.