Posted: 1/24/2010 5:23:03 PM EDT
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New house will have a small pool. No contact with prior owner, how do you work the pump, chlorine, etc? Someone at a party tonight said something about backwash?
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Quoted:
New house will have a small pool. No contact with prior owner, how do you work the pump, chlorine, etc? Someone at a party tonight said something about backwash? you mean backflush? ive had everyone of my past and current homes with a pool. They are not hard to maintain, really. It realy depends on how much debris like leaves, sand, dirt etc get into the pool. Or how much it is used. Did I say it was easy? 
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Quoted: Quoted: New house will have a small pool. No contact with prior owner, how do you work the pump, chlorine, etc? Someone at a party tonight said something about backwash? you mean backflush? ive had everyone of my past and current homes with a pool. They are not hard to maintain, really. It realy depends on how much debris like leaves, sand, dirt etc get into the pool. Or how much it is used. Did I say it was easy? I am sure it is easy, I just don't know anything about it. Pinch a Penny is around the corner (big pool place here), I will chat them up for advice and pointers.
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Quoted:
New house will have a small pool. No contact with prior owner, how do you work the pump, chlorine, etc? Someone at a party tonight said something about backwash? Ask around and get a professional pool service. Here in S. Fl it's 85 bucks a month. Not worth the hassle and hauling chemicals to do it yourself. |
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Its not difficult, just a lot of shit you have to do. Find a good pool store locally, someplace that will test your water. I take samples periodically to them which they put in a fancy machine and it prints out exactly how much of what chemicals I need.
As far as opening/closing, operating and maintaining the pump, and cleaning, find a neighbor/relative/friend and buy them a case of beer. Teaching you everything will take an afternoon. The local pool store should be a big resource too. |
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I have one, and many of my friends do. If you stay on top of things they are EASY, only lazy people hate them.
Shock mine twice a month, add chlorine. Thats it. When I bought my house a local pool company came out to my house for "Pool School". 75 bucks and they told me what to do. |
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We put in a pool 2 years ago with a de filter. It is a brown powdery powder that has to be put inside the filter. It along with the pump filters the water. I have to clean it out and change about 1 time per month when it is in use. About a 30 min. job. We use granular chlorine and check water with a simple kit. Then adjust ph from there. I suppose a sand filter works about the same but supposedly doesn't filter water as clean. But less maintenance with sand. The pool isn't bad when in operation, winterizing is a different story. |
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Don't panic. It's easy. Your local pool supply co. will give you all the help you need. Mine offered a pool school where a technician came and gave me a private lesson on how to work it. Worth the $100 or so dollars.
Here are a few of my observations while owning a pool. Here's the number one thing. Keep the Chlorine levels up. If you do this, your problems(chemical wise) will be minimal. If you don't do this, your problems will be exponentially greater. A polaris or similar type of cleaner is essential and worth their weight in gold. All parts on a polaris are replaceable therefore they last forever. You will feel like you are being raped every time you replace parts which will be often. There will never be a time when you pool doesn't need attention or some kind of repair. On a hot windy day, you can loose an inch of water. Amazing really. 75 degrees is warm enough to swim the first year. After the first year, 84 is the minimum. (unless you actually swim laps.) Get your moneys worth the first couple of years. After that, the new wears off and you will use it less. Even when you aren't swimming in it, it's nice to look at. Have fun. after ten years of owning a pool, I'd buy another house with a pool. |
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I worked for a pool service company for 2 years... I will tell you this...pay some company to do it for you. In FL this should be very easy to do. We could do in 5 mins. per week what you cannot do in 5 hours per week because we can get chemicals in a higher concentration that you cannot, and we know what we are doing with the pump, valves, and filter to make everything flow right. I used to work with 200 pools per week, and I knew more about pools after the first month than my father-in-law who had owned pools for 20 years. I also got tons of experience in rescuing swamps.
Other than that, you might try it yourself with the help of some website. Just watch your pH, a low-ish pH (7.2-7.6) is as important as a Chlorine level above 2 (I do not care if GOD himself tells you that a chlorine level of .5 - 1.5 is best, keep it at 2 or higher and you will be happier) Never add chlorine or anything else without adding acid or at least checking pH, I don't care if the bottle says that it is "neutral pH"... they are lying. USE WATER CONDITIONER (Isocyanuric Acid) it is expensive, but it works! Keep your skimmers and drains clear, and keep an eye on your filter pressure, and keep in mind that it can be fine one week, and super high the next for no real reason, do not let the water level get low. DO NOT TRUST ANYTHING THAT ANY STRIP-MALL POOL SUPPLY SALESMAN TELLS YOU!!!!!!!!!!! If they tell you that the sky is blue... check it first before you believe them. Only go in there if you already know exactly what you need, and do not let them talk you in to buying half of the crap that they sell. Good luck. |