I'm about 95% certain I'll be buying a house with a pool. I know nothing about caring for a pool. This pool looks like it's been sitting for a few months- alge, little insects (probably mosquito larve). Should I empty out the water and start fresh (although during typing this I was pretty grossed out and decided to anyway). How much can I expect to spend a month on chlorine and electricity? What about cleaning? Anything else?
I bought a house with a pool last year. I highly recommend you convert to a salt water system ASAP. The benefits far outweigh the (minimal) costs for the equipment. Good luck.
There's a good chance we're moving to California next year and a good chance we'll be buying a house with a pool. I've started to look into the whole salt water thing. futants, did you convert your system, or did it come that way? If you did convert it, how much did it cost and did you do the conversion yourself? Thanks.
I asked a family member who owns a pool and they said there really is no need in emptying the pool out unless the algae is just way out of control, the water is that bad, or you just want to. They said you just treat the water and circulate it through the filtration system and it should be taken care of.
I'd actually suggest getting someone out to clean it well and check for any potential problems the first time and teach you what you need to do.
Draining a pool can lead to structural problems with the pool. Groundwater can cause the pool to actually float out of the ground. You should be able to just treat the water with chemicals and run the pool pump to circulate through the filter. It doesn't matter how dirty the pool is. The combination of shocking, balancing your chemicals, vacuuming the debris out, and all that will get the water clean. You may have to supershock the pool. Draining the pool is not a good idea if you can avoid it.
I've owned a pool for a year now. Living in Houston, at a certain age, I think it's awesome and almost a necessity. I probably spend twice as much time in my backyard as I did in previous homes. Instead of "it's too hot to be outside" or "there are too many mosquitos", it's "let's go jump in the pool". If you have dogs that like to swim (or kids, I guess), it is even more enjoyable. I do not have any pool heater and in general haven't found the electrical cost to be that much of a burden. If you are willing to clean and apply chemicals yourself, it's all in all not so much of a burden. Regarding saltwater pools. I'd say if you are comfortable you are going to be in the house for a long time, definitely look into (assuming it isn't saltwater already). You can do the googling and see that there are some who like saltwater pools, some who don't... The one thing to definitely do when buying your house, is definitely have a separate inspection done by a pool company. Frankly, this is generally true of any major system in your house during an inspection....though that can get costly and difficult to arrange, so if you have a good inspector/MEP guy then you should be okay. But I think the pool is such a unique vehicle on its own, that you should have a pool specialist look at the pool. It's the one-time costs that can really get you - the equipment, etc. And if the pool at the house you are buying is in any way "old" - and from the sounds of it, it hasn't been properly cared for - you should definitely be able to get some money off the house for the pool repairs you're going to have to make (assuming it isn't an as-is / foreclosure type buy). Also, the pool guy should be able to tell you if you need to completely replace the water. It may look gross, but you'd be surprised at how they can clean those things. EDIT: looks like Pun and Surf beat me to it. You shouldn't need to drain the pool...it will cost a lot and end up being ahuge headache.
My pool has gotten pretty bad a couple of times and adding chemicals and running the filter for a while will clear it up in under a week. The chemical costs aren't that high, if you buy the chlorine tabs and shock in bulk you can probably get them for between $100 and $200 a year.
I converted it to salt water the day I moved into the house. The unit (salt water chlorinator) was just about $1000 (although I see them for less these days). I paid a guy to install it, but having watched the process, I feel confident I could have done it myself.
Unless there needs to be work done to the actual interior of the pool, you shouldn't have to empty it. While you can certainly get the pool up to working order on your own, since you've never worked with a pool I recommend hiring someone at first. They can come in, do all the initial cleaning on the pool and show you how to maintain your pool going forward. As for salt water systems, when we put in our pool and got quotes from several reputable pool dealers, they were pretty much split down the middle on what was better: traditional chlorinator or a salt water system. So there is a lot of debate and discussion on what is truly better for your pool. Do your research and figure out what will be better for you. Also: enjoy your pool. Its fun to go get pool "toys", even when you are an adult.
don't circulate the water through the filter. -------------------------------- you can circulate w/o going through the filter. add some of algeacide like this. http://www.intheswim.com/Pool-Chemi...uper-Algaecide-Americas-Best-Algaecide-Value/ and a few chlorine tabs. -------------------------------- after all the algea is dead and on the bottom of the pool, vacuum the algea out. the chlorine and algeacide will kill the bugs too.
Hire a cheap pool man unless the pool is small... then you can do it yourself... but it's not really too hard to maintain to be honest.
This is the chlorine generator (for the salt water pool) I have: http://www.haywardnet.com/inground/products/chlorinators/SwimPure_Plus.cfm It really works great. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I have a few friends who have traditional (chemical chlorine) pools and they're always having to do stuff to their pools. Once you get the proper amount of salt in your pool (appx. 3000 ppm), the only other thing you have to do chemically is add a few cups of muriatic acid every month-ish. The reason for this is the salt water becomes basic over time (due to the sodium molecule remaining and the chlorine molecule evaporating ever so slowly). Good luck.
I'm super stupid and a glutton for punishment, so I've done a lot of research on having a pool installed. Having admitted my stupidity, take this with a grain of salt (no pun intended), but I wouldn't have a pool that wasn't salt water. I'm convinced that pool builders only push traditional pools because they have relationships with certain vendors or are just plain scared of change. EVERYONE I know who actually owns a saltwater pool loves them. My next door neighbor recently had one built, and he went the traditional route. When I asked him why, he emphatically stated that he didn't want his patio furniture rusting. From talking with him, it was obvious that his pool builder filled him with this nonsense. Granted, I've lived on the coast, and I know salt air can make things rust faster..........but your pool isn't an ocean, and the light salinity in a saltwater pool is NOT seawater. If this is the best argument people can come up with, traditional pools should eventually go away (despite efforts to the contrary from the companies that make that traditional equipment and chemicals).
The salt water systems break all the time and their expensive to fix. All my neighbors systems have broke within 3 year of owning them. It got so bad that the pool builder replaced converted the system for free for one of the neighbors.
My parents own a pool. They were told to never completely empty the pool, otherwise the foundation would break upward through the ground.
To prepare for BlizzCon I would like to add that I also just dropped off a few zerglings at the spawning pool.
