Concrete salt water infinity pool

[Glazed]

Hello,

I'm about to buy a 10 year old house that has a salt water infinity concrete pool and adjoining jacuzzi in the backyard.

I know absolutely nothing about pools and would get a pool company to come over and open and close it. I just wanted to know if there's anything specific I need to look at while inspecting the house (I will get a firm to inspect it prior to making an offer on the house, but I would like to know what to look for as sometimes inspection firms just rush through).

Also, how difficult is it to clean and maintain these types of pools and are they fairly costly to run? This pool is heated as well, but it is not running now as it is quite chilly where we are.

The house also has a heated driveway, so if anyone knows anything about that too, that would be appreciated. I've lived in high rises most of my life and don't know much about houses!

Thanks!

 

[Charlie_R]

Welcome to TFP!

You've come to the right place to learn how your (prospective) pool works.

If you can get him, I'd suggest getting Mike Holmes to do your home inspection. If you can't get him or one of his associates, a good question to ask any prospective home inspector would be does he do a thorough an inspection as Mike.

See if there are any certified pool inspectors in your area.

I am assuming that the pool was professionally closed for this year, so there wouldn't be much you would need to do to it other than a good inspection. I'd see about a rider on any contract for the house that will allow for a spring opening inspection to ensure there aren't any hidden problems with the pool equipment.

Over the winter, you could read through Pool School (link at the top of every page here) several times, paying special attention to the basic chemistry as well as the sections on pool equipment.

If you do buy this house, a very good test kit will be essential. Unfortunately, there is only one company in Canada that handles the Taylor kits. There are ways around this, but we won't go into that here. Do look at the section in Pool School on test kits, to give you an idea of what you are going to need.

I don't believe infinity pools are that much different from normal pools in operation, there are only a few minor differences in equipment. So your cost to operate shouldn't be any different than any other pool. Heating a pool can be costly no matter where you are.

 

[Glazed]

Thanks for the advice.

I will contact Holmes' inspection company, but he seems to be quite the celebrity, so I don't know if he would personally come in to do an inspection - it would be great if he could though.

Again, I'm not a DIYer, so I wouldn't even attempt to play around with pool chemicals or testing once it is operational. I would have the experts come in and do it. Is once a week enough, or do you need them to come in once a month? Are there any systems that can check automatically and send an alert if something is amiss?

 

[Charlie_R]

Can you afford 10 to 15 minutes a day? That is all testing and dosing require, on average. You have stated that this pool is equipped with an SWG. That makes it even easier!

Vacuuming and brushing your pool wouldn't take very long either, depending on the size of the pool. Maybe an hour or so a few times a month. There are robots available that would take care of this for you as well.

Please do keep us updated on how things are going!

 

[Glazed]

The current homeowner pays $90 / week plus the cost of chemicals/salt in order to maintain the pool, as well as $1000 for opening/closing. Does that sounds normal or high?

 

[JVTrain]

Sounds VERY high considering it's a SWG system where once the pool is balanced, the only chemicals needed are acid to maintain pH. Initial start up each year will entail adding salt and refilling and balancing pH and adjusting the SWG.

Let's put it this way. I spend about $40-50 a month on chemicals including the cost of my test kit supplies and I have to add liquid chlorine manually which is more chemical cost. I spend 10-15 minutes per day testing and/or adding chemicals. Maybe 30 minutes to do more testing/leaf/bug skimming on the weekend. Pool robot cleans the bottom for me twice a week. My local pool company charges $165 to close the pool, $59 extra to put on the cover but I do that myself. Opening is so easy, I could never pay anyone to do it. Your opening would be slightly harder than mine as it would involve testing salt level and dumping in bags of salt to bring the level back up. That's easy.

 

[gwegan]

90 per week is very very high at least in the California market. Its more like $90 to 110 a month for high end service.

Problem number one you have is that no matter who you get to inspect it they cannot run it if its closed. A true infinity edge pool has a edge and an overflow basin and often a surge tank. I would want someone to run the system for a while and see if the infinity edge operates properly. They often have 2 or even three pumps.

At a minimum I would call the pool service that maintains the pool now to meet you at the property and explain the pool to you. Talk about how they maintain it and the condition of the equipment.

I'd also strongly suggest you read this article on how to build one of these pools it gives you some idea of the things to look for to determine what your s is capable of. http://www.aqthemagazine.com/how-to/item/1416-how-to-build-a-vanishing-edge-pool.html

 

[Glazed]

I have a feeling that the current owners are getting a bit ripped off. It seemed high to me as well. They also spending $900 / month on maintaining the gardens (weeding, pruning, gathering leaves, etc...) and that seems high to me as well.

Good advice on speaking to the current pool service firm, I will do that.