Swimming Pool Maintenance

[Doga]

New to the pool owning game. Need some advice, suggestions, etc as I want to get my pool ready for the Summer.

To clean my pool I normally give it a good scrub, Go through it with the net to pick up any leaves, then vacuum it. Then I check in a cup of Chlorine just because that's what I've been told I should do.

Questions

* What should I get to test the pool water? What should I look for?
* Should I also get a creepy crawly? If so which one?
* Should I get a pool guy out before I get going to teach me all I need to know?

The pool is stock / standard Chlorine - Should I convert it to Salt water? OR should I convert to one of those systems that automatically checks the PH ans mixes Chlorine & Acid??

 

[The Greatest]

Mine is salt water and I use Contractor, it cost me around the $70.00 per visit, which is once every 3 weeks in summer and one every 5-6 weeks in winter..
And it's always ready for a swim.

 

[dogslyfe]

Mine is salt water and I use Contractor, it cost me around the $70.00 per visit, which is once every 3 weeks in summer and one every 5-6 weeks in winter..
And it's always ready for a swim.

Is that just for his time? How dear are all the pool additives and electricy use for it etc?

The old Mongoose Manor had a pool and it was always costing me. It's gold for the 5 months of the year you can use it though.

 

[Harby]

Is worth getting a pool? How much does a decent size pool cost these days to have it installed? Thinking of getting a rectangular pool with a semi-circle spa thingo on one side

 

[Özil]

Mine is inground...

Its good to get a pool guy to come in as he will test the quality of your water in your pool... we pay around $280 once every summer to have our cleaned and ensure its back to normal ph level then its up to us keep it maintained using nets to pick up any rubbish floating .

Just make sure you dont have any spiders in the filter especially after rain

 

[Harby]

Mine is inground...

Its good to get a pool guy to come in as he will test the quality of your water in your pool... we pay around $280 once every summer to have our cleaned and ensure its back to normal ph level then its up to us keep it maintained using nets to pick up any rubbish floating .

Just make sure you dont have any spiders in the filter especially after rain

Guessing normal pH would be 7? lol.. and other than getting the bloke around and using the nets you don't have to do anything else?

 

[Doga]

Mine is salt water and I use Contractor, it cost me around the $70.00 per visit, which is once every 3 weeks in summer and one every 5-6 weeks in winter..
And it's always ready for a swim.

I don't mind doing it myself. Find it quite relaxing. I'm sure i'll find it to be laborious and go down that same route, eventually.

In the meantime..have you got one of those kreepy krawly things? There are so many about, hard to know what is good!!

 

[Abdul..]

Hey Doga. Take a 600ml sample of water to a pool maintenance centre. They will test it and give you instructions of what chemicals you need and how much.

I have had a salt water, and still needed to use acid on occasions.

On the cleaner issue, don't go cheap. Mid range should be ok.
Agree with TG. If you get a professional out, at least once every couple of months.

 

[The Greatest]

I don't mind doing it myself. Find it quite relaxing. I'm sure i'll find it to be laborious and go down that same route, eventually.

In the meantime..have you got one of those kreepy krawly things? There are so many about, hard to know what is good!!

Yeah you're right, it does get a bit too much after a while.

I have a keeper krawley, I run it around 5 hours a day with a timer.
There's another brand called barracuda, it's very good as well.

 

[The Greatest]

Is that just for his time? How dear are all the pool additives and electricy use for it etc?

The old Mongoose Manor had a pool and it was always costing me. It's gold for the 5 months of the year you can use it though.

That's for time and chemicals.
I'm not sure how much electricity it cost tbh.

 

[mikey_mtp]

My pool was looking like a swamp during winter and to replace those kreeper things is a pain in the monetary a*shole.

 

[Cat & Mouse]

Mine is salt water and I use Contractor, it cost me around the $70.00 per visit, which is once every 3 weeks in summer and one every 5-6 weeks in winter..
And it's always ready for a swim.

Ditto but like 6/12 weeks haha cutting in thin

 

[Bad Billy]

Mine is inground...

Its good to get a pool guy to come in as he will test the quality of your water in your pool... we pay around $280 once every summer to have our cleaned and ensure its back to normal ph level then its up to us keep it maintained using nets to pick up any rubbish floating .

Just make sure you dont have any spiders in the filter especially after rain

If you're in Sydney, funnel webs those fuckers !! They'll live a couple of days in the water, you think they're dead till they bite you ! Funnily, they can't hurt your dog ? Dogs can be bitten by them, eat them - they don't do shit to dogs.

 

[Bry]

Definitely change it to salt water. I persisted with chlorine for 3 years and it was a constant battle to keep it looking good. I converted to salt water a year ago and the pool has been crystal clear ever since without having to add anything but two bags of salt last month. It is healthier for saltwater as it is always stable where levels go up and down depending how often you add it.

I had a kreepy krawly that always got stuck and was a piece of **** in general. I bought a by bunnings job a dew years ago and it was useless. I but the bullet and splashed out and bought a barracuda last year and it is so much better than the kk. I also get ****loads of leaves in my pool so I have an extra thing on it to collect the leaves.

 

[Harby]

Spiders are scary

 

[Papa Emeritus]

One of the places I rented had a pool. I forget the proper name for it but the filtration system handled all of the chlorine. I think I hear the pool guy tell me it was half salt?

It was awesome because all we had to pay for was chemicals, owner paid the rest and we had heaps of fun in summer. Tell you what though, looking after it through winter was seriously lame, mainly due to the massive tree above our house that would dump a million leaves in there.

 

[Doga]

Hey Doga. Take a 600ml sample of water to a pool maintenance centre. They will test it and give you instructions of what chemicals you need and how much.

I have had a salt water, and still needed to use acid on occasions.

On the cleaner issue, don't go cheap. Mid range should be ok.
Agree with TG. If you get a professional out, at least once every couple of months.

Yeah, I 'was meant to do that this weekend. Time got away for me. Hopefully I can find a pool shop that is open latish (around 7:30ish0 so I can get there after work sometime. Unless I find one in the city, which I've never seen.

Yeah you're right, it does get a bit too much after a while.

I have a keeper krawley, I run it around 5 hours a day with a timer.
There's another brand called barracuda, it's very good as well.

Definitely change it to salt water. I persisted with chlorine for 3 years and it was a constant battle to keep it looking good. I converted to salt water a year ago and the pool has been crystal clear ever since without having to add anything but two bags of salt last month. It is healthier for saltwater as it is always stable where levels go up and down depending how often you add it.

I had a kreepy krawly that always got stuck and was a piece of **** in general. I bought a by bunnings job a dew years ago and it was useless. I but the bullet and splashed out and bought a barracuda last year and it is so much better than the kk. I also get ****loads of leaves in my pool so I have an extra thing on it to collect the leaves.

i've been looking at the Barracuda actually. Think we might be onto a winner there. There are so many different models though - Ah well research time.

Think i'll look into switching to saltwater too!!

If you're in Sydney, funnel webs those fuckers !! They'll live a couple of days in the water, you think they're dead till they bite you ! Funnily, they can't hurt your dog ? Dogs can be bitten by them, eat them - they don't do shit to dogs.

I'm very weary of spiders - don't worry about that.

I've seen a couple of hunstmen in there already. No funnel webs thank Gandalf!! *Knocks on wood*

 

[Doga]

This seems to have some pretty good reviews

Onga Hammerhead

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/onga-hammerhead.html

 

[Moe]

This seems to have some pretty good reviews

Onga Hammerhead

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/onga-hammerhead.html

we got that. works a treat.

 

[Özil]

This seems to have some pretty good reviews

Onga Hammerhead

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/onga-hammerhead.html

Ive got that as well... does a very good job when picking up crap from the ground.