Does anyone REALLY own a pool?

My kids rarely used the pool. It was built for my wife who swims laps every day. I'm looking to buy a boat. If you want something to waste money, buy a horse. I have one of those too.

Keep it crystal clear, beautiful blue. Landscape around it. Chairs, umbrellas and happy hour next to it. Make it your outdoor oasis. I’m also not much for swimming really, could take it or leave it (my wife really enjoys it), but I hate having to close the pool in winter just for the loss of aesthetics in the backyard.

Do as @mknauss says — pool care routine can be reduced to about 5 minute per day, plus vacuum or robot once a week. If it’s super difficult, you have to be doing something the hard way.

My wife spends more time in the garden, maintaining that, then I do on the pool. I think it is just a matter of perspective, whether it be maintaining your house (pest control, plumbing, roofing, etc), your vehicle, a boat. Wait until grandchildren visit and enjoy the pool.

I dunno, I've put extremely limited effort into maintaining our pool. We bought the house back in January. Like you, I'm a big DIY'r. I re-installed a heater (last owners ripped it out after it rotted), replaced a cap on the pump, upgraded my Aqualink PCB, installed an indoor controller, and rebuilt a few Jandy valves. Other than that, I haven't had to dedicate much time to it.

We definitely don't use it as much as we originally thought, but upkeep has been so minimal on the TFP method that I really don't mind.

PnutKar said:

Or does the pool own US??

Do most of my own maintenance including pump, filter, electrical repairs and upgrades. Pools are great when the kids are young and at home. Now it's just a hole in the ground into which I pour money (akin to a boat). Never again. Maybe a spa or lap pool. Maybe.

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Using traditional/pool store methods, I would agree with you. However, using methods taught here has been a much better, easier and far cheaper.

Five minutes a day? I made a study, a mission really, of seeing how much I could minimize pool chores. It took some effort, and some dough (automation), but it was worth it. I might spend 10 minutes a week. All I do with my pool the rest of the time is look at it and/or swim in it. My little ones love it. The neighbors use it. A pool party on the 4th was a massive success.

There is the occasional big ticket maintenance (labor mostly), a handful of times a year (cleaning the filters, or rebuilding some gizmo). You could say the same about anything that makes for your quality of life. None of it is "free." Cars, boats, gardens, furnishings, appliances. They're all trade offs. I find the pool well worth its.

I have my old single scull, which should fit in my pool (not including the oars though) maybe one day if I'm REALLY bored I will put it in my pool for kicks...

Dirk said:

Five minutes a day? I made a study, a mission really, of seeing how much I could minimize pool chores. It took some effort, and some dough (automation), but it was worth it. I might spend 10 minutes a week. All I do with my pool the rest of the time is look at it and/or swim in it. My little ones love it. The neighbors use it. A pool party on the 4th was a massive success.

There is the occasional big ticket maintenance (labor mostly), a handful of times a year (cleaning the filters, or rebuilding some gizmo). You could say the same about anything that makes for your quality of life. None of it is "free." Cars, boats, gardens, furnishings, appliances. They're all trade offs. I find the pool well worth its.

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Well truth be told a good chunk of my daily 5 minutes is a humanitarian mission to empty the skimmers in case a frog might be drowning in there

My morning time consists of sweeping up a little debris from the plants, watering them, hosing the deck down and checking pool chemistry. It’s my morning zen time and I love it. Everything looks beautiful and clean when I am done and it makes me feel good. The pool part takes less than five minutes, sometimes, maybe 15 minutes when I clean my pool robot. Total time is 30 minutes usually. I could burn that 30 minutes reading pablum on the internet, or I can treat myself to some morning beauty.

Dirk said:

Five minutes a day? I made a study, a mission really, of seeing how much I could minimize pool chores. It took some effort, and some dough (automation), but it was worth it. I might spend 10 minutes a week. All I do with my pool the rest of the time is look at it and/or swim in it. My little ones love it. The neighbors use it. A pool party on the 4th was a massive success.

There is the occasional big ticket maintenance (labor mostly), a handful of times a year (cleaning the filters, or rebuilding some gizmo). You could say the same about anything that makes for your quality of life. None of it is "free." Cars, boats, gardens, furnishings, appliances. They're all trade offs. I find the pool well worth its.

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What is you maintenance schedule? I would love to get it down that low

Between the robot & the swg I sometimes feel that I am neglecting the pool because it is so little work. Most of it consists of minor checks- like putting eyes on the equipment to verify it is functioning & noting water level as compared to the weather forecast.
*check/dump the skimmer or pump basket every few days unless there’s a weather event
* check/dump robot basket every 3 or 4 days unless there’s a weather event
* check fc every few days/ add lc if needed during the peak of summer
* check salt & cya every few weeks/month unless adjusting for some reason
* check ph,ta,ch periodically although they never move
* backwash monthly or less (whenever pressure rises 25%) I think that has happened once this season, the other couple times I just went ahead & did it because the water level was high (2 birds- 1 stone)
When you don’t add a bunch of unnecessary stuff that affects multiple things the parameters don’t change unpredictably.

SoDel said:

Well truth be told a good chunk of my daily 5 minutes is a humanitarian mission to empty the skimmers in case a frog might be drowning in there

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Yah, I used to check my skimmer once a day. Now just mostly when I know the leaves are getting in the pool (fall or windy days). I was worried about gophers rotting in the skimmer basket, but it's only happened twice in five years. Still, it's a good habit I should resume.

W.J.Christy said:

What is you maintenance schedule? I would love to get it down that low

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Well, this isn't exactly TFP doctrine, but it works for me and my pool. YMMV.

Once a day (10 seconds):
- look out my bedroom window at the pool

Once a week (10 minutes max):
- test water for FC, CC and pH
- check/empty skimmer basket
- check/empty pump basket
- check auto-fill well
- check filter pressure gauge
- check flow meter
- inspect pad for leaks
- check acid dispenser (fill if needed, maybe every other month)

Mid-week (varies 0-5 minutes):
- Sometimes test water for FC, CC and pH if it's been very hot
- Sometimes check skimmer basket if it's "leafy" out
- Sometimes check pump basket if it's "leafy" out

Once a month (extra five minutes while doing "Once a week" tasks):
- test water for TA, CH and CYA

Once a year
- clean filter cartridges

As needed (hours! but only once every several years):
- replace expansion joint
- scrub edge tile

That's about it.

I know folks love their robots, but a suction-side vac is definitely less work. I'll pull it out of the pool for guests (and it's pretty light), and I empty the pump basket when needed (very rarely more than once a week, sometimes as little as once a month, it varies greatly by season), but most of the year I don't even think about it, let alone touch it.

The IntelliChlor and IntellipH combo (SWG and acid dispenser) saves me countless hours a year. Getting those installed and dialed in is why I can get away with once-a-week testing. My auto-filler is the other big chore saver. That and my suction-side vac. Once the automation is tuned well, there's really very little to do. I test once a week, but I rarely have to dose anything. I have to dose chlorine during the winter months, but I modified my IntellipH so it now handles the acid year-round.

This was done by the previous homeowners and their landscaper, but plant selection near the pool is huge in terms of how long your daily/weekly chores take. Sometimes when I check my skimmer basket or pump basket once a week, there's almost nothing in them, other times there's an inch or so of leaves. For a few weeks a year they get full, but that's rare. If a plant or tree is giving you grief, consider getting rid of it. My pool is surrounded by trees and shrubs, it's beautiful, but they're almost all evergreen and "pool friendly." Between that and my automation, I consider myself very fortunate in terms of how much work the pool is not.