Old house with Old Vinyl Pool, Suggestions...

[chcros]

Hello,
This is my first post.
The house we moved in has a vinyl pool. the pool did not see any maintenance for several year so now is just a pond. most of the vinyl and decking is gone. The outside equipment still there and I am assuming it might still work. Now our idea is that maybe we could use the existing hole in the ground a install a new fiberglass pool (from what I have read, it requires less maintenance, which is a plus for us) with new decking.
my first question is how do I know if the pump and filter still work?
are they any differences on filter and pump for chlorine pools and salt pools?
are we saving any significant money savings with having already a hole in the bank yard?

our main intention is to figure out if is worth trying to reuse what we have to install a new pool or just filling up the hole a move on.

Thanks
Christian

 

[Isaac-1]

Hello, and welcome, You have a number of questions there, so I will try to be brief in my answers for each:

1, It sounds like this is in bad shape, but probably the most economic option is repair vs replacement and have a new vinyl liner installed and new decking, I say this because Fiberglass pools are very picky about support and it is best to place them on undisturbed ground and I doubt you would find one the exact size and shape of your existing hole. I know most pools in Houston are gunite these days, but I think there are still a couple of vinyl pool companies around that mainly refurbish older pools like yours.

2, Why do you think fiberglass requires less maintenance than other kinds of pools? I would tend to say different maintenance and care, but not sure I would use the word less. (also less compared to vinyl or less compared to gunite)

3, It is hard to fully test a pump and a filter without a pool to connect them to, although you can test things to a degree, pressure test the filter, confirm the pump motor runs and bearings are good, etc. This though is a detailed question in itself and we lack information on make and models.

4, A "salt water" pool IS a chlorine pool, it just has a device called a salt water chlorine generator or often referred to as an SWG or SWCG that converts the salt in the pool into chlorine.

anyway I have to run others will be along soon
Ike

 

[borjis]

You're looking at roughly 2,000-4,000 for a new liner +install costs depending on if it needs custom measuring or if you have the serial number of the current one.

This also depends on the condition of the shell and if it needs any work.

I'd stick with vinyl instead of trying to do fiberglass as you will likely save 10's of thousands and either way, the outcome is: you would have a swimming pool to use.

 

[chcros]

Ike
thanks for you input.
I do agree with you on finding a fiber glass pool to fit the same dimensions we have right now. The existing vinyl pool is about 9' depth on one side (I will get exact dimensions this weekend). the idea will be to downsize to a less deeper pool.
An issue I have with the vinyl is that I have seem how easy it can be torn.
Back to the downsize on dimension, we will have to do some back filling.
on the preferences of fiberglass. I heard that gunite pool have to be re plaster so often. fiber maintenance might be less expensive
I do understand the difference with the regular chlorine pool and chlorine generator pools. do you have any preference on this two chlorine types? which system is cheaper or easier to maintain?

thanks again

 

[Mr Bruce]

Ike
thanks for you input.
I do agree with you on finding a fiber glass pool to fit the same dimensions we have right now. The existing vinyl pool is about 9' depth on one side (I will get exact dimensions this weekend). the idea will be to downsize to a less deeper pool.
An issue I have with the vinyl is that I have seem how easy it can be torn.
Back to the downsize on dimension, we will have to do some back filling.
on the preferences of fiberglass. I heard that gunite pool have to be re plaster so often. fiber maintenance might be less expensive
I do understand the difference with the regular chlorine pool and chlorine generator pools. do you have any preference on this two chlorine types? which system is cheaper or easier to maintain?

thanks again

SWG automatically adding FC to the pool means you don't have to do it yourself every(other) day in the long run. It's not like a day 0 decision, you could just get everything going and if adding a little chlorine every/every other day is too much of a pain you can install a SWG. I personally have no problem manually adding every 1-2 days in the hottest, sunniest days the South has to offer in the middle of summer.

 

[clambert1273]

Ike
thanks for you input.
I do agree with you on finding a fiber glass pool to fit the same dimensions we have right now. The existing vinyl pool is about 9' depth on one side (I will get exact dimensions this weekend). the idea will be to downsize to a less deeper pool.
An issue I have with the vinyl is that I have seem how easy it can be torn.
Back to the downsize on dimension, we will have to do some back filling.
on the preferences of fiberglass. I heard that gunite pool have to be re plaster so often. fiber maintenance might be less expensive
I do understand the difference with the regular chlorine pool and chlorine generator pools. do you have any preference on this two chlorine types? which system is cheaper or easier to maintain?

thanks again

Our pool is vinyl and haven't had any tears or anything. It gets used A LOT here in Sunny Socal.. We have even had dogs in it and just help them get out.. I think you would be very surprised in the durability with normal use.. of course if I take a knife/box cutter to it then it will surely tear

 

[Isaac-1]

Like they said vinyl pool tears are rare, particularly if you buy a premium quality liner which should last you over 10 years if keep your chemistry balanced,the number one killer of vinyl liners is chemical abuse, either dumping stuff in too fast and letting it sit in direct contact with the liner or long term levels being out of whack. To revisit the issue of tears, just see my avatar photo, my pool has a vinyl liner and I have a 120 pound Mastiff (he was the runt of his litter), so far not one tear in this liner which was installed 12 or 13 years ago.

Ike

p.s. note pool construction preference varies by region, and the Houston area is currently dominated by gunite vs say the north east where the ground freezes is dominated by vinyl liner pools. As to fiberglass pools, personally I would never buy one as I have read too many horror stories on here, in theory they are great instant pools with the be swimming in 2 weeks sales pitch, but if you look through fiberglass pool construction stories on here you will find people taking 6 months or even a year to get their fiberglass pool installed right, sometimes going through 2 or 3 pulls, resets, and often replacement shells from ones that crack. This is the problem with fiberglass it does not flex much, so if the soil settles you have major problems and often the whole shell must be replaced.