[diamondgirl45]

Ok, so once again we are considering a house with a pool. This time it is an above ground pool. It has a deck that surrounds part of it. Here are my questions:
do you heat the pool?
if so how much does it average out to?
do you drain it in winter...and where does the water go?
don't you have to fence the whole yard if there is any type of pool in it?
this house only had a deck with a little bit of fencing on it, but there were no other fences in the area (except for one with an iron fence...it had an inground pool).

Thanks so much for any help.

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by diamondgirl45

Ok, so once again we are considering a house with a pool. This time it is an above ground pool. It has a deck that surrounds part of it. Here are my questions:
do you heat the pool?
if so how much does it average out to?
do you drain it in winter...and where does the water go?
don't you have to fence the whole yard if there is any type of pool in it?
this house only had a deck with a little bit of fencing on it, but there were no other fences in the area (except for one with an iron fence...it had an inground pool).

Thanks so much for any help.

You can heat it if you want to but you have to factor in the costs of heating the pool, if you have the money go for it, if you don't then don't.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by diamondgirl45

Ok, so once again we are considering a house with a pool. This time it is an above ground pool. It has a deck that surrounds part of it. Here are my questions:
do you heat the pool?
if so how much does it average out to?
do you drain it in winter...and where does the water go?
don't you have to fence the whole yard if there is any type of pool in it?
this house only had a deck with a little bit of fencing on it, but there were no other fences in the area (except for one with an iron fence...it had an inground pool).

Thanks so much for any help.

I don't think you need a fence if the pool is above a certain height above ground, with a locking gate on it if it has an attached deck with stairs (?). I would call the local municipality for sure. Any large pool has to be heated, at minimum with a solar cover, or the water will be freezing. I don't know about draining. Maybe just a slow drain through a hose into your lawn? I don't think you can drain chlorinated water right into the storm sewers.

[Dexterguy]

If you want to drain the pool then you will need some sort of run off or something to do that. Yes, in the state of Michigan it is a law that if you have any sort of pool in your yard you must have a fence around it even if it is a seasonal pool.

[Coldjensens]

If the pool is already there, it probably meets code. Have the local inspector confirm that. If it does not meet code, require the seller to bring it to code before you buy the house.

Heating an above ground pool can be done in several ways. You can connect a small pump to a long black hose and lay the hose in the sun to create a discount solar heater. My sister and her husband did this and put the hose in rows on the roof of the house. It worked great. Sometimes they had to turn it off because the pool got too warm. Of course it works less well when it is cloudy.

If you heat your above ground pool for swimming in the late fall, you may want to insulate the sides of the pool. However most important is a solar cover. You loose most of your heat through evaporation. If you prevent evaporation, you eliminate much of your heat loss.

You can drain your pool for winter if you wish, however it makes more sense to just drain it down part way, get all water out of any part of the filter and cover the pool with a floating thing in the center so you do not get the cover all full of water or ice. If your filter draws through the bottom of the pool, you will need to get most of the water out of the filter lines using a compressor. I cannot remember ever seeing an above ground pool that filters from the bottom, but there probably are some. Pool people will winterize your pool for you for $300. I do not know how much they charge to unwinterize it. A winter cover will cost another $300 or so depending on the size of the pool, however the seller probably already has one.

[Coldjensens]

Oh by the way, our pool is about 22,000 gallons (18' x 36')and costs between roughly $50 and $300 per month to heat depending on how cold it is outside, or so we are told.

[JoeLunchBox11]

My parents have an 18-36 in ground pool that tops off in the 80-82 degree mark at hot times, but for most of the summer is between 72-78 which i find pretty refreshing on those hot summer days. If you've got a pool in Michigan, its only open in summer and on those hot days the colder the water the better it will feel!