[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by lrvalley

I completely agree with going salt - we had a chlorine pool for over 20 years, and our last one in GA was salt - easily 1/4 or less maintenance, and far less chemical cost... not to mention the other benefits (easier on clothing and skin, doesn't burn your eyes, silkier feel to the water).

I would do more research on your heating option - we are about to put in new pool, and I did extensive reseAn arch. Solar works best when you least need it (when it's already hot and sunny), and worst when you need it most. A heat pump always works, and is far less expensive than natural or propane gas in Florida. During warm weather it will add maybe $25-$40 to your monthly bill, and during cold weather around $50-$75. By my calculations, using the average temp/month in florida, and a desired pool temp of 87 degrees, I estimate around $350/year for an electric heat pump.

An average solar system runs between $4000 and $8000 depending on size and who is estimating. Based on this, it would take the solar system between 12 and 25 years to break even with a heat pump. On my old pools a heat pump lasts about 10 years, and a solar is around the same - they will tell you it's 20... but you will need to start replacing pieces at around 10 years.

Costwise, it's a wash... however a heat pump is consistent and works regardless of weather. Also, it will maintain temp during those 3 months where the solar won't.

Just my 2 cents!

I love the idea of fiberglass, but they couldn't get it inside my existing cage, so it's a no go. Fiberglass should be a much quicker install (cuts out about 4 weeks of labor), but is more expensive than a traditional gunite pool mainly due to transportation costs of the shell.

Hope this helps!

We had a large hot tub installed in our birdcage/lanai, and they simply removed some of the aluminum and screening, installed the hot tub, and replaced the aluminum and then new screen. All the work completed in one day.