The Joys Of Owning a Swimming Pool In Colder Climates With Freeze Risk

I grew up with a swimming pool in my back yard and I remember while we were floating around on a hot summer day, my father would consistently repeat the same complaint about the pool….maintenance.  If you’ve owned even a simple above-ground pool, you know that filling and draining the pool each season, chemical maintenance and filtration and cleaning are a full-time job.  I recall my father testing the pH level every day, backwashing the filter every weekend and adding chlorine and other chemicals.  I also recall how he dreaded all of the steps he had to take to shut down the pool each winter.  Lines had to be drained, hoses had to be pulled and plugged and covers had to be cleaned and installed.  It was a lot of work, but our next-door neighbor had an even bigger issue with their inground swimming pool.

While my dad was pulling hoses off the filter, our neighbor was underground working in tight access panels with hoses that were buried and pipes that were concreted in sidewalks.  While my father was running to the hardware store to buy new hoses that had split in winter, our neighbor was digging up split pipes and smashing concrete to get to the repair location.  As a kid who was trying to lobby my father for an inground pool, I always paid attention to the neighbors repairs and maintenance in an effort to convince my dad that it was easy.

Eventually our above-ground pool rusted out and we were without a pool for several summers while our neighbors fine-tuned their pool issues.  I remember the first step they did was in an effort to prevent damage from freezing lines.  This included systems from www.heatline.com that prevented the filter lines from freezing each winter is a little water was left behind or an early freeze surprised them before the lines were drained.  This ultimately was the last time they had to dig up the lines and I remember they finally installed the sidewalks and stone patio that they previously had to leave as dirt so they could dig up the lines.  This solution as well as adding items from https://disensors.com/products/pressure-sensors-transmitters/pressure-transducers-pressure-sensors-transmitters/ worked well and was definitely cost-effective compared to the effort and expense of yearly repairs.

Now that their pool was almost repair-free, our neighbors decided to add a solar-based heating system with ahu hydro solar solutions.  This not only ensures a consistent warm temperature of the pool water, but also made it affordable compared to electric or fuel based water heating systems.  This solution also extended the usable seasons and times of the day the pool was useful.  I remember the neighbor kids were swimming in May well before our pool water was even 55F and well into Sept, when our pool was covered and shut down for the season.

In the end I was never able to convince my father to spend the money on an inground swimming pool, however I did learn a lot from our neighbor’s experience and that knowledge has come in very handy with my new inground pool.