What's your biggest pool "uh oh?"

[poolnoobgrandma]

So, our sunshelf umbrella sleeve is positioned so that we get good shade in the summer. Not so much on this side of our annual voyage around the sun. So I filled a 5 gallon bucket with some sand from the sandbox to make a movable umbrella stand. Worked great! Until I forgot to crank down the umbrella last night and the wind blew the whole thing over and I spent the first half hour of my Sunday morning shovelling wet sand out of the sunshelf.
Has anyone else had a bright idea that, in the clear 20/20 vision of hindsight, wasn't so bright?

 

[chiefwej]

Back flushing the contents of my DE filter into the pool.

BTW: Great idea, but fill the bucket with concrete instead of sand. And never leave an umbrella out when not in use. When you close it always put a bungee around it to prevent opening, and if not using, put it away.
My neighbor’s umbrella went missing for several days, until he found it on his roof. It was left closed, but not bungeed closed, in the holder. A gust popped it open and put it of his roof.

 

[borjis]

2 things I almost did and would have regretted:
1. Almost put food grade d.e. in my sand filter.
2. Almost dumped a bottle of yellow out in.
This stuff would have added bromine, requiring a complete water change.

Close calls!

 

[BowserB]

First. Listened to my wife instead of the pool builder on depth of the deep end of the pool. PB recommended 5 ft; my wife wanted 6. So the deep end is six feet. I wanted to be able to stand on the bottom to rescue a little kid (we don't have any, and even our grandchildren are teens and can swim...and as teens they have better things to do than visit granny and grandpa). I also wanted to be able to stand on the bottom for maintenance of the waterline tiles, skimmers, coping, etc. Also the deep end is too deep for most people to stand, and people who want to stand crowd into the shallow end, as even the slope from 3.5 to 6 ft is kindof steep.

Second. I listened to the PB on the sunshelf, which I was assured that everyone wants that. Waste of pool perimeter. Never used. Not once in three years. Far more useful would have been stairs the full width of the end of the pool.

Oh well, next time?

 

[Casey]

Cut my liner before I put the skimmer plate on my above ground pool. Added an 8"+ patch across the bottom n 4"+ on bother sides. Brand new liner. Oops

 

[Mdragger88]

There’s been several…
* calling it “level enough” on my intex - it was not - but 3rd fill is a charm right?

* leaving the floater in the pool overnight during one of the drains mentioned above (bleached the liner in my brand new pool)

* left the pool still running but covered in the winter & didn’t pump the water off the cover in a timely fashion so when i finally did the water in the pool had been displaced & my pump was running dry (it was freezing temps) so there i was on xmas eve after doing santa stuff in the wee hours trying to drain my equipment

*Large quantities of Powdered boric acid in the pool … it was a messss! I saved maybe $10 over granular but it took me hours to get it all in. Not worth it.

* last but not least- not setting a timer when filling or draining- we all know how this turns out

Hopefully this thread will save others from some hardship in the future.

 

[jark87]

Second. I listened to the PB on the sunshelf, which I was assured that everyone wants that. Waste of pool perimeter. Never used. Not once in three years.

Too funny. Our tanning ledge hasn’t been used in 15 years! And in our case, it should be named the shade ledge, as it is the only section of our pool that never sees the sun, which leads me to my biggest mistake. This was our first pool, and during the design stage, I tracked how the sun traveled across our yard and aligned the pool with the sun, which puts the pool in full sun exposure all day. Water temps were hitting mid-90s by early July. A chiller was added a few years later, which was my best decision.

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Too funny. Our tanning ledge hasn’t been used in 15 years! And in our case, it should be named the shade ledge, as it is the only section of our pool that never sees the sun, which leads me to my biggest mistake. This was our first pool, and during the design stage, I tracked how the sun traveled across our yard and aligned the pool with the sun, which puts the pool in full sun exposure all day. Water temps were hitting mid-90s by early July. A chiller was added a few years later, which was my best decision.

This is such an individual thing! We love our sunshelf, and it gets lots of use by guests and the little ones.
We got a chiller with our heater, but I've become such a warm water wimp we've only used it a couple of times. (Could also be because we now have two big cantilevered umbrellas over the shallow end.)
Tracking the sun was a great idea. 20/20 hindsight, we should have had the seating ledge facing east so that we're not staring into the sun in the late afternoon. We should also have put the deeper spa seat so that it's the best seat in the house for movies. I'd say "next time," but we'll be leaving this house feet first. Hopefully many years from now.

 

[Saturn94]

* last but not least- not setting a timer when filling or draining- we all know how this turns out

I sure can relate to this one!

 

[Newdude]

I was draining to waste and when I was done I shut the pump off and walked away. Gravity kept the flow going and I lost a good deal of water before I realized it.

Move that MPV / valve back to ‘pool’ folks.

 

[Nikilyn]

Back flushing the contents of my DE filter into the pool.

BTW: Great idea, but fill the bucket with concrete instead of sand. And never leave an umbrella out when not in use. When you close it always put a bungee around it to prevent opening, and if not using, put it away.
My neighbor’s umbrella went missing for several days, until he found it on his roof. It was left closed, but not bungeed closed, in the holder. A gust popped it open and put it of his roof.

We never leave our umbrellas out. Monsoons are not kind to them. Our neighbor’s ended up in our yard. Plus the AZ sun is brutal. Taking them to the patio saves them.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

No bright idea involved, just stupidity.

One day, I was opening my auto-cover when it got stuck. Huh. I kept trying to open it but it wouldn't budge.

Turned out my old Polaris was at the surface thanks to its backup valve. It got caught in the cover and tore a foot long hole in it.

I patched & re-patched for several years, but eventually my patches failed and I had to replace the vinyl this year. Cha-ching!

Oh, I learned to make sure the Polaris booster pump is off before opening the cover.

 

[KJB1]

Too funny. Our tanning ledge hasn’t been used in 15 years! And in our case, it should be named the shade ledge, as it is the only section of our pool that never sees the sun, which leads me to my biggest mistake. This was our first pool, and during the design stage, I tracked how the sun traveled across our yard and aligned the pool with the sun, which puts the pool in full sun exposure all day. Water temps were hitting mid-90s by early July. A chiller was added a few years later, which was my best decision.

Same issue here. Our sunshelf is usually in the shade. The umbrella has never been used. Also never felt the need to sit in one of the chairs in the water they always show in the drawings. We purchased one and tried it. Returned it after a few days.