HELP needed for new pool owner !

[Linda1]

We just relocated and bought a house with a pool. (A pool was not what we were looking for, but it came with the house. ) Can someone point me in the direction of some good sources ( WWW or books) to begin getting an education about how to take care of it?

The pool is pretty small, with a waterfall and hot tub, 8 years old, and the inspector told me it is very high quality- top of the line equipment etc... he said it probably cost $50-60K to install, so I don't want to mess it up!

Also, if anyone has converted to a salt pool, can you educate me on that too?
Is it true that switching to salt could cause all the mortar and concrete in the pool area to be degraded in a matter of years ? ( Like salt on the highway.)

It sounds like this will be the equivalent of having another child.We are going to hire a weekly service, but I need to know how all this stuff works. All help is greatly appreciated (especially if you've had a pool for years)!!!!! THANKS!

 

[fit44]

Choice in chemicals is really all you need to consider, care is pretty easy once you know how.
I agree gratefuldog, contact the company who designed the pool to see what chemicals they recommend for warranty etc.
It's been a while since I've owned a pool, but I know you have options when it comes to how you treat the water.

 

[GraceNote]

Hi!

I was in your shoes about 5 years ago - never had a pool before and bought a house that had one. I was pretty intimidated!

The first year, we tried doing it ourselves with the help of the local pool store and hired a professional to do the opening and closing. It was very expensive and we put in a lot of hours of pool maintenance as well as money for a lot of chemicals. We had all kinds of issues with algae, cloudy water, pink slime, etc. Lots of work, chemicals and lost swimming days.

After that season, I went researching and found A Swimming Pool and Spa Care Forum • Trouble Free Pool

It completely changed the way we maintain our pool! After that first year, the second year was a learning curve, and every year since has been so much easier. I test my own water and treat based on the instructions I found on that site, plus help from the forum members.

I got the big testing kit that they talk about on that site, and started figuring out how all the chemicals work. We stopped buying commercial pool chlorine and started using bleach from Sam's Club Sounds crazy, but it's so amazingly simple once you learn a few basics. The forum is great for questions and problems, too - lots of knowledgeable pool owners who really want to help. Even if you don't do the pool maintenance yourself, I'd recommend reading through the Pool School section of the site just so you understand how things work so you can better understand what your pool service or store is telling you.

We have not had any problems with algae, pink slime, high chlorine, cloudy water, etc. in the past three years! Amazing, especially considering the weather challenges with monsoon rains, record high temps, pollen, etc. We open and close the pool ourselves, too, which is really nice because it's on our schedule, not the pool company's.

Good luck, however you proceed! I hope you have a GREAT summer!!!

 

[Linda1]

Thank you for the suggestions. All of them are helpful, and useful. So far the pool service is keeping it clean - which gives me time to look into all your suggestions. Moving is such an adventure! Thanks!!!!

 

[valdavis]

We had a pool for the last four years we lived in Texas. It is the one thing I miss now that I live in Northern California.
We hired a service that did just the chemicals. They came in every Monday morning and would do the chemicals and be out in around 5 minutes. Once or twice a year they would do a little more. It ran us about $50 a month and was totally worth it. We never had any trouble. My husband did the skimming etc.