Are Swimming Pools worth the hassle?

[maccastime]

Hi.
Two questions firstly i am looking at retiring in h/h soon,where abouts is your house,could u send me the link of the estate agent,or any info would appreciate muchly.
also re the pool question,does thail still have chlorine,or do they have salt pools,as salt is so much easier to look after.
many thanks.

[Johan]

They have both, you can choose what you like. I prefer chlorine, some people prefer salt.

[Nereus]

I was not going to bother with this again, but seems like a couple of genuine posters do not know about pools.

Unless you have access to a clean beach, you are not going to have a "salt water pool".
Most pools are sanitised with chlorine. It is how the chlorine is produced that differs. With a so called "salt water pool" the chlorine is produced with an electronic device by passing fresh water with salt added to it over an electrically charged grid in the device.

This as opposed to chemically treating the water by adding raw chlorine to it to obtain the required Ph.
A bit more involved in practice, but that is the basic idea.

[OscarMike]

Can someone post a few ballpark figures for the following:

Cost of construction 8x4 meter pool inclusive of all equipment (pump, building to keep it in, chlorinator, etc).

Cost of monthly maintenance including cleaning, chemicals, electricity for the pump, etc etc (doing it yourself).

Thanks.

[PeteC]

As a starter, here's a Pattaya site I posted a few weeks ago on a similar thread. It will give you approximate ideas concerning cost. Hit the "rectangle" and "free form" tabs. Pete

http://www.issworldwide.com/index.php/swimming-pools

[poosmate]

Another point with "salt water pools" is that yes they sanitise with chlorine but the levels if the chlorinator is set correctly are usually lower. This will reduce irritation but the downside is the pool is slightly salty to the taste.

[Johan]

I don't like the salt taste, for me only chlorine.

[pitsch]

At the required salt level you taste no salt at all. I have a "self-cleaning" chlorinator (to remove the calcium on the blades by reversing the direction of the current), but I have to clean it every month with acid, which I dont like.

As swimming and cleaning the pool is my only physical exercise, I do all the pool work myself. I heard from others that the pool companies give too much chlorine into the pool to save some cleaning work.

So the pool maintenance (chemicals) cost me less than 500 Baht/month and about 2 hours per week.

Plus the electricity for the pumps (one for the pool, one for the spa), which I estimate to be between 1000 and 2000 Baht/month.

[Johan]

Are you allowed to clean your swimming pool yourself by thai law ? I think not but i'm not sure.

[pitsch]

Yes, thats a problem. So I will learn my Thai wife to do it.

[Spitfire]

C'mon guys, don't be paranoid. You would have to be extremely unlucky or have really offended someone badly to get grassed up for that.

Is there any difference with this and a car washing or vacuuming the carpet episode?

However, to be open-minded, does anyone know where exactly the lines are, if there is one on the household front?

Pool cleaning service or maids, both give jobs to the locals but can't see someone getting done for doing maid duties.

[Super Joe]

Another point with "salt water pools" is that yes they sanitise with chlorine but the levels if the chlorinator is set correctly are usually lower. This will reduce irritation but the downside is the pool is slightly salty to the taste.

Agree, ours adds small amounts of chlorine for a few hours early morning then early evening each day, via the pump program timings. So, when cleaning is done right you don't get a the bigger periodic chlorine dose, 6 years and never had chlorine in eyes irritation or that taste/smell.
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Salt water pools seem to have much clearer water than traditional chlorine pool, you can see specs of grit on the grout of the floor tiles (ok, it's only 1.5m deep). Also never notice the salt except when purposely 'tasting' for it, I read it's approx. 15% of sea water salt content!?

Just wondering whether people thought they worth the hassle of maintenance and cost?
If you have one do you use it?

Great question, thought about it a lot first year or two when you suddenly realise no-one has used it for 2 months, but don't worry about that anymore. Everyone's different and ours isn't designed for exercise, but for the first 6 months we used it almost daily until novelty wore off, but that's not enough to not want one for us, and would always have another if ever moved.
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Found after a year or so we hardly use it in rainy season, and use it often in dry sunny season, every day when people come to stay. When you do use it, or have kids, friends/family over etc then it really makes the garden/outdoor life, particularly as you can just jump in it a 4pm and have a laugh for an hour whereas we wouldn't set off for the beach at that time. Monthly maintenance cost is 2,500 Baht (8.5m x 4.5m plus jacuzzi) so only a little more than UBC or a month of weekly trips to beach with chairs & a bit of drink/food.



On the design side for regular Hua Hin pools, a couple of general comments not for MITM in particular as know you know your stuff from PM's. Some of this is just personal preference really:
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1) Ours is 1.5m deep & I'd do it deeper next time as water can be a bit warm in sunny months. But not too deep if have any screaming little Thai ankle-biters … or young kids
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2) You can get remote control set-ups for jacuzzi pump and underwater lights now, well worth it.
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3) Because salt water is so clear you can see every speck of grit, I wouldn't get light blue tiles but mid or dark coloured ones.
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4) I wouldn't opt to save a bit with Chinese equipment, better off with one of the Australian manufacturers like Poolrite, despite the odd reports of faults.
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5) While pools flush with the ground look smarter than with a raised footpath surround like we've got, don't underestimate the amount of leaves/debris/old ladies that will end up in the water an hour after it's been cleaned, cos we've had enough to fill Hounslow Bingo Hall, and that's with raised surround.
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6) If you're having an attached jacuzzi with a curved 'fall off' into pool (see pics below), I wouldn't recommend tiling it as apart from hard for average tiler to make it look good with so many small odd cuts, you have that plastic strip taking centre stage, grout keeps falling out and slippery when kids run across it. Sandwash or a.n.other is more practical.

SJ