What information to ask?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
L

loneshark

0
Feb 25, 2013
3
Dallas, TX
Hello all,
We are close to buying our next house and it has a fresh water pool. As this is going to be our first house with a pool, i am clueless as to what all things/information I should ask the current homeowner to provide me about the pool. I have perused through this forum and it appears that there is loot of good information as well as plenty of helpful folks here, however I couldn't find (yet) anything like a checklist of some sort that tells me what all information I need to know about the pool. Some of the things that come to my mind are:
1. Pool Capacity
2. Pump details/manual
3. Pool Heater details/manual

I am sure there are many other things i need to add to this list, can you please help?

Thanks for your time.
 
Welcome to TFP!

Add: "4. Filter details/manual" to your list along with "5. Is there an automation system and if so details/manual".

Don't be surprised if the manuals no longer exist, though they might just as likely all be there.

How important it is to get lots of information from the previous owner goes way up the more complex the setup is. A plain vanilla pump/filter/heater setup is fairly easy to figure out. But some pools have several pumps, 20 or 30 valves, and boxes that defy understanding scattered about, and then you really need to be told what each thing is.
 
Welcome to the forum. :lol: A complete, thorough "how-to" on operating the equipment is the most important. Find out what valve does what and why. How is the pool vacuumed? How does that work? How often is the pool chlorinated? How do you clean the filter? Have them show you. Everything you can find out about the day to day operations will be very helpful. Tell the city and state in which you live so we have an idea of your climate. Is the pool covered?
 
I think one thing that is a good idea is to have a full pool inspection done (not necessarily done by the house inspector). This could uncover problems (whether know by the current owners or not) that could immediately cost you 1000s of dollars to fix ... and then can be brought to the table during closing negotiations.
 
Thanks a lot. I have made a note of your suggestions. The set up appears quite simple in this house with just a pump, heater,filter & hot tub, there is no cover on the pool. This house is in Dallas, TX so it does get quite hot in the summer.
Thanks again everybody, I will be spending lot of time in the next few weeks reading up the information on the upkeep/chemical treatment and ask more questions as appropriate.
 
Pool inspection is a great idea. I am up in the Oklahoma City area. The earthquakes you heard about us having about a year ago.......thankfully I have AGP, my neighbor who has lovely in-ground pool got a crack develop from all the motion which wasn't much.

Perhaps someone from the metroplex will chime in and give you some names of inspection people to look at the pool. I can't think of any better advice than that. I agree that any/all operating procedures for the pool should be explained to you. I suggest recording video of it if you can. Even a pool iTouch video will be of good use for reference in the future. .

Bob E.
 
Ask what normal operating pressures are, when do you know to clean the filter? In my pool, I can tell by how vigorous the spillway from the spa is flowing into the pool.
Ask how often they need to clean the filter normally, also the skimmers. Do they use skimmer socks? How often does the pool need refilling due to evaporation losses?
Who has worked on the pool? Who built it? Who has maintained it? What chemicals do they normally use? Have metals/staining ever been a problem?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply