Yes: Pools are worth it....

[Gravy Train 974]

On 4/3/2019 at 3:19 PM, Buzzrock said:

Pressure gauge is maxed out. I backwashed the filter and a lot of gunk came out but the pressure stayed the same. I’m guessing busted gauge?

Pump is running all the time and showing an error, so I left a message with the previous owner’s pool company. Intend to do all the maintenance myself but I’d like a once over and a walk through the controls.

There’s a remote which makes me wonder how hard it would be to switch to a smartphone app.

 

Backyard looks awesome!  I assume it's a DE filter?  You'll want it completely disassembled and cleaned if you don't have documented maintenance history.

That Error message is just on the pool temp sensor.  Easy and cheap replacement, if one is connected at all.

I know Hayward stuff really well.  You might have an OnCommand controller, which I have installed.  You can easily get a wireless gateway that puts it on your network for remote/web/smartphone control.

[Longhornfan1024 1707]

Every time I see the title to this thread I expect it to include pics of a bunch of big tittied ladies hanging out topless in OP's backyard.  Instead, I get this shit.  Fuck you OP.

[Buzzrock 14941]

Before I had a chance to address that bad breaker the whole thing went up in flames. Burned out all the breakers and relays and wires. Luckily the controller and board survived. Turns out none of it was up to code. $1100 later...

Probably not an issue in Texas but having all your pool pumps uphill from the pool makes for all sorts of interesting plumbing challenges. Two of three pumps won’t prime (spa jets and waterfalls). Should be fun to troubleshoot. 

[Buzzrock 14941]

Before I had a chance to address that bad breaker the whole thing went up in flames. Burned out all the breakers and relays and wires. Luckily the controller and board survived. Turns out none of it was up to code. $1100 later...

Probably not an issue in Texas but having all your pool pumps uphill from the pool makes for all sorts of interesting plumbing challenges. Two of three pumps won’t prime (spa jets and waterfalls). Should be fun to troubleshoot. 

[tbone_ 14160]

I’m not sure you can buy a house in Phoenix without a pool.

Thankfully pool guys are a dime a dozen.

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

As I am buying a house with a pool, what can I expect to spend mostly for upkeep? 

[tbone_ 14160]

How old is the pool and pool equipment?

 

We spend $80/mo for a pool guy which includes chemicals. And he’s cheap on repairs.

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

3 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

How old is the pool and pool equipment?

 

We spend $80/mo for a pool guy which includes chemicals. And he’s cheap on repairs.

Thanks, pool and equipment is a little over a year old. 

[tbone_ 14160]

You should be on good shape on repairs then. Mine is 19 years old. I am not in good shape on repairs.

[Buzzrock 14941]

Wow $80 is dirt cheap 

[HoustonHorn 1062]

I'd suggest a chiller if you're in Texas. Big difference between 86 and 92. 82-84 if my wife isn't around.

[troph 24905]

About to sell my house and build another one. Selling one pool, building another. Will find out if it’s worth it or not....

[Austinvines 318]

I'd suggest a chiller if you're in Texas. Big difference between 86 and 92. 82-84 if my wife isn't around.

My pool is so shaded I have to heat the pool for a few hours to 86 for my bride. It sucks during fall and spring when the leaves/flowers are dropping but once I get all the organics out and can just add bleach and acid, it’s well worth it.

[Not that Bob 739]

I am taking care of my aging father's house. The pool is a total mess, he even used it as a fish pond for some time. What do you say I should do with it? I read that it is not good to drain it, but it is a mosquito breeding disaster. To make it functional again I am sure I would have to replace everything other than the hole in the ground. If I got it up and running there is nobody there to use it anyway, so maintenance would be wasted money. Is there some type of cover for "abandoned" pools that will lower the risk of kids falling in? If so, do I drain it to keep mosquitoes  from breeding? What would you do?

[tbone_ 14160]

My guess is it’s probably cheaper to get it up and running than to demo it.

[Your Mom 4852]

[686 3451]

We moved recently and chose a house with a pool (first pool for us). The kids are loving it and I dig it as well. The wife was anti to start but is really appreciating it for the activity time it generates for the kids. Backyard faces east so afternoon shade and south easterly breeze typically. Good expense so far.

[Rimbo 26100]

Just moved into our new house with a pool.

It is... awesome.

Still learning about maintenance, and we need to wait for the budget to get healthier to replace some old pieces... but yeah. So worth it.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Rimbo

[Bevo 13601]

This is more of a computer question than a pool question but...

Pentair automation uses a protocol adapter which connects to a wireless router via ethernet connection and to a personality board (Load/PowerCenter) via a four-wire 22-AWG cable. Our router is located in the front of the house and the personality board and Pentair load center are in the backyard. How the hell can I connect to both at the same time? 

[Bevo 13601]

Nevermind, figured it out.

[686 3451]

Sanded and painted my control panel rack and did a little miscellaneous cleaning this weekend; had a good swim this pm with the kids. Grilling chops and enjoying a Jaime Garcia, IPA, and KUTX. Happy Father’s Day Pool Bros.

 

 

[troph 24905]

Looking to finalize design plans for the house in the coming weeks, the pool is the central feature. We will make a zero edge pool with this as its backdrop.....

 

 

Those shrubs are on our property so we can remove them.  The house will be an upside down two story with the main living areas and master bedroom upstairs (street level) and the kids downstairs.  The pool will be elevated to the adult living area (my second "above the ground, in the ground" pool - total glutton for punishment if you ask me).  We will have an expansive deck across the left to the right with a zero edge pool set within the deck, so we can have a seamless "water to water" view from the main living areas and when in the pool or on the deck.

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2019 by troph

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

So the guy who owned the previous house says it is $150/month all in, weekly cleanings, all chemicals, etc. Is that acceptable? 

[Hate 20145]

No. Do it your damn self for free!

[Dutchrudder 11151]

So we are currently looking for a new home, but not an urgent need to move yet. We have a 5 month old boy and want to get a better school district, better house for less money, etc. One thing we both want is a pool. Anything I should know or look for when buying a pool that's already built with the house?

Fresh or salt water seems to be the big dividing opinion, but I'm leaning towards salt water right now. Any thoughts on that?

Any brands of pool equipment we should avoid?

Is it worth it to have a little robot drive around to pick up dirt and leaves?

[Hate 20145]

I have had a salt water pool for 10 years and it is remarkably easy.

[Bevo 13601]

6 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

So we are currently looking for a new home, but not an urgent need to move yet. We have a 5 month old boy and want to get a better school district, better house for less money, etc. One thing we both want is a pool. Anything I should know or look for when buying a pool that's already built with the house?

Fresh or salt water seems to be the big dividing opinion, but I'm leaning towards salt water right now. Any thoughts on that?

Any brands of pool equipment we should avoid?

Is it worth it to have a little robot drive around to pick up dirt and leaves?

I've liked saltwater pools. They are easy to maintain. My pool chemical company isn't a big fan though. Supposedly, it is pretty rough on the equipment and the limestone around the pool. Personally, I am a little worried that I will get a lot of salt deposits on the limestone wall below my 4 water features/waterfalls. My pool is a new build so I don't know if it will happen, but if it does, I will stop using salt. Another way to put it is this: Do saltwater with the build and if you don't like it then stop using it. The chlorinator/salt cell is only $700 and is easy to install.

[troph 24905]

I’d like to know about damage to equipment bc we are leaning toward salt water pool right now.

[686 3451]

So we are currently looking for a new home, but not an urgent need to move yet. We have a 5 month old boy...

I’d definitely plan on having the removable fence that goes right around the pool for safety regarding the baby. Also, a beach entry is great for little kids.

[Bevo 13601]

I think the damage is somewhat overstated. You are building an expensive/nice pool and you have good income. The average lifespan of a pool heater is 7 to 10 years, if it only lasts 5 to 8 year with saltwater, how much is that going to affect your life? If you are going to have concerns, I think it should be more about the damage to the pool coping and limestone wall supporting the negative edge feature.

The salt level is about the same as human tears so it is easier on the skin and the eyes than non-saltwater pools.

[HouTex 1894]

56 minutes ago, troph said:

I’d like to know about damage to equipment bc we are leaning toward salt water pool right now.

I loved my salt water pool.  There was no damage to the pool equipment that we could tell in the 3 years we had the pool, but if you have soft sandstone around the pool it can eat it up.  We had hard travertine (IIRC) coping around our pool (which was sealed with a good sealant--Miracle Sealants 511 Impregnator) and we had no damage in the three years we had the pool before we sold the house.  Once you get the salt system installed the cost was a few dollars per month in muriatic acid.  A by-product of the chlorine producing salt system is that the pH rises (and if left unchecked it can damage your plaster) and I needed to add about a quart of acid to my pool every couple of weeks.  Other than that, and with my Polaris 280 pool sweep, my pool was virtually maintenance free.  I needed to add about a half bag of salt to my pool each year--depending on rain water dilution.  I did not need a pool man and my pool looked and felt great.  Also, research how to add borax to your pool water.  It's a one time deal and it makes your water feel really soft and it also has the effect of reducing the pH rise.  I really miss my pool this time of year.

[Bevo 13601]

29 minutes ago, HouTex said:

I loved my salt water pool.  There was no damage to the pool equipment that we could tell in the 3 years we had the pool, but if you have soft sandstone around the pool it can eat it up.  We had hard travertine (IIRC) coping around our pool (which was sealed with a good sealant--Miracle Sealants 511 Impregnator) and we had no damage in the three years we had the pool before we sold the house.  Once you get the salt system installed the cost was a few dollars per month in muriatic acid.  A by-product of the chlorine producing salt system is that the pH rises (and if left unchecked it can damage your plaster) and I needed to add about a quart of acid to my pool every couple of weeks.  Other than that, and with my Polaris 280 pool sweep, my pool was virtually maintenance free.  I needed to add about a half bag of salt to my pool each year--depending on rain water dilution.  I did not need a pool man and my pool looked and felt great.  Also, research how to add borax to your pool water.  It's a one time deal and it makes your water feel really soft and it also has the effect of reducing the pH rise.  I really miss my pool this time of year.

yeah, blue bottom pools had me add about 50lbs of borate 1 month after the plaster set. And they want me to keep the chlorine levels pretty low overall. I think they pretty much follow the trouble free pool protocol.

[HouTex 1894]

20 minutes ago, Bevo said:

yeah, blue bottom pools had me add about 50lbs of borate 1 month after the plaster set. And they want me to keep the chlorine levels pretty low overall. I think they pretty much follow the trouble free pool protocol.

I was a huge follower of trouble free pools.  There were a couple of chemical geeks on that forum who knew their stuff.  

[Snake Diggity 4627]

10 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

So we are currently looking for a new home, but not an urgent need to move yet. We have a 5 month old boy and want to get a better school district, better house for less money, etc. One thing we both want is a pool. Anything I should know or look for when buying a pool that's already built with the house?

Fresh or salt water seems to be the big dividing opinion, but I'm leaning towards salt water right now. Any thoughts on that?

Any brands of pool equipment we should avoid?

Is it worth it to have a little robot drive around to pick up dirt and leaves?

I have a pool and 2 small kids.  My $.02:

Do not say no to anything related to safety.  Fence, Cover, alarm, do all of it.

beach entry is nice, but more importantly is to have shade over that entry and the shallow end.   Babies won’t be able to hang in the sun.  Also important to have plenty of shaded patio/deck space around the pool.  It’s my experience that Babies and small kids will get bored in the pool after about a half hour, but if you have a baby pool or splash pad with toys next to the pool they will stay out there a lot longer.

pool use will increase exponentially once the kid turns 3 or 4.  Big pain in the ass to take ababy in the pool for 30 min, but once a kid can put on their own suit and actually swim (with floaties) for a couple hours it’s a lot more return on investment.

[Pogo 284]

10 hours ago, Hate said:

I have had a salt water pool for 10 years and it is remarkably easy.

This.  I have never had a "pool guy" in the 7 years we've had it.  Test chlorine and PH weekly.  Adjust chlorinator and add acid as needed.  Test water at pool store once a month or after heavy rains to see if other adjustments need to be made to things like phosphates, alkilinity, salt, cyanuric acid, hardness.

[LonghornJones 837]

^^Sounds like a lot of work.

[DaysOff 7974]

Never test water at the pool store.

We just finished our second and last build (only a moron would do this twice).

My only gripe with the saltwater pool is that the cell has trouble keeping up with summer sun and heavy bather load in Texas.

We went we Keith Zars and he won't do saltwater pools anymore. Apparently had so many problems in the last 10 years it almost broke the company since everything is lifetime warranted.

I'd think of a faux infinity edge. A true infinity pool wastes a lot of water in a drought prone area.

[LonghornJones 837]

<enhance>

[HouTex 1894]

I saw a reference to phosphates above. Biggest scam in the pool supply business. They want to sell you $75 worth of chemicals to reduce phosphates. If your CYA and chlorine are in the right zone you don’t need to worry about phosphates. Get a good test kit and do your own tests. Troublefreepools(s?).com has numerous threads on this. And the test kit they endorse is the best. If you go with a salt pool and you need to kick up the chlorine occasionally, just use plain unscented bleach. If a salt pool works for you, you spend very little time messing with chemicals and testing. I tested about once a week after everything stabilized after start up. My pool was extremely low maintenance.

[Pogo 284]

34 minutes ago, LonghornJones said:

^^Sounds like a lot of work.

It's not.  Cleaning out the filter baskets is honestly a bigger pain in the ass.   Cleaning the filter cartridges is the one thing I will pay $120 for twice a year.

 

15 minutes ago, HouTex said:

I saw a reference to phosphates above. Biggest scam in the pool supply business. They want to sell you $75 worth of chemicals to reduce phosphates. If your CYA and chlorine are in the right zone you don’t need to worry about phosphates. Get a good test kit and do your own tests. Troublefreepools(s?).com has numerous threads on this.

I probably spend about $100-$125 a year on chemicals, most of which is acid.  I will definitely check out that site though.

[HouTex 1894]

I probably spend about $100-$125 a year on chemicals, most of which is acid.  I will definitely check out that site though.

Yes, cleaning the cartridges was a pain in the ass. But my filter was oversized and my pool never really got that dirty. I could go around a year before I had to clean them.

[troph 24905]

I don’t know what a faux infinity edge is. I’ll look. Girlfriend has a salt water pool at her house (ex lives there) and she loved it. I’ll admit huge plus to easier maintenance. I’m at $225/month right now for a chlorine pool.

The comments here are the same everywhere - 4 out of 5 say it’s easy awesome. The chief complaint is deposits on coping and splashes. 1 out of 5 tell a horror story. It’s kinda interesting how that happens every time.

[Bevo 13601]

4 hours ago, DaysOff said:

We just finished our second and last build (only a moron would do this twice).

I did a lot of it myself my last two builds. This second one, I regretted every step of the way. Now that it is done though, it is great and we use the hell out of our backyard now.

[rage-a-holic 4469]

Go salt water. Don't know anyone who has salt that regrets it.

Everything mentioned above is true. I'd also say that it will add additional wear/tear on anything not brass/aluminum/stainless steel near the pool (electronics, bolts, washers, furniture, toys/etc).

Avoid Hayward pumps. They absolutely suck. My first went out after 1.5 years, covered by warranty. My 2nd is dying at 2.5 years, no warranty. I'll never spend money on Hayward anything ever again. Troublefreepools has great suggestions for better pump/filter systems.

[rage-a-holic 4469]

Oh, and I have some expensive soft Texas stone coping/deck that was installed accidentally. They were supposed to put in a stamped concrete design.

After I found out, I made them knock 5k off my bill. They tried to convince me how lucky i was to get a free 8k stone install that is "pretty easy" to maintain.

I've put the seal on it every year and it doesn't do shit. I'll be needing new coping within 5 years. Salt eats soft stone like butter.

[Bevo 13601]

8 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

Oh, and I have some expensive soft Texas stone coping/deck that was installed accidentally. They were supposed to put in a stamped concrete design.

After I found out, I made them knock 5k off my bill. They tried to convince me how lucky i was to get a free 8k stone install that is "pretty easy" to maintain.

I've put the seal on it every year and it doesn't do shit. I'll be needing new coping within 5 years. Salt eats soft stone like butter.

I need poolflood. I want to send him some pictures of my build to get his opinion. The salt cell installed with the build arrived broken. So, if he thinks it is a bad idea, I won't replace it. I was smart enough to put in Oklahoma stone for the first two courses as it is more dense than Texas limestone. However, I still have a lot of Texas limestone and the deck and coping are travertine.

[Bevo 13601]

3 hours ago, troph said:

I don’t know what a faux infinity edge is. I’ll look. Girlfriend has a salt water pool at her house (ex lives there) and she loved it. I’ll admit huge plus to easier maintenance. I’m at $225/month right now for a chlorine pool.

The comments here are the same everywhere - 4 out of 5 say it’s easy awesome. The chief complaint is deposits on coping and splashes. 1 out of 5 tell a horror story. It’s kinda interesting how that happens every time.

Infinity edge but the water doesn't go over the edge. I had one in Arizona. With a lot of kid activity it isn't a great idea because waves cause water to go over the edge. And birds use to sit on that fake edge and drink water and poop. On the plus side, they are a lot easier to design and require less engineering and expertise compared to a negative edge and you don't need an extra pump to drive the water back up to the pool.

[Poolflood 845]

2 hours ago, Bevo said:

I need poolflood. I want to send him some pictures of my build to get his opinion. The salt cell installed with the build arrived broken. So, if he thinks it is a bad idea, I won't replace it. I was smart enough to put in Oklahoma stone for the first two courses as it is more dense than Texas limestone. However, I still have a lot of Texas limestone and the deck and coping are travertine.

If something was broken at install it should be covered under warranty.  Send me pics.  I'll help if can

[Poolflood 845]

3 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

Go salt water. Don't know anyone who has salt that regrets it.

Everything mentioned above is true. I'd also say that it will add additional wear/tear on anything not brass/aluminum/stainless steel near the pool (electronics, bolts, washers, furniture, toys/etc).

Avoid Hayward pumps. They absolutely suck. My first went out after 1.5 years, covered by warranty. My 2nd is dying at 2.5 years, no warranty. I'll never spend money on Hayward anything ever again. Troublefreepools has great suggestions for better pump/filter systems.  

Just my 2 pennies.  Hayward is no worse than pentair or Jandy.  All manufacturers have fucked up products.  My Hayward pump has been running for about 8 years.  I've seen pentair pumps 15 plus years old running strong.  Shit happens.  That's what warranties are for.  Let me know if your having issues getting hayward warranty.  If you're in Texas, can probably help u out

Edited June 26, 2019 by Poolflood

[rage-a-holic 4469]

Just now, Poolflood said:

Just my 2 pennies.  Hayward is no worse than pentair or Jandy.  All manufacturers have fucked up products.  My Hayward pump has been running for about 8 years.  I've seen pentair pumps 15 plus years old running strong.

You'll find a lot of people with the same views about Hayward over here

 

https://www.troublefreepool.com/forums/pumps-filters-and-plumbing.11/