New home, old pool. Fix in-floor system or get rid of it?

[robigd]

Hello. I am brand new to the forum and come to you asking for your opinions.

We just purchased a house that was built in 1989 and I believe looking at the pool, it is the original pool and has never been re-done. The pool has an in-floor cleaning system that does not currently work. We are in the beginning stages of discussing renovating our pool and the cleaning system is a big topic for us. I have done a little research and found that some of the earlier in-floor cleaning systems aren't as good as they should be and we are wondering if it is worth the money to fix the in-floor cleaning system, or just get the pool plumbed for an automatic pool cleaner when we do the renovation.

There are 10 heads that would all need to be replaced as well as the circular globe (pardon my pool vocabulary ignorance) that feeds the heads.

So, I ask you this. Do we repair the in-floor system? Do we cover it up and pretend it never existed and put an automatic pool cleaner in? Do we do a hybrid and fix the in-floor heads on the steps and benches, but use an automatic cleaner for the rest of the pool? The last thing we want to do is spend $2000 renovating the in-floor system to find out it was designed poorly and doesn't clean the pool as well as expected.

Your opinions and comments are greatly appreciated! Thank you.

 

[duraleigh]

Re: New home, old pool. Fix in-floor system or get rid of it

Generally speaking, I remember very few positive comments about in-floor systems. Of course, folks that have one that is working fine probably wouldn't post here, either.

In any event, they seem to be pretty troublesome sooner or later and I would get rid of it if it were my pool....no doubt.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Re: New home, old pool. Fix in-floor system or get rid of it

I have an in-floor system, and wouldn't recommend rehab on the one you have. Figure each head will cost $50+, the valve (circular globe) will be $3-500, then you have to run the pump all the time to make it work. For that amount of money, you could get something that will work much better. When you have it renovated, I'd suggest just having them plaster over the holes and get a cleaner line installed, 1.5" or 2" in size. Then you could use a suction or pressure cleaner, or a robot if you wanted.