How to take care of a pool

[mackmama]

We are exploring the purchase of a home that has a pool. We'd like to lower the expenses associated with the home so are investigating servicing the pool ourselves. What would be involved in taking care of a pool in terms of keeping the pool clean, safe, and functional? I understand that chemicals would need to be put in the pool - how often? Does a pool need to be physically scrubbed? It is a saltwater pool.

[pinkmomagain]

I wish I could answer, but I have a chlorine pool. I would recommend going to pool supply place and asking there! It would probably be helpful to know if the pool is gunnite, vinyl, etc.

[o_mom]

We are exploring the purchase of a home that has a pool. We'd like to lower the expenses associated with the home so are investigating servicing the pool ourselves. What would be involved in taking care of a pool in terms of keeping the pool clean, safe, and functional? I understand that chemicals would need to be put in the pool - how often? Does a pool need to be physically scrubbed? It is a saltwater pool.

When my cousin bought a house with a pool, they had a pool company come out and show them what to do. They called it "pool school". I don't know what the cost was, but I don't think it was much (may have been free). A good company will know that by helping you now, you will be loyal to them for opening/closing/repair/chemicals and maybe even routine stuff later if you decide you don't want to do it.

I would get more details on the nature of the pool and then go talk to someone at a pool store about what all would be involved. Most people I know with pools use automatic cleaners and as long as the balance is kept correct, there is very little to do during the season once it is up and going.

[Momit]

We had a chlorine pool in California. I wish we had done the "pool school" thing but we just figured it out as we went along. All I can say is keep up with whatever regular maintenance they say with checking the pH etc. (or maybe you don't have to do that with saltwater?) The few times we got lazy we ended up spending a long time scrubbing the sides to remove algae. Skim regularly, and get a cover that's easy to use. We had a few big windstorms and the pool looked almost like solid ground there were so many leaves and branches on it. But our cover was a total PITA and we never used it. Love the retractable ones!

And check how much the pool co. charges, it may not be as much as you think.

ETA we did have an automatic sweeper but it could be a little temperamental - we had to watch to make sure it didn't get stuck or clogged

[twowhat?]

Ditto on pool school. You can also pay for a month of service and shadow the service guy each time until you're comfortable with it:) You will need to learn what all your pool valves do, how to operate the pump (turn it on/off and how to purge it). DH does the pool work and in the summer it's just a matter of making sure the chemicals are added at the right amounts (easy once you figure out the amounts - the pool stores here will also test water samples for free and tell you how much to add of what), cleaning out the skimmers (easy), vacuuming the bottom (once you learn it, it's easy), scrubbing (which really is minimal if you have the right amounts of chemicals to control algae) and that's really about it. For the first couple of months we took water samples in and had them tell us what to add and we did this weekly. After a couple of months a definite pattern emerged (i.e. in the summer - add XX amount of chlorine every 7-10 days). So once we figured that out, we stopped testing the water every time (though testing is easy to do yourself - you can buy kits for this but we have been here for almost 2 years and still don't have a water testing kit - we just take a water sample to the pool store if we're unsure). You should set your pool pump to run a certain number of hours in a day. Run it overnight - electricity is cheaper at night. For DH it is an excuse to get outside and do some physical activity and that has always been my argument when we talk about whether to hire someone. I tell him why not just keep doing it himself - it's a kid-free chore and it gets him a bit of exercise and he agrees with that.

The tricky thing is the "what happens when the pool pump makes a funky noise" type of situation. DH has learned over time what certain sounds mean, like if the pump is sucking in air due to something trapped in skimmer or water level too low. But you can also take the "if that happens, turn off pool pump and call someone in the morning" approach. It's not all or nothing - you can kind of choose how much "professional help" you want. For us DH does the weekly maintenance and we call someone to come out once a year to clean out the big filter on the pump, give the pool a good scrubbing from its winter non-use, and just in general check to make sure everything is in good working order. We would also call someone if something goes wrong that we have no idea how to fix (like if the pump was making a wonky noise that isn't due to the usual suspects (i.e. trapped air).

It's not hard to learn so long as you are willing to put the energy into it. We've asked about saltwater a few times and all the pool guys say it's the same amount of work - the only real difference is the "chemicals" that you are adding to the pool.

Bottom line is 1) find a convenient pool store that has a good reputation and just keep up a relationship with them - they will help you troubleshoot when you bring in water samples and 2) find a reputable pool maintenance company for "pool school", yearly maintenance (if you don't want to do the big stuff like clean out the big filter yourself), and fixing problems. Everything else you can learn if you're willing to:)

Also, in terms of expense - we had to put a fence around our pool (the mesh safety kind). It ran about $1500 and we have a pretty small pool. Our backyard is fenced, but there needs to be a barrier or two between the doors to the house and the entrance to the pool (our "second barrier" is guardian door locks to all doors leading from house to backyard). So if you have little kids, you may need to take that expense into consideration (I can't remember how old your kids are).

[maestramommy]

I have a chlorine pool too, but I second pp advice to check out a pool servicing store just to ask. The first year Dh got a lot of advice and had a service close the pool, so he could see what was involved. Now he does everything himself.

[mackmama]

Thanks, everyone! I was at the house today and the pool service person happened to show up - so I got a chance to ask some questions. I like the idea of having him (or another pro) open/close the pool and then we'd maintain it weekly ourselves. As I was talking to the guy today, I wondered if he'd be willing to teach us but didn't ask since it'd be taking business away from him... but it sounds like you all have had some luck with the pool school approach. I agree that hopefully he'd see the benefit too since we'd still be working with him on a seasonal and as-needed basis. The pool has an automatic safety cover already, so I think we'd be all set there.

[twowhat?]

Thanks, everyone! I was at the house today and the pool service person happened to show up - so I got a chance to ask some questions. I like the idea of having him (or another pro) open/close the pool and then we'd maintain it weekly ourselves. As I was talking to the guy today, I wondered if he'd be willing to teach us but didn't ask since it'd be taking business away from him... but it sounds like you all have had some luck with the pool school approach. I agree that hopefully he'd see the benefit too since we'd still be working with him on a seasonal and as-needed basis. The pool has an automatic safety cover already, so I think we'd be all set there.

If you liked him, definitely ask. When we did it, our pool guy was happy to show us (if he knew in advance to reserve more time for us) and just charged by the hour for it - since he was actually servicing the pool at the same time it ended up costing just a little more (an extra hour) than if he wasn't trying to show us. Take pictures and/or video, and notes! :)

[kdeunc]

We are looking at houses with pools too. I think that saltwater is easier to maintain. We had an above ground pool that we put a salt water system on and it required very little "oversight".

[dhano923]

We have a chlorine pool in So. CA, so we don't worry about opening and closing it in the winter. When we bought our house, we looked into servicing it ourselves, but the pool service is only $80/month, and they come once a week to balance the pH, scrub the sides, empty the filters, etc. When we figured in the cost of the supplies, chemicals, and time, we decided it was worth paying for the service.