Pool or No Pool? (apartments, restaurant, costs)

[asufan]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Speaking of pools, September is the best month of the year for them. The drier days will cool the water down below soup temperature while the days and, especially the nights, are perfect for a dip. By October, its too cold and all over except for the young and early snowbirds.

I've noticed most newer pools have heaters and are utilized year round

[kell490]

I have a solar heater our pool doesn't get lot of sun we like it in the upper 80's.

[Nogi48]

Originally Posted by asufan

It depends how much you value your time. Clearly you value yours at a lower rate than I do.

I wonder how many bodies you have buried on your property.

[maverick974]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

Pool for sure. One of the best/only good parts about our summers. I’d never be without one here. Public waterparks are gross.

I absolutely agree 100%. I've been here since 2011 and I still use my pool several times a week during summer. I love taking in a nighttime swim before bed.

We enjoy it but if I had to do it over again I would not spend the amount of money I did to put in a pool. Not to mention, after being here for a while now there is only a short period of time each year when the water isn't too cool or too hot to enjoy.[/quote]

I felt the same way. The water was too cold except for the 3 months of summer but I made some home made solar heaters and now my water is typically in the 80's by mid March until November or so. My pool is an old school diving pool. Over 10 feet deep. It almost never gets too hot.

Originally Posted by Mac58

We've heard from the folks with the pools in backyard, small or otherwise. What about folks in multi-residential settings or HOAs with community pools? Do they use the pool(s)? Or is the communal setting, distance from home, or "condition" of the pool enough to discourage regular use?
Can one get the Arizona pool lifestyle in a condo setting?

Now that I've owned a pool, I'll never get in a community pool. Since I don't know how they are sanitized and maintained, I don't know how clean they actually are and there is some nasty stuff that can live in poorly sanitized water.

Originally Posted by ElleTea

I spend very little time on my pool even with doing everything myself (MAYBE an hour a week in the summer, less in the winter) and save $1020.00 ($85/month) It's very easy to maintain.

The reason I do my own maintenance is because the pool guy is only there once a week for maybe 10 minutes. I like to know exactly what my pool is doing and that takes a bit more than 10 minutes a week. A pool guy doesn't know how you are using your pool. That makes a big difference on how to maintain it correctly. It doesn't take a lot of time but it does take some knowledge of how each pool is being used to maintain it effectively.

Originally Posted by asufan

I've noticed most newer pools have heaters and are utilized year round

I opted to heat my pool for free. As stated above, I can keep my pool heated for most of the year. December and January don't work well with solar heaters but by March, it's warm enough and the sun is high enough in the sky to allow for free heat.

As you can tell, I'm a fan of having a pool. I wouldn't want to live here without one. Even if it was only an above ground pool. Still gets you wet.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by asufan

I've noticed most newer pools have heaters and are utilized year round

Not wanting to be argumentative, but how do you know they are utilized year round? We have a heater that we've never used, primarily because we have heard that it is obscenely expensive to do so.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Not wanting to be argumentative, but how do you know they are utilized year round? We have a heater that we've never used, primarily because we have heard that it is obscenely expensive to do so.

Well I've been to a handful of off season pool parties where the pool is utilized and I know some of my neighbors use their pools year round. However you are correct, I cannot be certain that 100% of heated pools are used year round

[asufan]

Originally Posted by Nogi48

I wonder how many bodies you have buried on your property.

What a bizzare comment. Welcome to the forum

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by asufan

What a bizzare comment. Welcome to the forum

I thought the same...what does this comment even mean in regards to pools? Are you implying that the bodies are buried under the pool? That would be counter-intuitive...or that asufan has a penchant for burying winter time pool users in their backyard...thus making the earlier statement correct? Pretty random comment with no context...

[jnojr]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Not wanting to be argumentative, but how do you know they are utilized year round? We have a heater that we've never used, primarily because we have heard that it is obscenely expensive to do so.

Typically, people have heaters to use them.


You don't need to run your heater (gas, I'm assuming) 24/7... you can fire it up in the morning and have a pool you can enjoy for a good part of the day for, I don't know, $10 in gas? I just looked back over my gas bills, and there were a few times that I did this before the water was warm enough otherwise, and it just isn't that big of a deal. If you heat your pool year-round, yeah, in the winter it's gonna cost you $100+ per week.


I am looking forward to getting a heat pump with chiller to use my pool nearly year-round. We're in it several times per week during the summer, and would like it cooled down just a few degrees. But we could easily use it several more months of the year at around 85° without the gas bill.

[Bates419]

Originally Posted by jnojr

Typically, people have heaters to use them.


You don't need to run your heater (gas, I'm assuming) 24/7... you can fire it up in the morning and have a pool you can enjoy for a good part of the day for, I don't know, $10 in gas? I just looked back over my gas bills, and there were a few times that I did this before the water was warm enough otherwise, and it just isn't that big of a deal. If you heat your pool year-round, yeah, in the winter it's gonna cost you $100+ per week.


I am looking forward to getting a heat pump with chiller to use my pool nearly year-round. We're in it several times per week during the summer, and would like it cooled down just a few degrees. But we could easily use it several more months of the year at around 85° without the gas bill.

Some of my snowbirds friends have gas heaters, your $10 is really funny most of the winter. These guys heat the pool up for a week once in awhile when the grandkids are in town and get bills normally around $100 per day. I had a heat pump that ran me $100 a month to keep 80 degrees all winter with a cheap solar cover.