Unheated pool in Plano? (Cool: buying a house, buying, cost)

[europeanone]

We are considering buying a house we like that has an unheated pool (no spa). How many months in a year will we be able to use it without freezing to death? And does anyone know how expensive it would be to retrofit a heater to the pool? Thanks for the replies in advance.

[mami2emily]

We have a heater, but my frugal husband never turns it on. Last year my son started enjoying the pool in mid April. Usually we use it until about late September or early October (only my son is still going in by then).

A lot of my neighbors have pools and never turn the heater on.

Something I would look at better than a heater is a way to COOL the pool for the summer months. Our 9' deep pool is no fun to get into in August...we feel like lobsters! The pool company did tell me there is a way to cool it that's around $2k to install...not including the increase in your utility bill.

[Jasmine0]

Heating pool is expensive.

[PlanoGirl]

A heater is not at all necessary. At best it'll add 2, maybe 3, weeks on each side of your swimming season. No way you'll want to heat a whole pool any time other then that....WAY too expensive! A typical unheated pool is probably ready to swim in early May for most people (unless you are wimpy like me and wait til June), and lasts through September...maybe a bit into October.

[BigDGeek]

It's insanely expensive to heat a pool and if anything's going to break on the pool...it's the heater, and they're very expensive to repair/replace.

I wouldn't even consider it.

[txgolfer130]

Here in N. Texas you can use a few days (10-12) in Feb., 10-12 in March, 95% of April and from May-mid November you don't need a pool heater. *Granted these are KIDS times...most of us adults won't go in until at least late March, early April. But do people buy pools for kids or for us? If you want year-round pool time, Lifetime has an indoor heated pool/lap pool.

So from December - early Feb you can't use your pool...is that worth it to pay to heat a pool?

[MckinneyOwnr]

Newer heating systems for pools are actually very efficient and do not cost much to run. They even have solar pool heaters which work quite well in TX, where we have a lot of sunny days, that cost next to nothing to run.

If we ever put a pool in, we'd put a solar heater in as well, they run about $3k installed. That being said, it's a "nice to have" not a "need to have" here in TX.

[Back2Texas]

Originally Posted by mami2emily

We have a heater, but my frugal husband never turns it on. Last year my son started enjoying the pool in mid April. Usually we use it until about late September or early October (only my son is still going in by then).

A lot of my neighbors have pools and never turn the heater on.

Something I would look at better than a heater is a way to COOL the pool for the summer months. Our 9' deep pool is no fun to get into in August...we feel like lobsters! The pool company did tell me there is a way to cool it that's around $2k to install...not including the increase in your utility bill.

I agree with this! Ours is only 6' deep and is like bathwater for much of August

We got ours built last year and used it from early May till mid October, and never turned on the heater. My husband started off the pool season looking into solar heating options, and ended the season talking about cooling options This year, we're hosting swim lessons starting in mid-April, so I'm anticipating having to heat it for a little bit, but hoping to be able to stop by May.

Ours happens to have a heater just because I don't think we were even given the option to NOT build it with one. But I would have no problem buying an unheated pool and I would not bother installing a heater (if that's even possible)

[BeenThereDunThat]

FWIW: I know a few people have switched their pools to salt-water systems. Cuts back on chemicals and because of the salinity....water molecules react faster to sunlight, resulting in heating up from solar rays a lot quicker. I don't know all the tech details but it seems that all they needed to do was convert the pump, change out some filtration and use a good bit of salt tabs initially. They love it....and they can float easier too. No harsh chemically-smell either.

[Pama]

Salt water pools sure are the way to go. Heating is good to have but no big deal if you don't. You'll get plenty of warm days to enjoy it. Welcome to Texas!