New Build - North Dakota hoping to extend pool season - experience and advice needed!

[just.holly]

First I want to say thank you for being such an amazing forum. No where else will you find this level of expertise, information and experiences. Again, thank you.

I am a current pool owner in Northern VA and moving back home to ND. We are in the design phase of our new home/pool and plan to complete the build over the next 6-9 months. We are keen to extend the swimming season as long as possible so have been looking at our options. So far I've narrowed it down to: Indoor, Aquashield, and inflatable dome. Indoor is out of the question so let's just throw that one out!

We are leaning towards the Aquashield but still have some concerns but am open to any alternatives. I'm hoping anyone out there with an Aquashield can lend some advice here........

1) I'm curious where you live and how long you are able to extend your season?
2) Issues with condensation?
3) Dehumidifier needed?
4) Pool pipes freezing?
5) Anyone have one joined to an entry door or only free standing?
6) Heater location - I read on an old closed thread something about where your heater is located and if it's outside that's not good...

If anyone has any other experiences please share! I want to do this right before it's too late or I find things out the hard way.

I appreciate any time anyone takes out to help guide, advise, whatever you have to add, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks so much!

 

[JVTrain]

Glad you're enjoying the forum!

Here is a thread that talks a little about what you're looking for at least towards the end of the build/remodel. Over my head in Wisconsin Haven't heard from the author much recently, but maybe they would respond to a nice PM, especially if they have email notifications on.

I'll answer the ones I'm certain on.
1- By at least a month, best estimate. Much easier to keep heat in the pool without wind and reducing evaporation, exposure to cold night air in the late summer/fall.
4- Like any outdoor pool, pipes can freeze but it's much more... difficult than you would think for them to freeze. Even in freezing outdoor conditions, simply keeping the water moving will prevent most freezing, to a point, especially if the pool water is still warmer than freezing, like it would be in a covered pool. You will still have to close, blow out lines once you do close the pool, like any other pool in our region.
6- You would want your heater outside of the pool area that's covered, that's for sure. Whether you have the heater and other pool equipment in a shed or uncovered is entirely optional. Having a shed can be nice to shield equipment, including the heater, from sunlight and precipitation but repairs and leaks or cleaning the pump basket, etc, is less problematic if things aren't enclosed. A lean-to over equipment can also be a nice option.

I hope you get some more feedback.

 

[just.holly]

Thank you for the reply. I normally read the forum and haven't posted much so not sure if or how I can send you a link from an old thread from 2007. In that thread, the TFP Expert said this:

"It's not just that the pool needs enclosing in the winter. The equipment will also. A heater will need to be vented for the exhaust and allow fresh air in from somewhere warm. Bringing in cold air would create an acidic condensate."

What is that and is it true? I know there are lots of pool owners out there heating their pools in the winter months. I highly doubt they enclose a gas heater so it has warm air?!?!?! Any insight there???

 

[JVTrain]

To link the thread, go to the thread, copy the entire URL then paste into your post.

This is the thread I believe you are referring to. Need to size the proper heater

In that specific thread and any pool in a climate like Wisconsin or North Dakota, it would be pretty difficult to keep the pool open all winter and would require lots of heating, even if enclosed. Your plumbing would still be underground and susceptible to frost. You could avoid this by having the pool water above freezing all winter and continually circulating, preferably with at low speed on a two-speed pump or low RPM on a variable speed pump. But as said in that thread, losing power would be a bad situation to keep from freezing.

I believe you're referring to enclosing the pool just to extend the season, rather than keep open all winter. In that case, there would be no need to enclose the heater/equipment and you could close just like an uncovered pool, just later in the year (and open earlier?). You'd still want to close before you got heavy frost, to avoid any issues with the plumbing and equipment. You certainly wouldn't need to enclose the equipment in that case.

If you were to go so far as to keep it open all winter, either fully heated or just kept above freezing, a separate enclosure for the equipment and heater, with vented exhaust, would be better than keeping the equipment in the same enclosure as the pool. Insulating the plumbing would also be advised to prevent heat loss and freezing. I'm not able to comment on the "acidic condensation" aspect but that would be eliminated having a separate, heated enclosure for the equipment.

This is another interesting thread about heating in the winter (in Canada!) but I'm not sure how practical that would be and I would hate to close my pool after such an event or season extension when it is so cold. FAQ: Cheaply Keeping a Pool Hot -- 90F,95F,100F -- How we ran till Jan 11th in Canada

There may be lots of people heating pools in the winter months, but not in the upper latitudes like ND, WI, MN, etc. Very common to do so down south or in middle US latitudes and usually that's just enough to prevent freeze, not for swimming.

 

[just.holly]

That was the thread I was referring to

You are correct, I'm looking to extend the swimming season as long as I possibly can. Thanks so much for the additional info, it's a big help!