Swimming Pool Advice Needed
 

I have a swimming pool and would like to know how often I should have it serviced. Right now, it's being done weekly and its very expensive. I'm the only one that uses it. Any recommendations on how often and typical cost to have it serviced.

During summer months, once a week. Winter, every other week.

Once a week and have them teach you how to empty the Skimmer bucket…. You are one of the Lucky ones!

Have you watched what they do on a service call. Think you could do that?
It’s really not rocket science……

OP, what do you consider very expensive, I believe the pool service I use for our spa charges around $120/month for a pool, the spa is $60 a month.

Our pool used to be $120 per month but it has steadily gone up over the last couple years. Most services now charge between $150 - $160. Their cost for labor and fuel has gone up, but their biggest price increase is the cost of chlorine tablets for a non salt water pool and stabilizer for a salt water pool. By far the largest domestic producer of chlorine and stabilizer was a plant in Texas that burned down. Most of the remaining supply of those products comes from, you guessed it, China. If we were full timers I would definitely do the service myself, it’s not rocket science. Unfortunately, being a part timer, we have to hire a service company or our pool would quickly become a swamp during the hotter months.

Once a week is usually the package choice. Not sure if it's the only option. Anyhow, once a week works for me.

My son does his own.
Punch-a-penny taste his water for free with occasional purchase.
He claims the cost of pool maintenace in a joke

Pool: n. A hole in your yard you throw money into.

It's a joke, it is only a joke

He is right!

Shadow the pool cleaning service. Ask questions and take notes. Review the notes and type up instructions for yourself. Print the instructions. The next time the pool service comes, ask them to review your instructions. Make any needed changes. Search on-line for cheapest chemicals. Now, subtracting the cost of the supplies (chemicals, test-strips, etc.), calculate your savings. If the savings aren't that much, then ask yourself if a home without the hassle of a pool would be better for you.

Step by step videos available on YouTube

We had a pool in NJ. I did not want one in the Villages. The cost in time and money wasn't worth it. TV has plenty of pools that appear to be well-maintained. A pool is a hole in the ground you pour money into.

I have a cover on my pool that looks like transparent light blue bubble wrap. It costs about $300 and lasts in our intense sunshine about 18 months. I have a salt water pool. My pool guy says it really does prevent a lot of chlorine loss and water loss. Before I had it, water had to be added every week. Since then, hardly any water has been added, and chemical use is way down.

I pay $2,000 for the year for full weekly pool cleaning and and all the chemicals. In the couple years I’ve owned the house, repairs to the pool system have added a good $1,000 a year. If you have a birdcage and a pool cover like I have, probably bi-weekly would be okay, or you could even do it yourself. But you probably won’t be able to do repairs by yourself. The man from whom I bought my house cleaned the pool himself for twenty years.

All pools are high maintenance.Our pool guy said pools are holes in the ground into which you put money. Equipment has a finite life span. Scale from Florida water develops on the side of the pool, water chemistry is fussy. We do once a week, T&D. pool and spa. 155/month. There's a lot to know and if you don't, your pool chemistry can go bad very fast. Over a long time, we had rust stains in the pool from the Villages water. Difficult to remove, easy to prevent. If you want to see how complicated self-pool care can get, go to troublefreepool.com You'll see that pool care can very complicated. Good luck if you do it yourself.

If serviced, get a test kit and check your water. We were sent an in experienced guy who left the chemistry worse than when he came.

Chlorine odor and burning eyes is a hint things are not right.

Pool Maintenance
 

We have our 15x30' pool serviced once/week for $120. Well worth the cost. It sparkles and is a joy to have, especially the past 2.5 years. After dumping T&D - Patriot - what ever name they now have - last year we couldn't be happier.

My dad used to say the same thing about his boat on Lake Michigan. I'm not sure he meant it as a joke. :icon_wink:

It's like anything else, some people have no desire to do their own pool maintenance, and will happily pay. Is it hard to do, no, but it does take some work. I don't use the at home test kits (other than for chlorine and pH, and prefer to make a trip to the pool store every week to 10 days.

It's like the people who disdain paying a cable company each month for service, and use other means to watch shows. For me, I don't mind paying for service, with the convenience of having one source to watch my shows/sports.

In periods of lots of rain, weekly might not be often enough. If your pool turns a light green, or even darker green, weekly isn’t enough.

This is not for everybody - but I actually watched as a neighbor down the street had his pool filled in ( not here in TV) so he didn’t have to “mess” with it anymore and “we can just go to the community pool three blocks south of here.” That’s exactly what he told me. I do wonder if you have to get permission to do that here in The Villages? Fore.

Check out the Trouble Free Pools (TFP) website (Home - Trouble Free Pool | Trouble Free Pool). It's a site run by a number of former pool professionals whose only goal in life is to show folks how to properly maintain a pool.

They have a complete section of articles and videos under pool school that explain each measurement that affects your pool water, and how to measure and add whatever is needed.

You don't need 90% of the chemicals a pool store sells you - they are in business to make money. Many of the chemicals that they sell contain additives that make it unique to their store, but are bad (or useless) long term for your pool.

Using TFP, my cost for maintaining my pool (including chemicals) went from $100/month to less than $10/month. My pool is far clearer and cleaner than it ever was using the pool store guys.

I check my pool twice a week - most pool service companies check once a week, and over add chemicals to ensure it's still good when they come back. Sometimes I don't have to add anything for several weeks, but checking lets me know where everything is at. Checking literally takes 10-20 minutes. TFP even offers a pool app for $8/year. You enter in your specs (plaster, vinyl, size, salt, chlorine tabs, etc.) one time for your pool. When you check, you enter in the readings in the app, and it tells you exactly how much to add for each chemical to balance your pool. Super easy.

Here in Florida, you really need to check after a big rainstorm, or after a big pollen dump.

Pool Maintenance
 

Put in a salt water system. Very low maintenance and save bundles on chemicals.

Once a month or better yet, do it yourself. Very easy. Try youtube for demos on how to take care of it.

Salt pool
 

Definitely the way to go with a pool IMHO.

How did we ever survive swimming/playing in rivers, canals, disused quarries, local ponds etc. as kids, and not a cleaner in sight?

I have experience with Pinch Penny as well as T&D, and I found them expensive and lots of personnel turnover. I now have one of the finest pool service companies that you could find. Get in touch with Latonya Marshall.......TOUCHED BY ANGEL POOL AND SPA SERVICE....(352) 304-3447. Guarantee you will be more than satisfied and happy with her service....very through and very complete. She'll also save you a little money compared with the others. :bigbow:

Who is your pool cleaner if you don’t mind telling me?

10 minutes once a week is all it takes. We do it ourselves

We used our pool a lot the first year, a little the second year, and not at all since. It looks nice in the back yard, unless you put a pool coverer it. Its only value is when grand kids come to visit, but its cost is constant. If it had any guts, I would put dirt in the bottom and turn it into a koi pond. That would be far more pleasant than a swimming pool, less hassle and minimum expense.

The hundred-plus a month is only the beginning. You have to pay for filters, pumps, motors, heating, etc. A pool is only worth it if you have money to burn.

We had our pool installed 7.5 years ago. Use it almost every day. I would not live here without my own pool. We have a koi pond that is going to be filled in. Tired of the birds eating them.

I've had a pool for two years now. First year it was T&D and I was happy only because of the tech assigned to my pool. From time to time I had substitutes from TD and they were worthless. Eventually, TD moved my tech to another neighborhood. That killed TD for me. Tried other companies - all were a hands down no-go.

Second year I started doing it myself. Previous posters have commented on that route. If you are able you'll have a more satisfying relationship with ur pool if you do it yourself.

Within my first 6 months I converted the pool to salt - did it myself, very easy to do. Me personally, I'm convinced it makes for an easier maintenance of the pool.

My wife does the chemical checks - I do the labor part. Every once in awhile she will run samples to Pinch a Penny to make sure she is reading the results properly. They don't charge for the samples but of course they will make recommendations for stuff that you can add to ur pool for various reasons.

She chemicals once a week. I clean twice a month during the hot season once a month during the colder months.

The hardest (if you want to call it that) element of the work component is brushing the sides. I don't have any issue with it but it can be a slight bit strenuous... depending on how hard you are willing to work it.

Bottom line. Unless you absolutely can't or don't want to - learn to do it yourself.

I often wonder why people feel the need to get a pool when they have a nice pool in every neighborhood. People think they will use it so much more, but more than likely they will rarely use it.

Agree with the post about Troublefreepools.com. A must-read for anyone with a salt water pool or anyone thinking of handling maintenance themselves. The App of Pool Math will help you keep track of everything and suggest when, what and how much to add of something. The pool stores will check your water and will sell you their product. With a simple kit from Taylor, you can check your own pool and know exactly what’s going on. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re inclined to try it yourself look up Trouble free pools.

We use our pool almost daily. Nothing like floating in the pool at night looking at the stars. The privacy is priceless.

Pool costs
 

Since you probably have a cage over your pool I know you probably have very few leaves getting into it. The real labor is checking your skimmer every day or two bending down picking it up and shaking at the dirt and leaves. The monthly or bi-monthly labor is cleaning your filter by either backwashing or getting a cartridge. The daily thing you should be doing he's checking the pH level and the chlorine level which is a 2 minute test with a couple of paper strips or you take a sample of water to any pool supply store and a check for free. When I had my pool in New Jersey for 10 years the most relaxing half an hour every couple of nights would be to take a broom and sweep the bottom and walk around the pool and relax then take a nice dip. Anytime you want to trade homes with me so I can use the pool feel free to respond

B.O.A.T. stands for Break Out Another Thousand....
Been there done that...
:popcorn::popcorn:

In race between boat and pool who will win the biggest money pit race? :)

You will need it 4 times more in the summer because of the rain and heat (chemicals will get out of balance).

Swim pool service
 

I have been in
Florida for 37 years of those I've had a pool for 27 years. In the summer do every week without fail. Once It gets unbalanced and low on chlorine it can go green and then it costs more to fix. Do test strips every other day to monitor.
Winter ok for every other week, but winter in Florida is mid November to mid March.