Anyone Have a Winter Pool Dome - Ameridome or Others?

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Yeah, I'm a little (lot) nervous about Feb. We are in a deep freeze here again, mid-teens low and mid-20s high, for the next few days. Which is waaaay cold for us. Lots of very early, very cold days this winter. Which I thought "people" said would be mild. I'm skeert of what Feb might have in store! :shock:

I don't have much issue with walking the 10 feet to my tub and dropping the robe in 30 degrees. It's getting out soaking wet. I have to increase the water temp about 1 degree per 10 degree drop outside to be fairly comfortable getting out. I'm up to 101 and it's about time to go to 102. It is a fine line between not sweating too much in the tub after an hour and not freezing too much getting out. It's a lotta work to figure that out! :)
 
Danny,

I think we got your "mild winter" down here in Tucson. So far (knock on wood) we have had no hard freezes and our overnight temps have only been in the 40's. My lantana still has some green on it and pushes out flowers every so often and my palms are happy to do without any freezes (they got really badly hurt last winter with all the overnight freezes we had). We're keeping finger's crossed around here that the weather holds through January and then we can breath a sigh of relief...

As for cold air tolerance, well my only suggestion to you is that you do some polar bear club training - go jump in your pool a few times to build up your cold water tolerance ;)
 
Lol. Not sure shock therapy works for that kind of conditioning, Matt. Danny, I keep my hot tub at 104, but I also make a point of sitting up on the ledge for every 10 min I'm in so as to not stroke out etc ;) I've been told that in Sweden they call thatt hot-cold therapy and its actually supposed to be good for your immune system.
 
STARLOG wonder dome update: general musings ;)

1. Heat Gains from Abient warmups -

My original plan is to use the dome into May to avoid the maple keys and pollen. I'm getting kinda spoiled having a clean pool ;)

Yesterday we've had a weird warming spell. At 42 degrees outside at 7 am, the dome air temp was at 67 BEFORE I opened the cover to swim. But it didn't gain as much heat from my swim time as usual.

In "real" spring, may have to reduce pump time or outright remove the air heating unit to avoid a hot house effect if I still want therapeutically warm water.

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2. TA and PH stability...in open air, I've typically had to adjust my PH about every 10 days or so. Since the dome, I've been slightly suspicious that my ph never rises ... Sits right at 7.5 for about 2.5 months now. I'd assumed it was because I'm generating and using the swg so much less right now (1 hour a day at 30%...but I do keep it at 6.5 ish due to the incredibly hot water since I wound never want the brew to steep if I had a power failure ;) )

Since I wasn't adding any acid, I didn't bother checking my TA until yesterday. I was surprised it'd dropped to 40. I usually run more like 70.
On one hand, I'm loving the stability. On the other, I'm likely going to nudge it back up to around 60 today and will make a point of checking it more frequently.
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3. Metals -- yes, I trucked in supposedly metal free water. I even had the plumber out to reroute my R/0 from the shop so that my water source is ONLY soft water in winter to the pool just like in summer. And then I run that hose through a 10" Pentek filter housing before it gets to the pool.

I've applied two bottles of jacks magenta, once at the dome start and another a month ago to control the obvious but faint staining on my stairs...but was trying to avoid weekly dosing because its a pita remembering to take things into the dome during the wintry mad dash.

Whelp, I tested .2 ppm for iron and copper EACH. So with the iron, I can see that maybe some is still getting through my double filtration. But cooper too? Either I'm slowly stripping my brand new heat exchanger (but my csi is about -1.3 and my calcium has not diminished) or there's copper somewhere else in my system.

I am beginning to think maybe my gut hunch on having a check valve between the aquarite and the raypak was a worthwhile hunch...I had occasion to talk to raypak when I was setting up the automation and the commercial engineer I ended up speaking with had said he feels there should be a check valve given occasional back flow situations with the filter. I will ponder this going forward.

Fortunately, the new liner truly doesn't show anything at all...only the stairs and its manageable at this point but once I have open air I'm going to try a metal and phosphate removal. Just can't do it right when the systems enclosed and I can't backwash.

In other news, morning disco swims remain fun ;)

image.jpg
 
The solar cover does more to stop pH rise than anything else. It stops out gassing of CO2.

CSI at -1.3 seems too aggressive. I dont know if aggressive CSI by itself can erode copper plumbing or if it is a function of pH only. I want to highlight this question for more duscussion.


Mod Note: this discussion applies to vinyl pools only, the real danger of aggressive CSI is damage to plaster which does not apply here.
 
pooldv said:
The solar cover does more to stop pH rise than anything else. It stops out gassing of CO2.

CSI at -1.3 seems too aggressive. I dont know if aggressive CSI by itself can erode copper plumbing or if it is a function of pH only. I want to highlight this question for more duscussion.


Mod Note: this discussion applies to vinyl pools only, the real danger of aggressive CSI is damage to plaster which does not apply here.
Click to expand...

Aggressive water (CSI < -0.6) is certainly not a good condition to be in. However, metal corrosion (iron and copper) needs low pH (typically less than 7 but in practical reality more like 6.5 or lower) before the metal ions (Fe2+ and Cu+ or Cu2+) become stable in solution. Dissolved oxygen levels and the presence of sulfates also dictate the rate at which corrosion will occur. Low CSI by itself just means that carbonate films will not be able to form to act as a passivation layer which would stop/slow corrosion.

I would look to your fill water source for possible iron contamination or any bleeding dead bodies left in the bottom of the pool by the local mafia (since most of the lakes are frozen over and your nice warm swimming pool makes for a good repository). Also, 0.2ppm is fairly low in terms of being able to measure that amount of metal. Even for the super-expensive Taylor K-1264 kit, 0.2ppm is the very bottom of the scale. I would remeasure in the Spring time when you can do the test properly with good lighting.

Agree with Danny, your pool cover is holding back most of the CO2 outgassing leading to stable pH. When I put my bubble cover on my pool, the pH rise almost completely stops.
 
Thanks, guys. In the past, I was keeping the csi a bit negative to avoid swg cell scaling (phosphate) but it will be in range, more like -.6 when I bump up the TA this am to 60 (had to get supplies.)

The readings are very negligible...I'm going to test the shop source water (post softener) today to see if I get trace copper and iron there too.

On the mobster front...so far only one unfortunate mouse made its way into the mystery pool. Hoping larger life forms stay away ;)
 
UPDATE: STARLOG February

Well, it hit 65 degrees yesterday here...warmest Feb day in 70 years...the gas goddess is smiling on me. The dome was 75 degrees or better air temp much of the day ;)

I have discovered, via having company down for the weekend, that i can actually keep it at 95 all day on the same 8-hr run by setting 3 automated heat up periods (eg 2 of which are only 1.5 hrs) during day and early evening, then a short run starting around 3:30 am for 7:30 am physio.

So no feb blahs HERE for the wonderdome ;)
 
Starlog dome update:

First major wind storm and widespread power outage with power possibly not coming back til Sat. Night!

Boy were we glad that we bought a backup generator!

For posterity, here's what we did:

We did not collapse dome despite 60+ mile gusts of wind and despite mfgs suggestion in manual to collapse in advance if 50 mile winds.

Hubby felt the fact that it sits a bottom of terrace on side of hill with forest "protected it" so I just increased the barometric pressure to make it firmer, which is what you're supposed to do if its already windy and you haven't had a chance to deflate it...you're not to deflate it DURING a windstorm as it will whip around.

But then the power went down and it started to deflate...and start to whip around ;) Hubby cranked up generator and all was well.

This is our first run with generac 8000xt. With air dome inflation pump draw (which constantly kicks in every min or so) pool pump, heater, automation, pool house lights, well pump, boiler pump, fridge, freezer, hot tub and some lights plus wifi router in shop, we're still only running generator at 50-60% (to leave headroom for various pumps kicking in.) A tank of gas lasted about 11.5 hours, then we refilled to get through night.

So basically, we can swim ;) Lovin the fringe benefit of the generator, because that means we can also flush the toilet ;)

Yesterday someone wrote me asking about the dome -- here's a pic from yesterday a.m. During physio...the wind had started but it felt fine:

image.jpg
 

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That is such a great picture this time of year up north. All I have to look at is a blue tarp held in place with tires and a few inches of water/ice with some scattered leaves in it :-(
That is one sturdy installation to withstand those winds.
I think I was sharing those winds with you. I can't remember when they've been so strong. I'm always worried about the row of evergreens that are within striking distance of the house and especially the pool. I always complain about all the needles we get in the pool but I sure don't want 30 feet of tree laying in there after a storm.
 
Lol. I do...it's called a well pump and I WILL never let it talk to Alexa ;) if anything, I'd love to retrofit it with a hand pump sometime before the apocalypse!
And I will tell you that on day three of the outage here that as much as I love the dome and pool in the 26 degree morning, the well pump wins hands down if I had to apportion the generator power ;) Fortunately, this particular generator seems to handle both...plus wifi ;)
 
STARLOG: April in the "D" ;) (D=dome, not Detroit ;)

Well, its April, normally season opener for me...This morning the dome air hit 80 (outdoor temps 50s) and I'm not needing more than 5 hours of energy or 10 CCF to maintain 95 all day/night.

Given our low night temps in April and much of May, I'm targeting approx May 15 for takedown, which promises to be shenanigans-filled-foolery.

In my routine maintenance, I've discovered a few fun facts I'll share for posterity:

1. Hornets can indeed breach the dome. Sigh.

2. So can ants.

3. With such high internal daytime air temps, regular mopping of the apron where condensation collects with a diluted chlorine solution is necessary at least weekly to stave off algae growth outside of the pool...I now keep a spray bottle and soft mop inside to do so.

4. All marine grade stainless steel is not created equal. My swivel hooks have remained pristine in the water (use them to connect the nylon line through my PVC cover hoder.) My large hook on deck attached to diving board to secure cover in half open position, not so much, despite its claims of "marine grade."

4. All brass fitting are not created equal, and some have large amounts of ignoble zinc in the mix. This I learned when my bricolered air warmer fitting corroded straight through and began leaking on the outside of the air warmer exchanger. I was able to repair and replace with sprinkle swivel parts made of PVC, which I now realize I should have done in the first place. Next year will retrofit my return valve diverter connection and cut down the commercial hose end to take a PVC pressure fitting.

5. The sole disadvantage of my in-pool diverter valve is that when the sun is quickly warming up the dome air, you have to go inside to shut it down if you don't want to add heat to already warm air. This isn't an issue yet most days, but as temps approach 70s outside during the day, will become more of a PITA. Otherwise, the system worked very well, with excellent gains.

6. The plan for storage is forming. We purchased a little resin Kettering 3'x4' shed to assemble under the astro crib deck, well shaded and out of the weather. Once the dome is down, dried, talced, accordion folded and put into its custom bag, its going into the shed, which we hope to fully seal from rodents. We'll keep you posted on success or failure of that plan.

Open Air Operation:

With the goal of sustainable, yearround energy costs, we're going to be "inventing/experimenting" with a fixed Rocky Reel cover, mounted on a swing swivel marine plate used for boating stools. The "cover/open" position will run perpendicular to our grecian's length, positioned about 3' from the end. Instead of anchor holes on the swing side, we're planning to drill and line with 1/2" copper tubing treated with corrosion resistant film (marine style). We've bought 4" 3/8 coated pins to lubricate and drop to hold in position when cranking and are devising a handle strap to then walk the swinging rolled up reel and còver into "storage/open pool" position, where it will be secured by dropping pins into the sleeves we'll install there. It will be a few weeks until I discover all the things wrong, or right, with this idea as this weekend is devoted to pool house painting and shed assembly ;)

But I'm lovin the year round swim time, despite minor engineering trials and triumphs ;)
 
Not sure how this works in the freezing winter but swabbing the inside deck near the dome edge where ant infiltration occurs with Pine-Sol will keep all sorts of bug away. I do that outside my exterior doors and the bugs and beetles hate it.

Wasps....good luck :shock:

Nice work on ThunderDome, a very unique all-year-round swimming solution.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yes, it has been very interesting. Right, unfortunately, marine grade doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. Very annoying. A spray of Home Defense around the perimeter should keep stuff out. If you don't like pine-sol.
 

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