Swimming Pool Maintenance Considerations

Parent Cafe
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<p>I have an outdoor pool, quite small, perhaps 15’ x 30’ and 5’ deep. I have never owned a pool before so this is my first. Since I was not experienced, I hired some one doing the maintenance, he is charging me $60 winter(every two weeks) and $85 summer(every week). I found that he some time skips the cleaning the bottom of the pool, so some dirt has left there. I am not very happy with that.</p>

<p>So, I am thinking of DIY. I skim the surface every day to get the leafes out anyway. Could I save by doing the rest myself? What are the normal maintenances of a swimming pool? I have seen him did the followings:</p>

<ol>
<li>Clean/change the filter (once when we started), he told me it took over 2 hours to make the change.</li>
<li>Test the PH level and add chemicals</li>
<li>Vacuum clean the bottom</li>
<li>skim the surface</li>
<li>turn on the pump for vacuuming, set timer so the pump will circulate 3-4 hours a day.</li>
<li>Top it with water while he is there.</li>
</ol>

<p>He proposed to change the seal some times, but not now.</p>

<p>What else I cannot do that he can? I can buy an auto sweeper and set the timer to clean it every day, which is not hard.</p>

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<p>[A</a> Swimming Pool and Spa Care Forum • Trouble Free Pool](<a href=“http://www.troublefreepool.com/]A”>http://www.troublefreepool.com/) is a good resource for learning how to take care of your own pool. Trust them before trusting your local pool store.</p>

<p>DIY means you’ll need to purchase a kit to test the water and either an automated pool sweep or vacuum head and hoses. That will be a large up-front cost. A good automated pool sweep will run anywhere between $400-$1000. There are then ongoing costs: the chemicals, replacement test kit reagents, replacement parts for the pool sweep/vacuum hoses. Get a sense of how much it will cost you to pay for these costs, and then compare that to what your pool guy is charging. </p>

<p>It’s not difficult to do or to learn, but it does get tedious. Know yourself and your habits. Skipping a week can have big consequences (e.g. algae blooms, degraded plaster/liner). You’ll need to be testing not just the pH, but also (at minimum) the chlorine level and alkalinity. </p>

<p>The estimate of 2 hours to clean the filter sounds a little long, but not terribly so–this might depend on the type of filtering system you have. It gets done perhaps twice a year hereabouts (southern California). In between, you can occasionally “backwash” the filter, depending on your system.</p>

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<p>^ I’m glad someone already posted the Trouble Free Pool forum…it’s a fantastic resource.</p>

<p>

Hmmmm…maybe. It’s probably a cartridge or diatomaceous earth filter. For cartridge filters, you just pull out the cartridges and hose them off. This should be done about once per year. It’s a messy job so I do it when it’s hot out and don’t mind getting a bit wet. </p>

<p>Test chlorine levels nearly daily in the summer, and I usually get by with weekly in the winter.</p>

<p>Check pH levels weekly.</p>

<p>

You want the pump to run so it does “one turnover” per day (i.e. pumps/filters entire volume of pool in one day). You’ll need to see your pump specs and calculate this. 3-4 hours seems good for your size pool if you have a 1-2 hp motor. You may find you need to run your pool pump longer in summer vs. winter.</p>

<p>I bought a variable speed motor (got $500 rebate from LADWP)…saves quite a bit in electricity on low speed setting.</p>

<p>I’ve never had an automatic pool cleaner. Seems they can be more trouble than they’re worth and they don’t last very long. I manually vacuum my pool about once a week…can go longer in the summer…fall/winter is more often with the Santa Ana winds and trees.
I was considering one of those robotic cleaners, but they’re quite expensive.</p>

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<p>

Don’t let your pump run dry and always prime your pump after cleaning out the skimmer basket on restart. When the pump gets noisier and you may see a little water leak on the pump side, then you know it’s time for a new pump seal.</p>

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<p>^no, I meant the seal around the pool, not the pump seal…</p>

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<p>^ seal around the pool? never heard of that… is your pool vinyl lined?</p>

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<p>No, it in ground. But there is a grey seal aound the pool. here is a pic of a section.</p>

<p><a href=“http://creforum.info/P1100010.JPG[/url]”>http://creforum.info/P1100010.JPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Can’t remember the name for that flexible join between the pool coping and the deck, but OP yours looks like it’s in good shape, not shrunken or dried-up or anything like that. Depending on outdoor weather conditions, you can expect that to last for years. </p>

<p>One option to consider is taking on the weekly maintenance yourself, and then paying someone to do the bigger occasional jobs such as cleaning the filter. The only thing I’ve ever heard of really really really not being a DIY task is replastering the pool…and there’s a blog of a guy who actually did that himself.</p>

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<p>We bought an automatic system but haven’t used it in years. The main problem is that it often gets stuck in the corners so it needs constant monitoring. It is easier and quicker to just do it manually. (This is an indoor pool, so it doesn’t really get that dirty.)</p>

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<p>If your pool is odd shaped, and does not have any real corners the cleaning bots work better. Filter cartridges are really easy to clean and change. DE I do not know as much about.</p>

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<p>My H does our pool. It isn’t hard but we have a pool cover so it doesn’t get that dirty. He has a routine and does the pool the same time each week. It takes him about 30 minutes. We do have an automatic chorinator and a automatic pool sweep. The pool sweep can be tempermental but my H is handy and has been able to repair it and have had the same one for years. H is on first name terms with the guy at Leslie’s. We use the pool service just for repairs.
We just had our pool replastered this past winter. Definitely not a DIY job.</p>

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<p>We’ve had a pool for 26 years. We did all the maintenance, and opening and closing, ourselves for the first two years. Since then, we’ve had the maintenance done by a pool service company. Of course it’s cheaper to do it yourself but we prefer to do other things in the spare time we have.</p>

<p>artloversplus, what you’re being charged sounds high to me. Our weekly fee is $50 and that includes about 30-45 minutes of service. Testing the water, adding necessary chemicals, emptying the skimmer, vacuuming the entire pool and backwashing. The pool looks spotless and the water sparkling. They also keep us supplied with whatever chemicals we need. It’s worth it for us.</p>

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<p>^^ sorry not being clear, but the $85 (4 times) and $60(2 times) is a monthly charge, not weekly…</p>

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<p>^^Then you’re getting a bargain and should keep the service! :)</p>

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<p>If you have a seal in your pool, he’ll be making messes all the time and you’ll have a lot of extra work.</p>

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<p>Make sure you know how to winterize your pool properly for your area so your pipes don’t burst.</p>

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<p>Oh we are in california, it never freezes. :)</p>

<p>How difficult it is to service that seal? I was quoted for about $8/ft and it costs around $800 to do mine.</p>

<p>One thing we definitly cannot do DIY is the closure of a pool. About 10K in our area!</p>

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<p>Closure of a pool refers to closing it for the winter, not closing it permanently. :)</p>

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<p>The seal is going to last for 15 to 20 years?</p>

<p>Your monthly costs are a bargain. I was paying 130 a month …or more…</p>

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<p>They charge by the pool size. Mine is small…and shallow…</p>

<p>When I say closure, meaning take out the pool… :)</p>

<p>And it seems those services(gardener, cleaning, pool) is cheaper in East Bay…</p>