Swimming Pools

[live4golf]

Hi All,

We are looking at pool options, in-ground, above-ground, concrete, fibreglass. WE are in the Hunter Valley, has anyone recently got themselves a pool recently or got any experiences with any of these types of pools? space is not an issue, I'd probably prefer an in-ground.

TIA

[Dotty]

I'm happy with the 7m x 4m fibreglass pool (with an Aquamaid salt water chlorinator) that came with the house, when I bought it 20 years ago.

I'd be doubly happy, if it was a practice putting green.
(And it might be, if the fibreglass ever needs repairing.)

[Shreko]

we have a barrier reef 11 x 4.5 mt pool installed Sept 12 and it is fantastic as it is easier to keep clean than our friends concrete and it takes less chemicals(apparently)

[perci]

I have an in ground Cement LFLC {liquid Filled Leaf Catcher} and like boats the best Pool is someone else's, Can be very time consuming and costly with little reward especially once the Kids have grown up and virtually stopped using it!

[3oneday]

We got an above ground from Bluehaven a few years ago.

Their service was terrible, took months, end result is good though.

Plenty of years left in it for us, our littlest is 8, and its good for a soak with a beer after a hard days golf. 8)

[Jarro]

Inground fibreglass pool here ... 9 x 3 meters ... Saltwater with sand filter. Great pool with minimal maintenance required ... Although we did blow our pool pump a couple of years ago.

[TattooedMac]

I worked for a Pool company in Newcastle for 6 years, delivery as my main job, and I then picked up on the installation and plumbing side of the business as well, when in the off season, I had a little time to watch the installers. After so many years in the industry, you get to see and know other companies pools, and the work they do, and we used to pull out a competitors, and install our own because of issues, or it was getting old and the family wanted a change.

The pool company is called Compass Pools, and they work out the factory in School Drive Tomago, Newcastle. Not to sound bias at all, but they are one of the best looking In ground Fibreglass pools I have seen. They have a Patent on the technology they use, and they have(had) 6 different colours and 5 different sparkly flecks through it, and when under water with the lights on, they looked majestical.

The other 'main' attraction that they have, is of another Technology they have a patent on, and its the in pool cleaning system, where you have these pop up jets in the floor and side of the pool, that work in a way that they push all the muck around to the filter, and you never ever have to use the leaf rake, to clean it, OR one of those little Stingray looking things that go along the floor and sides and do the cleaning.
Its this reason, and the way they finish the pools, that it never have algae build up, on the sides or anywhere. You can get the freshwater or saltwater Sand filter options, and pool covers, and they also do solar heating installation as well, putting the black tubing on the roof of your house.

Being in the Hunter, they are well worth the look, and when I was there, they did up to 12 mfr long by 5 at that widest point. They are one of the only companies that Export to the US, and Africa and they where moving into Europe as well when I left. I used to take a Oversized Load of 12-14 Pools down to Melbourne for S.A once a month, and 2 trips of 14-16 down to Sydney for the US.

They are more expensive than the competitors, but they have top notch quality control, having a minimum millimetre shell thickness, with 5 different layers (from Memory again).(I have seen Beams from Haven Pools and they can be so eradicate in thickness, which with a Beam, that is helping support the pool, and makes the landscaping look nice too)

If I could and ever would have the chance of getting a pool, I would order one and get it trucked to WA, because there is no other quality of pool, as well as no maintenance for cleaning, because the inflow cleaning system is 2nd to none.
I have delivered to Singleton, Tamworth, and all over the Hunter, so do yourself a favour, and check them out, because you won't be disappointed. :) Hope that helps some. . .

http://i.imgur.com/snHgovX.png

In the above image, the big shed is the Factory and they make 4 pools a day out of it, then curing time in the yard, before they pull it off the moods. The yard to the left is the Show room and sales centre, so go in there, not to the big yard on the corner.

[chappy1970]

PJ we just put this in.

Temporary fence at the moment with the real one going in next week.

Only early days, but amazebalz at the moment. My folks put a pool in when I was about 8YO and I missed it when I left home.

Finally have my own 20 odd years after leaving home

33804

[Shane788]

Definitely go fibreglass shell, 3 days from dig to finish install, compared to possible months with concrete pool for curing and so on. They never crack like concrete and have 20-25year warrantee and are cheaper. Only benefit of a concrete pool is you can go what ever shape/size you want.

[jasonb]

I hate my pool!

[mike]

We had a Zodiac 7x4 above ground with salt chlorinator. Really trouble free and maintenance free until a couple of years ago. The outer wall started to corrode causing the liner to leak. Covered by the 10 year warranty so I had a new wall and liner delivered and I dismantled and sold the pool with the new stuff because the kids had gone anyway.

[PeteyD]

Had an above ground pool but built half in the ground when we moved in here 11 years ago. Finally pulled it out last year after it really started to die (chlorine killing the metal etc). Was great when the kids were using it. Also eats a fair whack of electricity.

[liptout]

Mate, the pool we got was a Tranquility Pool.

To say their customer service was atrocious is a MASSIVE understatement!! Long story but they were absolutely hopeless!!

However, the boys out in the field who actually installed it and all the other things were brilliant. So the end result I'm more than happy with.

But if you're prepared to put up with fools in an office to get a good end result, you could try them.....

[Courty]

We have a concrete inground pool... saltwater with sand filter. It's now around 10 years old. The pool itself has been pretty low maintenance. We replaced the original chlorinator a few years ago with the new digital reverse-polarity type. The chlorine levels are now much more stable and the cell no longer gets calcium build-up. The biggest frustration we've had is the relatively short lifespan of the automatic pool cleaners (Zodiac etc). We're currently on our 3rd one (MX-8) which seems to be doing better than the previous models we tried.

I used to manage the chemicals myself until a few years ago when we went away and got a pool guy in to keep on top of it. Long story short, he still comes around once every 6 weeks and his services (including chemicals) cost less per annum than I was spending on chemicals alone. One of the reasons he explained is that some of the pool stores (like the one I used to visit) use an automated water sample analysis system which uses recommends the same chemical levels across the nation. Those levels are not suitable here due to differences in climate/ rainfall etc. so he applies different tolerances and hence uses significantly different levels of chemicals. The added benefit is that on his regular visits he can perform all kinds of other maintenance where necessary (repair pumps/ filters/ chlorinators/ pool lights/ spa jets etc.). I wouldn't ever bother trying to maintain the pool myself again.

As the pool was in full sunlight all day, the water temp in the middle of summer was like a warm soup and not real refreshing. About a month ago we had a 5m cantilever umbrella installed to provide some shade. The water temp has dropped noticeably and subsequently we're back to using the pool daily. In winter we'll just swivel the umbrella away from the pool so lit stays a bit warmer.

http://i.imgur.com/2CO4Zob.jpg