By Ian Partridge
POOL SAFETY: SAVING LIVES THROUGH COMMON SENSE
FACTS:
* The third greatest risk to children in America is drowning
* Throughout the world an average of 30 people per hour drown in pools, at beaches, and in other bodies of water. A large percentage of these victims are children 5 years of age and younger.
* In the United States the second leading cause of unintentional death in persons from 5 to 44 years old is drowning.
* For children under 14 years of age the primary cause of unintentional death is drowning.
* Drownings and near drownings tend to happen when children are in familiar surroundings being supervised by a parent. The drownings usually occurred during a supervisory lapse.
* Almost 70% of all children who were accidentally submerged were not expected to be near the pool at that time. 65% of these accidents happened in a pool owned by the family.
* It takes as little as 2 inches of water and 2 seconds for a child to drown.
* Children less than 1-year old are more likely to drown in buckets and bathtubs than older children are.
* In 90% of backyard drowning cases the parents eventually divorce.
* Drownings and near drownings occur in pools with perimeter fences and gate alarms.
ALWAYS THINK OF SAFETY:
* Never leave a child unattended in a pool, tub, or spa.
* Police both the areas inside and outside your pool. To gain access children may use chairs, boxes, ladders, and other objects left outside the pool.
* Wadding pools, buckets, and drains should be emptied of water when not in use and must be closely supervised when in use.
* If your pool is easily accessed through your home lock doggie doors.
* Never prop open a gate and leave it unattended.
* Install a passive infrared alarm system that will protect the entire pool area. Simply putting an alarm on the gate or door is not enough. Such alarm systems can be neutralized and once this occurs there is nothing between your child and the water.
* Remember young children are usually naturally curious about the water but often lack an understanding of the dangers involved.
* Stress water safety.
* All members of your family should learn how to swim.
Pool safety is not an accident. Sound planning, careful supervision, and an alarm system that cannot be compromised are important elements that will help ensure the well being of your children and their friends. These efforts will not go unrewarded.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
How to be your Pool Company's Favorite Customer
By taking advantage of a few easy swimming pool maintenance tips, you can easily make yourself the most profitable customer your local pool business has ever seen.
1. Don't clean your pool! A dirty pool is an expensive pool (expensive for you, profitable for your local pool business). The more you let your pool go, the more it will cost to get things back together again. Do you see leaves in there? By all means, let them sit. Are random foreign objects floating around in your pool? Sure, let them stay. Anything that doesn't belong in the pool, it shouldn't cause any problems, right? Likewise, it's a waste of time to be brushing your pool… especially the dead spots where algae is likely to grow. Your pool company will love you, knowing that you'll need to be buying algaecide, shock, and possibly other products to clean up a mess. Your pool business would love for you to let your pool go.
2. Never empty your skimmer or pump baskets. Those baskets are meant to permanently store all the debris that they catch. That's what baskets are for, right? Storage! It would be a far greater hassle to empty that skimmer basket every few days, as opposed to letting it break and having to buy a new one (at $15 a pop) with great regularity. Not only that, but it's good for your pool to be choking on the water circulation. Forcing your pump to work harder only makes it stronger, right? No pain, no gain. When your skimmer basket breaks, letting debris get through, let that same junk sit in your pump basket for a while. You can break two baskets with only one load of debris! After your pump basket breaks, that's when the real excitement begins. You'll have all sorts of chunks flying through the rest of the pump, and being forced into the filter. Hoorah! All the equipment is getting some exercise now! Hopefully something will break, which will further ingratiate you with your favorite pool place. After all, cleaning out those baskets is far more trouble than it's worth, right?
3. If you see algae, brush it and hope it goes away. It's a well-known fact that scrubbing algae kills it, as opposed to the nonsense of using concentrated chlorine on it. After all, even though algae was actually growing in the pool, there still should be enough chlorine in the pool to kill that stuff. The idea of actually shocking the pool wouldn't make any sense then, would it? By all means, wipe away the algae and then continue on your merry way. It's not like it will come back, right? Your pool company would much rather you waited until your algae becomes a significant problem, and growing everywhere before you take an interest in treating it. So do your pool business a favor and wait until there's algae everywhere before you decide to do anything about it.
4. Buy all your chemicals in as small amount as humanly possible. If you need some shock or chlorine sticks, make sure you get them in the smallest container available. You want to avoid those larger containers like the plague. Not only are those larger containers of the dreaded economical type, and not only do they cost you less per pound, but they will keep you from being required to regularly visit your favorite pool business.
Keep in mind, these tips are only useful if you want to be as financially supportive as possible to your local pool company. If you'd rather save money, or spend it on something other than your pool, you would do best to ignore all this advice, or even do the opposite.
2. Never empty your skimmer or pump baskets. Those baskets are meant to permanently store all the debris that they catch. That's what baskets are for, right? Storage! It would be a far greater hassle to empty that skimmer basket every few days, as opposed to letting it break and having to buy a new one (at $15 a pop) with great regularity. Not only that, but it's good for your pool to be choking on the water circulation. Forcing your pump to work harder only makes it stronger, right? No pain, no gain. When your skimmer basket breaks, letting debris get through, let that same junk sit in your pump basket for a while. You can break two baskets with only one load of debris! After your pump basket breaks, that's when the real excitement begins. You'll have all sorts of chunks flying through the rest of the pump, and being forced into the filter. Hoorah! All the equipment is getting some exercise now! Hopefully something will break, which will further ingratiate you with your favorite pool place. After all, cleaning out those baskets is far more trouble than it's worth, right?
3. If you see algae, brush it and hope it goes away. It's a well-known fact that scrubbing algae kills it, as opposed to the nonsense of using concentrated chlorine on it. After all, even though algae was actually growing in the pool, there still should be enough chlorine in the pool to kill that stuff. The idea of actually shocking the pool wouldn't make any sense then, would it? By all means, wipe away the algae and then continue on your merry way. It's not like it will come back, right? Your pool company would much rather you waited until your algae becomes a significant problem, and growing everywhere before you take an interest in treating it. So do your pool business a favor and wait until there's algae everywhere before you decide to do anything about it.
4. Buy all your chemicals in as small amount as humanly possible. If you need some shock or chlorine sticks, make sure you get them in the smallest container available. You want to avoid those larger containers like the plague. Not only are those larger containers of the dreaded economical type, and not only do they cost you less per pound, but they will keep you from being required to regularly visit your favorite pool business.
Keep in mind, these tips are only useful if you want to be as financially supportive as possible to your local pool company. If you'd rather save money, or spend it on something other than your pool, you would do best to ignore all this advice, or even do the opposite.
Swimming Pool Covers????
Swimming Pool Covers - Yes or No?? explained our approach and reasons for not using a swimming pool cover during the winter.
To continue with our story of how we maintain our pool, we begin with a crystal clear pool in early Spring or late Winter.
As you read in the other article, our approach keeps the pool looking beautiful all year round. So, come Spring, all we have to do is get the chemistry balanced correctly and we are all set for another season.
We usually buy our chemicals in bulk. They are much cheaper this way. By having our chemicals on hand (there are four main chemicals that you can buy in bulk: chlorine sticks, chlorine shock, total alkalinity and calcium) we simply take a sample of the pool water to the local pool place and have it analyzed. Most places will analyze it for free – if you buy your pool chemicals from them. But if you have large quantities at home you will just want the results of the analysis. This analysis generally will cost less than $10. You can avoid the fee by purchasing the cheaper chemicals that you need, like pH plus or chlorine stabilizer.
Once you get the analysis results, you just follow the instructions for what needs to be added and your pool is ready for another season of fun.
In early Spring when the water is still a little on the cold side, we will cover the pool with a thermal blanket at night and even during the day while we aren’t swimming. These simple ‘bubble wrap’ kind of blankets do an excellent job of keeping the warmth in the water at night, and trapping in the heat of the sun during the day. The only hassle is having to take it off every morning and put it back on every night. (One of my next projects will be to make or purchase some kind of roller to facilitate the ease of taking this cover off and putting in on every day.)
As the weather warms up, we run the pool pump for longer times each day since algae and other bad stuff grow more easily in warmer weather. Actually, if I remember right, the kind of freshwater algae we struggle with here doesn’t even really grow in water that’s colder than 50 degrees. Sometime before the hectic summer season sets in, we will take the pool filtration system apart and thoroughly clean its filters.
Other things we routinely do to keep the pool running and looking good:
-We keep the chlorine reservoir full of chlorine sticks
-We run the Polaris for at least 2 or 3 hours a day and keep the Polaris debris bag clean (if it gets too full, the bag will break and we’ll have to spend $30 on a new bag).
-We try to keep any pool toy or raft which might have mold or algae on it out of the pool. The reasoning being, if you don’t put the dirty thing in the pool, you don’t have to worry about getting the mold in your pool or on you liner. Basically, if you take your swimsuits or floats to a pond, lake or ocean, thoroughly wash and clean them before you use them in your pool, or you will be introducing algae (albeit dried algae) directly into your pool.
-We shock the pool every couple of weeks and sometimes more often depending on what’s gotten in there and how much it’s used.
-We scrub down the steps, ladder and liner sides when needed with a brush.
-We keep the water balanced, of course.
As was said in the beginning of the first article, we enjoy a pretty care-free pool by habitually doing a few things. In the few years we have owned the pool, we have not had a single major (or even minor) problem with the pool chemistry. And, to be honest, we rarely have to spend much money when we get the water tested (only every so often). We’re not in the least obsessive about our pool and it has yet to cause us any problems.
To continue with our story of how we maintain our pool, we begin with a crystal clear pool in early Spring or late Winter.
As you read in the other article, our approach keeps the pool looking beautiful all year round. So, come Spring, all we have to do is get the chemistry balanced correctly and we are all set for another season.
We usually buy our chemicals in bulk. They are much cheaper this way. By having our chemicals on hand (there are four main chemicals that you can buy in bulk: chlorine sticks, chlorine shock, total alkalinity and calcium) we simply take a sample of the pool water to the local pool place and have it analyzed. Most places will analyze it for free – if you buy your pool chemicals from them. But if you have large quantities at home you will just want the results of the analysis. This analysis generally will cost less than $10. You can avoid the fee by purchasing the cheaper chemicals that you need, like pH plus or chlorine stabilizer.
Once you get the analysis results, you just follow the instructions for what needs to be added and your pool is ready for another season of fun.
In early Spring when the water is still a little on the cold side, we will cover the pool with a thermal blanket at night and even during the day while we aren’t swimming. These simple ‘bubble wrap’ kind of blankets do an excellent job of keeping the warmth in the water at night, and trapping in the heat of the sun during the day. The only hassle is having to take it off every morning and put it back on every night. (One of my next projects will be to make or purchase some kind of roller to facilitate the ease of taking this cover off and putting in on every day.)
As the weather warms up, we run the pool pump for longer times each day since algae and other bad stuff grow more easily in warmer weather. Actually, if I remember right, the kind of freshwater algae we struggle with here doesn’t even really grow in water that’s colder than 50 degrees. Sometime before the hectic summer season sets in, we will take the pool filtration system apart and thoroughly clean its filters.
Other things we routinely do to keep the pool running and looking good:
-We keep the chlorine reservoir full of chlorine sticks
-We run the Polaris for at least 2 or 3 hours a day and keep the Polaris debris bag clean (if it gets too full, the bag will break and we’ll have to spend $30 on a new bag).
-We try to keep any pool toy or raft which might have mold or algae on it out of the pool. The reasoning being, if you don’t put the dirty thing in the pool, you don’t have to worry about getting the mold in your pool or on you liner. Basically, if you take your swimsuits or floats to a pond, lake or ocean, thoroughly wash and clean them before you use them in your pool, or you will be introducing algae (albeit dried algae) directly into your pool.
-We shock the pool every couple of weeks and sometimes more often depending on what’s gotten in there and how much it’s used.
-We scrub down the steps, ladder and liner sides when needed with a brush.
-We keep the water balanced, of course.
As was said in the beginning of the first article, we enjoy a pretty care-free pool by habitually doing a few things. In the few years we have owned the pool, we have not had a single major (or even minor) problem with the pool chemistry. And, to be honest, we rarely have to spend much money when we get the water tested (only every so often). We’re not in the least obsessive about our pool and it has yet to cause us any problems.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Swimming Pool Covers - Yes or No??
Before I owned a pool I always thought that pool maintenance was going to be a real pain and troublesome. I had heard many horror stories from friends and acquaintances about all the problems they had in keeping their pools clean and balanced.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that after our inground pool was installed, that maintenance of it really wasn't a problem. How did I achieve this? I don't know -- but this is what I do.
First we never invested in a pool cover. Since we live in SC we have a few months of 'cold' temperatures but the remainder of the winter isn't too bad. We don't swim much from October to March but we don't cover it either. We simply leave the pump and filter running. During the colder weather we don't have to leave the pump run as much as when it is warmer, but the pool runs about 4-5 hours a day during the dead of winter. If the temperature drops below about 40 deg F, the pump automatically comes on to keep things from freezing. So, the first thing we don't have to do is to cover the pool.
By not covering the pool, you save hundreds of dollars by not having to buy a pool cover every couple of years. But, in the long run, you might potentially pay more for electricity to run the pump all year than a new cover would have cost. However, keep in mind that covers tend to age fairly quickly, and you might have to buy a new one every few years anyways.
By not covering the pool you also save the hassle of 'opening the pool' every spring. First, you don't have to mess with the debris of leaves and the murky water that accumulates on the top of the cover. As you know, after a while these water soaked leaves that accumulate on the cover, start to decay and send all this decaying rot into your pool where it contaminates the water and may even stick or attack your pool liner. So, by not covering your pool during the winter you save the hassle of dealing with all this rotten leaves and stuff. On the flip side, if you do cover the pool, do yourself a favor and skim the debris off the cover every so often. Don't try to remove all the water, though, as there is going to be at least a little water in the center of the cover. As I remember, water from the under side of the cover will actually seep through to the top layer. By trying to drain it too much, you may actually drain water out of the pool.
To combat the problem of debris, we have a Polaris automatic pool cleaner which runs at least 2 to 3 hours a day. This keeps the pool clean of leaves, worms, bugs, and other similar yuck.
By not covering the pool but running the pump all winter long, you don't have to contend with the stagnant green algae infested water that develops when it sits idle for months at a time. Everyone has probably heard of the horror stories of trying to shock a pool and get the chemistry balanced after a long winter. Thankfully this is not a problem when you run the pump throughout the winter.
By not covering the pool, you can take a quick dip anytime you please since the water is always pretty darn clean. While few people would ever take a quick dip in the winter, the point here is that the cleanliness and clarity of the pool stays so good that you could swim in it, but more importantly, getting it balanced is as simple as taking a sample to be tested and learning what chemicals to add. In other words you can be swimming in a day without any serious effort or exhaustion.
The only other things that I do are 1.) Keeping the chlorine reservoir full (or nearly full) with chlorine sticks and 2.) Cleaning the Polaris and filter trap every week.
Occasionally, during windy weather, we may get a lot of leaves blown into the pool. The Polaris does a good job of sucking them up, but sometimes you get so many in that it can't get them all picked up. In that case, I manually scoop as many leaves out as I can with my leaf net or skimmer, and then I run the Polaris a little longer every day until the pool is clear again. Once it is clear, I turn the running time of the Polaris back down to one or two hours a day and all is well.
One note on what I could do to prevent bunches of leaves from blowing in is to put up a wire chicken mesh fence around the base of our wooden privacy fence. If this was up, very few leaves would get into the pool area. Of course, this is a to-do project for the future.
Lastly, the only other thing that I have to do is watch the water level. If we get a lot of rain, the water level will rise enough to hinder the skimmer. In those cases I simply pump some water out and drop the level back down to an appropriate height.
Please keep in mind that we live in South Carolina. This type of pool care may not be appropriate for much colder climates. If you live in the north and have an inground pool, please contact your local pool company and they will be able to recommend something appropriate for your colder climate.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that after our inground pool was installed, that maintenance of it really wasn't a problem. How did I achieve this? I don't know -- but this is what I do.
First we never invested in a pool cover. Since we live in SC we have a few months of 'cold' temperatures but the remainder of the winter isn't too bad. We don't swim much from October to March but we don't cover it either. We simply leave the pump and filter running. During the colder weather we don't have to leave the pump run as much as when it is warmer, but the pool runs about 4-5 hours a day during the dead of winter. If the temperature drops below about 40 deg F, the pump automatically comes on to keep things from freezing. So, the first thing we don't have to do is to cover the pool.
By not covering the pool, you save hundreds of dollars by not having to buy a pool cover every couple of years. But, in the long run, you might potentially pay more for electricity to run the pump all year than a new cover would have cost. However, keep in mind that covers tend to age fairly quickly, and you might have to buy a new one every few years anyways.
By not covering the pool you also save the hassle of 'opening the pool' every spring. First, you don't have to mess with the debris of leaves and the murky water that accumulates on the top of the cover. As you know, after a while these water soaked leaves that accumulate on the cover, start to decay and send all this decaying rot into your pool where it contaminates the water and may even stick or attack your pool liner. So, by not covering your pool during the winter you save the hassle of dealing with all this rotten leaves and stuff. On the flip side, if you do cover the pool, do yourself a favor and skim the debris off the cover every so often. Don't try to remove all the water, though, as there is going to be at least a little water in the center of the cover. As I remember, water from the under side of the cover will actually seep through to the top layer. By trying to drain it too much, you may actually drain water out of the pool.
To combat the problem of debris, we have a Polaris automatic pool cleaner which runs at least 2 to 3 hours a day. This keeps the pool clean of leaves, worms, bugs, and other similar yuck.
By not covering the pool but running the pump all winter long, you don't have to contend with the stagnant green algae infested water that develops when it sits idle for months at a time. Everyone has probably heard of the horror stories of trying to shock a pool and get the chemistry balanced after a long winter. Thankfully this is not a problem when you run the pump throughout the winter.
By not covering the pool, you can take a quick dip anytime you please since the water is always pretty darn clean. While few people would ever take a quick dip in the winter, the point here is that the cleanliness and clarity of the pool stays so good that you could swim in it, but more importantly, getting it balanced is as simple as taking a sample to be tested and learning what chemicals to add. In other words you can be swimming in a day without any serious effort or exhaustion.
The only other things that I do are 1.) Keeping the chlorine reservoir full (or nearly full) with chlorine sticks and 2.) Cleaning the Polaris and filter trap every week.
Occasionally, during windy weather, we may get a lot of leaves blown into the pool. The Polaris does a good job of sucking them up, but sometimes you get so many in that it can't get them all picked up. In that case, I manually scoop as many leaves out as I can with my leaf net or skimmer, and then I run the Polaris a little longer every day until the pool is clear again. Once it is clear, I turn the running time of the Polaris back down to one or two hours a day and all is well.
One note on what I could do to prevent bunches of leaves from blowing in is to put up a wire chicken mesh fence around the base of our wooden privacy fence. If this was up, very few leaves would get into the pool area. Of course, this is a to-do project for the future.
Lastly, the only other thing that I have to do is watch the water level. If we get a lot of rain, the water level will rise enough to hinder the skimmer. In those cases I simply pump some water out and drop the level back down to an appropriate height.
Please keep in mind that we live in South Carolina. This type of pool care may not be appropriate for much colder climates. If you live in the north and have an inground pool, please contact your local pool company and they will be able to recommend something appropriate for your colder climate.
Costs of Maintaining a new pool - Part IV
The True Costs of Building and Maintaining
a New In-ground Swimming Pool - Part IV
Lastly -
Swimming Pool maintenance costs!!!!
Starting up a new pool
Now that we know the pool installation costs, what are the costs for starting up a new pool.
First, as was listed in the table on the other page, if you have a pool heater, the gas company will run the line to the heater (for free) but then you have to pay to have the meter installed and the gas line connected.
Next, you need to fill it with water. A 16 x 32 pool holds approximately 23,000 gals of water. In 2003, the cost of filling this pool was about $75 which was about 0.0033 cents a gallon.
Lastly you need to fence it in. If you use a wood fence (which is probably the cheapest and gives you the most privacy) to surround a 16 x 32 pool (which is surrounded bya cement walkway), your costs will be
On going costs to maintain pool
Gas
Heating the pool is very expensive. Your gas costs are probably about $10 an hour for every hour you run the heater. The pool water temperature will only rise a few degrees an hour. A guesstimate then would be to raise the pool temperature 10 deg would cost you about $75 to $85 dollars.
Most gas companies also require that you 'rent' their gas meter since they will probably put a separate one on your pool. This will be a recurring monthly rental fee of at least $7.50 for the life of your pool - even if you never run the heater.
Electric
If you let the pool circulation system run around 10 to 12 hrs per day, average, you can figure on paying an extra $50 to $60 more for your electric than you are paying now.
Water
Occasionally you will have to add some water to your pool to bring the level up so it filters properly. You can assume $10 to $15 more for every time you have to bring the water level up 2 or 3 inches.
Chemicals
A 5 gal pail of chlorine sticks should last you about a year. These run about $70 to $80.
Depending on what other chemicals you need, you may buy another $50 to $100 worth of chemicals in a year.
Pool Covers
These are discussed elsewhere on this site, but you might invest in a solar cover, which is simply a big sheet of bubble wrap. This will probably cost about $75.
Summary
The above article describes most of the costs of owning a pool. But, what is the bottom line, actual cost per month, assuming you finance the pool with a home equity loan for 10 years at 6% interest.
Loan Amount $20,000 $25,000 $30,000
Loan Cost per month $222 $277 $333
Utility Costs per month $80 $80 $80
Total Monthly Cost $302 $357 $413
We hope you found this article informative. Just remember, all prices (listed above) are as accurate as possible, but should only be used as a guideline. You obviously have to do your homework and find out the details for your particular part of the country.
a New In-ground Swimming Pool - Part IV
Lastly -
Swimming Pool maintenance costs!!!!
Starting up a new pool
Now that we know the pool installation costs, what are the costs for starting up a new pool.
First, as was listed in the table on the other page, if you have a pool heater, the gas company will run the line to the heater (for free) but then you have to pay to have the meter installed and the gas line connected.
Next, you need to fill it with water. A 16 x 32 pool holds approximately 23,000 gals of water. In 2003, the cost of filling this pool was about $75 which was about 0.0033 cents a gallon.
Lastly you need to fence it in. If you use a wood fence (which is probably the cheapest and gives you the most privacy) to surround a 16 x 32 pool (which is surrounded bya cement walkway), your costs will be
On going costs to maintain pool
Gas
Heating the pool is very expensive. Your gas costs are probably about $10 an hour for every hour you run the heater. The pool water temperature will only rise a few degrees an hour. A guesstimate then would be to raise the pool temperature 10 deg would cost you about $75 to $85 dollars.
Most gas companies also require that you 'rent' their gas meter since they will probably put a separate one on your pool. This will be a recurring monthly rental fee of at least $7.50 for the life of your pool - even if you never run the heater.
Electric
If you let the pool circulation system run around 10 to 12 hrs per day, average, you can figure on paying an extra $50 to $60 more for your electric than you are paying now.
Water
Occasionally you will have to add some water to your pool to bring the level up so it filters properly. You can assume $10 to $15 more for every time you have to bring the water level up 2 or 3 inches.
Chemicals
A 5 gal pail of chlorine sticks should last you about a year. These run about $70 to $80.
Depending on what other chemicals you need, you may buy another $50 to $100 worth of chemicals in a year.
Pool Covers
These are discussed elsewhere on this site, but you might invest in a solar cover, which is simply a big sheet of bubble wrap. This will probably cost about $75.
Summary
The above article describes most of the costs of owning a pool. But, what is the bottom line, actual cost per month, assuming you finance the pool with a home equity loan for 10 years at 6% interest.
Loan Amount $20,000 $25,000 $30,000
Loan Cost per month $222 $277 $333
Utility Costs per month $80 $80 $80
Total Monthly Cost $302 $357 $413
We hope you found this article informative. Just remember, all prices (listed above) are as accurate as possible, but should only be used as a guideline. You obviously have to do your homework and find out the details for your particular part of the country.
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