What Kind of Pool (Phoenix: home, neighborhoods, purchase)

[boumer]

We’re putting in a swimming pool in the next year and are researching pools. I know there are chlorine and salt-water pools. The general consensus seems to be that salt-water is preferable to chlorine. I've come across interesting information on fresh-water pools or natural pools, and I also found something called a living pool using some sort of Biotop technology (*see links below). I haven't come across any pool makers in the valley that go beyond lip service to "natural pools."

I'm just looking for other people's opinions on swimming pools in Phoenix. Do you recommend chlorine or salt-water? Has anybody looked into or installed options beyond chlorine and salt-water, and how to they compare with regards to cost, maintenance and satisfaction with more traditional pool types? I'd like to know too, what you would do differently if you were putting in a pool today?

*I'm not a Biotop rep. There are other natural pool companies on the web, it's just that the Biotop site is one of the better ones I've come across on the subject and the only one advertising living pools.

http://www.biotop-natural-pool.com/
http://www.living-pool.eu/english/
http://www.living-pool.eu/english/convertersystem.html

[stevek64]

Salt water and a pop-up/in floor cleaning system I'd highly recommenced after owning/growing up in a home with a pool. One had salt, one not and one with in-floor cleaning and one without. Just easier maintenance wise, certainly no cost savings to salt that we experienced for the cost of the cell/panel vs chem chlorine and certainly an in-floor cleaning system cost a few $.

Above all else suggestion.....be honest with yourself and make sure you really plan on using the pool or really like looking at a pool for years out to make the purchase worthwhile. Many people tire of a pool after a season or 2 and it becomes an unused hole that holds water. Neighborhoods are full of them.

[sandy6879]

Consider as well - how long will you live in that house? If a long time, it may be worth putting in the extra money for the saltwater. We went with chlorine, as we don't have plans to stay in this home for a long time, as well as it being relatively easy to change over to a saltwater should we want to in the future. Plus, having the cost of chemicals spread out over time rather than all at once when a salt cell dies was a factor for us as well. I'm the one who maintains the pool so I don't mind dealing with the chemistry on it. Not all share that opinion.

If I was to do it again, I'd move it over to an area of the yard that gets more sun (part of it is shaded for a good part of the afternoon, some people like that, I don't). I'd also go a little bigger, we have a 15,000 gallon pool, I might try to get larger if I could re-do that over again.

[boumer]

Wow....two responses already. Thank you Steve and Sandy! I'm a newbie to the forum and I'm struggling with the html tags in the original post, so it would seem the post is a work in progress!

Anyway....good points both of you. We are defintely going to be factoring maintenance into the whole equation Steve and I would like something that is not going to be difficult to maintain. I definitely want to spend more time using the pool and less time maintaining it.

I do like your point Sandy about chlorine. It's something I hadn't considered before. We're not planning on flipping the house. We bought it for long-term, but we are in our fifties and I can't say for certain how long we will own this home. I'd say at least another 10 years though.

[LBTRS]

Are you sure you can do a "natural pools" in this area? I would think the extreme water temps would make having a natural pool impossible here.

I have a saltwater pool and wouldn't do it any other way. I listen to my buddies complain about the work required on their standard chlorine pools along with stories of their pools turning green on occasion and am always thankful mine is so easy to maintain and has never been green.

[Ponderosa]

We go through this with some regularity. Salt water pools ARE chlorine pools. The salt in the pool is converted to chlorine gas by an electronic device installed in the water return line. A non salt pool gets chlorine by someone adding it by one of several methods. But the sanitation process and chemicals involved are the same. It is simply a matter of convenience. Salt water pools turn just as green just as quickly if you don't run the chlorinator as a regular pool would if you don't attend to it.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Are you sure you can do a "natural pools" in this area? I would think the extreme water temps would make having a natural pool impossible here.

I have a saltwater pool and wouldn't do it any other way. I listen to my buddies complain about the work required on their standard chlorine pools along with stories of their pools turning green on occasion and am always thankful mine is so easy to maintain and has never been green.

You love it until the cell conks out like mine did this year. I have to admit, it is really nice to have when you go on a long vacation like we did this year. Came back to a pool full of leaves and junk, but the water was clear!

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

We go through this with some regularity. Salt water pools ARE chlorine pools. The salt in the pool is converted to chlorine gas by an electronic device installed in the water return line. A non salt pool gets chlorine by someone adding it by one of several methods. But the sanitation process and chemicals involved are the same. It is simply a matter of convenience. Salt water pools turn just as green just as quickly if you don't run the chlorinator as a regular pool would if you don't attend to it.

You're simplifying it way too much.

Salt water pools don't turn green at near the frequency of standard chlorinated pools, due to the chlorine being automatically generated and remaining much more constant then pools that need to be manually chlorinated. It is much easier to wait a bit too long to check the chlorine level or add chlorine and you find the pool has started to turn green. I can go for months without checking the chlorine level and never have to add chlorine and my pool will not turn green unless there is a malfunction. You wouldn't be doing that with a manually chlorinated pool.

Salt water pools are controlled automatically so it is much harder to "don't run the chlorinator" and requires a malfunction or you physically forgetting to take it off "service".

I had to replace my cell last year. It didn't just die though, I knew it was dying for several months before I finally had to replace it.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

You're simplifying it way too much.

Salt water pools don't turn green at near the frequency of standard chlorinated pools, due to the chlorine being automatically generated and remaining much more constant then pools that need to be manually chlorinated. It is much easier to wait a bit too long to check the chlorine level or add chlorine and you find the pool has started to turn green. I can go for months without checking the chlorine level and never have to add chlorine and my pool will not turn green unless there is a malfunction. You wouldn't be doing that with a manually chlorinated pool.

Salt water pools are controlled automatically so it is much harder to "don't run the chlorinator" and requires a malfunction or you physically forgetting to take it off "service".

I had to replace my cell last year. It didn't just die though, I knew it was dying for several months before I finally had to replace it.

I did not mean to simplify it. My point was that there is no fundamental chemical difference in a salt and a "chlorine" pool, only the method by which the chlorine gets into the water. When I hear people say they are considering salt versus chlorine as though salt somehow avoided chlorination, the engineer in me immediately goes into overdrive.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I did not mean to simplify it. My point was that there is no fundamental chemical difference in a salt and a "chlorine" pool, only the method by which the chlorine gets into the water. When I hear people say they are considering salt versus chlorine as though salt somehow avoided chlorination, the engineer in me immediately goes into overdrive.

Understood.

Did you replace your cell or did you just start adding chlorine to your saltwater?

One of my buddies didn't want to spend the money to replace his cell so he just started adding pucks to his saltwater. I have not talked to him to see what he thinks now that's he's ran his pool both ways to see which he prefers. Would be interested to hear what you think.