swimming pools and spa questions

[Debbie]

Can anyone give me some idea what you need to look out for if you have a swimming pool, (salt water) and a spa on your property. What maintainance is needed?, are they difficulty to maintain, costly to run? A pain in the bottom or a joy you wouldn't be with out?
Thanks Debbie

[Avalon]

Check this thread out from way back for some hints and tips.

Above all - find a friendly pool shop that wont reat you like an idiot (cos if your like me - youll feel like one often enough when dealing with a pool for a while). Practice makes perfect - youll soon get the hang of it. and ytust me when I say - its SOOOOO worth all the hard work when its a boiling hot day and you jump in!


http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread....=swimming+pool

[kiwidebs]

Oooh, Debbie, if you buy a house with a pool and a spa I'll be your bestest buddy . Have you found a place?

Debs

[felix]

Can anyone give me some idea what you need to look out for if you have a swimming pool, (salt water) and a spa on your property. What maintainance is needed?, are they difficulty to maintain, costly to run? A pain in the bottom or a joy you wouldn't be with out?
Thanks Debbie

I bought a house with a salty one, 70,000 litres, concrete. Was very worried initially..re safety for the kids, upkeep etc. It is very easy to maintain. We have a heated pool but cannot afford to use the heater..its a 10000 watt thing..thats big!! We run the filtration at night on a cheap tarrif..you need around 10hrs filtration during the summer...I cut back to 4-5 in winter. We have a cover, one of the solar ones..replaced it recently as the old one was knackered. You really need a pool roller..got ours second hand..phone around the pool shops or look at trade me for a 2nd hand one. The chemicals can be pricey over a summer..salt is cheap..don't use pool shop stuff..buy it from Farmlands..half the price. Also buy the chemicals in bulk..you can get 25kg bags..this really keeps the price down. We had a hoot with it last year and I would sorely miss it even though we only have it 3 months a year to use. Every morning I would be up swimming in crystal clear water outside my bedroom in 20 degree (or so) water...awesome!!! Get the pool checked by an expert..check the lights work!! They are expensive..like $100 each. get all the pumps checked to and find out when your sand filter was last changed (the sand that is). Salt electrode is also expensive..like $700...look at it and make sure it is not furred up..I had to descale mine..quite a tough job! Weekly maintenance is simple, especially if you have an auto pool cleaner (a barracuda). Check what tools you should have and what are being sold with the house..they too can add up..that way you don't get a nasty surprise. Be careful with pool security..I heard if you leave a gate open or are seen to be careless re pool safety and there is loss of life, God forbid, you can be up on manslaughter charges...don't know if its true..heard it on the radio..but pools are a very big responsibility from the saftey side of things....don't want to be a prophet of doom just passing on the info!! We adore our pool...especially the odd midnight skinnydip. If you can be arsed to look after it they are huge value!! Also remember when you buy a house with a pool it will possibly hold back the sale when you wanna move on..again I was told that some people dont want them and will pass over your house cos it has one...on the other hand if you are like me it made up my mind to buy the gaff in the first place..even with the reservations I had about keeping a pool!! Always dreamt of owning one..in the UK..impossible..over here, very possible!!!! Good luck!!

[Debbie]

Thanks for the links and info. The current owners pay someone $45 a fortnight to do the spa and pool and that covers all costs except salt. Im a bit confused as to whether a fortnightly service is realy enough or if I should do 'things' during the interval. Sorry to sound dence but what is this backwashing.? Does it all fall into place when you are there and have it all in front of you or do you have to be a mad scientist type to get all of this.
$90 a month is $90 i could spend on other bits but it may work out just as expencive me mucking about with all of this and I can't get the chemical bits in the mega bulk size I assume the pool guy does. Any one have an idea if this is good value or not. ?
Im so out of my depth....(pun intended).
Debbie

[jo-and-jeff]

On a talk show in the U.S., I once saw a money expert list what he believed were the 10 Worst Money Decisions people can make. One of those was to own a swimming pool; he said that the maintenance and repair costs, whilst they might seem small, were actually significantly large over a period of time.

Bear in mind that he was discussing ways that people would get no financial return -- or worse yet, a negative return -- from things in which they invested their money. (One of the other items was maintaining a high credit card balance and paying interest on it whilst putting money into savings, instead of paying off the balance first and then saving.)

Obviously, there are quality-of-life decisions you can make which will lessen your financial resources -- like taking a salary cut to move to New Zealand. Does that mean that it's the wrong decision?

If you've done a realistic budget and you won't be hurting for money, if you know that you would definitely get a lot of use out of a swimming pool, buying a property with one could be a good lifestyle decision for you.

But if there's any question about how tight your finances might be, I would recommend not jumping into a swimming pool commitment until you've been here awhile and are sure that it's something that you can afford. As many people here have reported, it's not uncommon in NZ to find that your expenses are considerably higher than you expected.

Jo

[sarahw]

I guess it all depends on how much you use them & how long is a piece of string really - everyone's different.

We have a spa pool (no swimming pool) & usually do maintenance once a week, if we're using every day then it needs more maintenance chemicalwise - needs emptying & re-filling around every 6 weeks, but you can make it last longer if you use the chemicals to balance it well. If you get a good pool shop you can take your pool water in to them & they'll tell you what you need to do to correct the situation. The chemicals aren't mega cheap but its not bank-breaking either - the electric is the thing that we've noticed - between $30-50 a month. It doesn't take much time & is quite easy to balance the water.

Personally, it wasn't a financial decision or anything about raising property values - couldn't care less about that - we plan on being in this house for 20 years+, it was something we both wanted & we use it every day in the summer - great stress reliever & brilliant for my hubby's bad back!!, use it quite a bit less in winter - may even switch it off next winter to save electric. Loved spending Xmas morning in it with a bottle of bubbly last year!

I've heard from people with swimming pools (as I said earlier the preference is very personal) that they can end up being a pain in the bottom & some people get them filled in if they buy a property with one on because they can't be bothered with all the work - just depends on your location, the weather & whether you use it often enough or don't.

[felix]

Thanks for the links and info. The current owners pay someone $45 a fortnight to do the spa and pool and that covers all costs except salt. Im a bit confused as to whether a fortnightly service is realy enough or if I should do 'things' during the interval. Sorry to sound dence but what is this backwashing.? Does it all fall into place when you are there and have it all in front of you or do you have to be a mad scientist type to get all of this.
$90 a month is $90 i could spend on other bits but it may work out just as expencive me mucking about with all of this and I can't get the chemical bits in the mega bulk size I assume the pool guy does. Any one have an idea if this is good value or not. ?
Im so out of my depth....(pun intended).
Debbie

Having one built is not a good idea. The chap (who owned the house before)that built ours spent $100000 about 3-4 years ago having it constructed and walked away from the house 2 or so years later and the place owed him money (on the initial price 2 years earlier!!) They say constuctionwise, for every $10 spent on a pool you get $1 back...if you are lucky!! You either have too much money or have a pool addiction to have one made, in our case he had the former and his daughter the latter!!

Ours does incur cost of course..but you balance that agin what you get out of it. I find it a great luxury..and find the money accordingly. However if we hit on hard times it would be the first thing shut down!!

Back washing is when you turn your pool filtration into reverse and wash pool water thru' the sand filtering unit..normally thats a big black bulb shaped thingy full of sand. You do this until the water runs clear thru' the perspex inspection pipe and then you rinse for abot 15 secs and then put back to filtration. ALWAYS remembering to turn OFF the pump each time you move the handle from one action to the next.

Buying chems in bulk..like 25kg bags saves loads of money as does buying salt from Farmlands where its half as cheap and does exactly the same job. On cheap electricity it costs us $1 a day to filter the pool for 8hrs. Its half that when we don't use the pool which is 9 months of the year. I suppose I spend all in all about 1-2 hours a fortnight on maintenance which costs only my time. Chems are around $300-450 per annum. If a pool light goes that is $85, then there are salt electrodes to consider, pumps, thrusters (for swimming on the spot) if you have them, transformers for your lights and any other such sundry items as leaks, replacing pool covers, pool rollers (utterly invaluable IMO) buying tools you don't have...yeah it is a costly bit of kit..but you're a long time dead aye???

We are not rich, we just spend less elsewhere..I have a really old van type people carrier, about as chique as a breeze block and I dress like a vagrant...you pays yer money and gets yer choice!!

[Avalon]

Thanks for the links and info. The current owners pay someone $45 a fortnight to do the spa and pool and that covers all costs except salt. Im a bit confused as to whether a fortnightly service is realy enough or if I should do 'things' during the interval. Sorry to sound dence but what is this backwashing.? Does it all fall into place when you are there and have it all in front of you or do you have to be a mad scientist type to get all of this.
$90 a month is $90 i could spend on other bits but it may work out just as expencive me mucking about with all of this and I can't get the chemical bits in the mega bulk size I assume the pool guy does. Any one have an idea if this is good value or not. ?
Im so out of my depth....(pun intended).
Debbie

What Jo says is quite true - to be honest - it is an expense having a pool and really you arent going to be putting the money into an "asset" which grows in value. But thats where you need to decide on your personal preferences.

In the past year ive spent $1800 on our pool maintainance. I do all the work myself, adn that does include $825 on a floatron (a device thast supposed to maintain the pool water without so much chemicals), and $600 on a bubble cover (that helps increase the heat and keep rubbish out).

Is $90 a month a lot? Well, for me - I actually enjoy sorting the pool out. We certainly dont do it every fortnight - possibly once a month during summer we hoover and rake up leaves. Hoovering the pool still seems truly odd to me! And for the rest of it - it doesnt take much effort to test the pool and add chemicals - possible 5 mins a week during summer. After the summer - you can "winterise" the pool by adding a special algicide to it. You pretty much check on it every now and then, dont have the filter on as much (during summer it needs to run at least 8-12 hours every day) and ignore it.

Why not try it and see if you like it (assuming you have the equipment there already - if you dont it could be quite an expense to get it all.) If its just too much, then yes - I firmly beleive in budgeting so that you CAN get someone in. I have done that so I can afford to pay for someone to mow my lawn. I hate mowing lawns, but I can handle the pool.

Now - backwashing:

Your pool will have a filter. When the filter is switched on to "filter" water runs through it and it grabs all the muck and sediment out of the water and then clean water runs back into the pool.

The filter can fill up with this stuff (ours does this frequently becasue we have a lot of wind blowing dust in from the fields).

Backwashing cleans the filter. Water runs from the pool, through the filter picking up the muck, and then instead of the water going back to the pool - it runs off into the garden.

You should have a "sight glass" at the back of the filter unit. When you backwash - you can watch the sightglass and see when the water runs clear. That tells you the filter is clean and you can set it back to filtering. ALWAYS switch the pump off before you change the filter setting.NEVER leave the pump on backwash for 3 hours It should take about 30 seconds to a minute to backwash. Backwashing lowers the water level - and trust me when I say 3hours is toooooo long!

I love my pool - wouldnt be without it now - and i do like tinkering with it. You dont need to know chemistry at all. It does take a bit of getting used to - and I think you should reckon now on feeling a bit silly to start with while you get the hang of it. If you DIY - you are probably going to get to know your local pool supply shop staff rather well. Get them to talk you through the process - and DO NOT be ashamed to ask them to run through instructions more than once.

Does that help a bit?

Hxxx

[sarahw]

Good advice from Avalon, another thing to mention is that an advantage of using your local pool shop is they may have promotions - we get one free set of chemicals for every 10 sets we buy - you won't get that with a pool man!