Fibreglass swimming pools - first hand experiences wanted

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  altomic on 27/04/2017 - 13:24

  I had a fibreglass pool in my last place (already there whern I moved in)

  it was fine.

  It was a "salt" pool with a robot cleaner.

  the house had a almost flat roof so I was thinking of connecting roof top heating/hose thing. but then when the first real heat wave hit the pool just stayed warm for 2 weeks :(

• 

  roundnumbersonly on 27/04/2017 - 14:06

  You could get by with running a kreepy krauly all the time, combined with the leaf rake. Depends how much trees, etc you have around the pool - windy days can fill up the skimmer basket very quickly.

  Features - I have a little water fall/water fountain thing in mine. Personally I never turn it on, but it will probably only be useful when it comes to selling (for real estate photos).

  I didn't bother with installing any kids things - slides, ropes, etc. Everything starts to fade and weather when its exposed and kids tire of them too. For example, my kids prefer to use their water bottles in the pool to squirt each other rather than use their water guns….

  I have a salt water chlorinator in mine - the cell is meant to last at least 5 years….mine is probably about 3 years old. It works really well. Heating - personally, I wouldn't bother (increased power, different water chemistry) unless you're deadset on swimming in winter.

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  macca9123 on 27/04/2017 - 15:13

  +1

  I bought a house 12 months ago with an existing fibreglass pool, about 5 years old. We have a cartridge pool filter, salt water chlorinator and solar pool heating. I replaced the kreepy-krawly style cleaner with a Pentair Rebel and it's been much more effective than the old unit. I was advised against the robot type of cleaners unless you have a large pool, otherwise you'll be spending time inserting and removing them from the pool, and they can be heavy when full of water. The cleaner I have I can just leave in the pool full time and it gets cleaned twice a day.

  Overall I'm really happy. I spend about 10 minutes a week to empty and hose out the filters in the skimmer box, pool pump and the in-line cleaner filter I added. I've hardly had to add any chemicals too as it's been really stable. Over the last year I've added 50kg of salt (~ $20), 2kg of cyanuric acid (sunscreen for the chlorine) and a little bit of acid to bring the pH down a little. I don't think it had been adjusted in a few years. At first I was concerned about the saltiness of the pool but at the regular salt level it is still <20% that of the sea, so you hardly notice it.

  Every 3 months I take the cartridges out of the pool filter and give them a good hose out. This takes about an hour. I could perhaps do this every 6 months instead since my pool doesn't get too dirty. If you have a sand filter then you need to backwash it, which is easier, but then you need to refill your pool for the drained amount.

  The solar pool heater basically works on transferring heat from the roof into the water. It works well, but it isn't going to do anything if its cold, too windy or not sunny enough. It'll get you into your pool much earlier and much later in the season than you would otherwise use it. I can't imagine not having it.

  The main thing I have to watch is the water level. Too low and the pool pump could run dry and burn out. Too full and it'll overflow. Unfortunately I don't have any sort of overflow pipe in my pool so I just need to keep an eye on it when there is a few days of rain. If you're going away for a while, get a neighbour or relative to check it periodically.

  One more tip - forget about using the coloured test strips for getting a read on the chemical levels. They are completely useless. And don't trust the readings in the pool shops - it's in their interest to sell you more chemicals. Learn how to do it yourself using resources like this and get yourself a proper pool chemical test. I use a testing kit from this lot maybe once a month and keep a record of all the results. It seems much more accurate and you get a clear indication when you've hit the right level (the test tube suddenly and dramatically changes colour). It's kinda fun and mesmerises my two little kids while I'm doing it…

• 

  NotCheap on 06/05/2017 - 11:18

  +1

  My pool install (SA) is coming to an end, so will share what Ive learned about the process so far. I'll save the specifics of my install for another much more damming post later. My experience may not be true of all pool places, but from discussions with others in the community there are a lot of common themes.

  Pool places (the company that sells you the pool package and does the install) will tell you they do/handle everything. This isn't true.

  What they actually do is subcontract as much of the work as possible to third parties, and in doing so also pass off all the liability to those third parties, whom in turn pass it back to you. You wont find out about this until after you've signed the contract and paid the deposit.

  You'd expect them to be project managing all these third party arrangements; at best its a light touch. They schedule some of the work and leave the rest for you to work out with the subcontractors directly, although you'll pay the pool place for much of the work. If there are any problems with equipment expect to be referred to the manufacturer directly from day 1 (ie on installation day if something is broken they wont replace it, you'll have to deal with the manufacturer for a warranty claim) even if its a couple hundred dollar part (in a tens of thousands dollar sale).

  Pre-Sales / Sales: They'll say anything to get the contract signed. If its not in writing, on the contract they will not honor it. Make sure everything thats agreed makes it onto the contract. They'll give you an allowance for 'cranage' they'll tell you 'this is more than enough' - it wont be, they will drastically under quote/under estimate this. When they tell you its more than enough, get them to include cranage in your contract - if they wont then you'll know they're trying to grab another $1000 off you, that you'll find out about later. Same for as many of the other variable 'estimated' costs. They know exactly what this stuff costs for the pool you're buying (within reason). Except for hitting rock / sewer / stormwater they will know exactly what it'll cost to dig your hole, remove dirt and crane your pool in.

  Council approvals: They'll (profanity) this up then lie about it. Do not listen to them. Get in touch with your council directly and make sure what was submitted (and when) is correct - failure to do so will cost you MONTHS of delays and tons of added stress.

  Hidden costs: If you didn't get this sorted up front on the contract you wont find out about this until later and you'll be up for:
  -Cranage costs over and above what they included as an allowance expect $1000+ (standard allowance $500 - actual cost more like $2000) "more than enough" claimed at $1000)
  -Installation of your pool cover and roller - this is supply only; meaning you have to assemble the roller, then cut the pool blanket to the right shape and size yourself (good luck with that). Expect $250
  -Soil cartage and bobcat - expect $1000 - $1500 extra
  -Foundations for pumps, controllers etc - $200 (concrete slabs and marine ply board to mount the gear on)

  Other costs (expected):
  -You'll need to get power to the pumps etc. In most cases this means a new circuit added to your meterbox, a new cable running to where the pumps etc are then waterproof GPOs (power points) for the equipment to plug into. Expect $1000 - $2000. You may be able to run the core equipment on an extension cord and powerboard (provided its protected from the weather) temporarily check current draws to see if you can (i am on the advice of the installer).
  -Pool pump shed/cover $500 - this inst totally necessary but you probably dont want acid containers out in the open.
  -Pool fencing - you'll need temporary fencing as soon as the pool shell is delivered and water starts to go in. I just used the aluminum tube fencing that i'll permanent erect later, as temporary fencing (star droppered and cable tied in). Dont know how much temporary fencing is to rent, but you've got time to check it out.

  Contract payment schedule:
  Dont just go with what they propose. What actually happens if you do, is that they end up with the entire payment before things like your heating, paving or coping is installed. Its much better to vary the payment schedule to be progressive payments on completion of work. For example: deposit, pool shell delivery, handover (this is where they turn on the pumps, set the chemical levels, clean the pool and show you how to use the equipment), coping, heating, perm-fencing, heating etc). If you give them full payment before things are completed you've got no leverage as they don't care about customer service, keeping their word etc.

  Other things:
  -Building insurance; they should send you a certificate of building insurance to cover you - this is a legal requirement for work over $10k (i think it is) - expect this to just rock up out the blue sometime before your install date
  -Liability; every single piece of work they do will be at your risk, they will try and pass total liability to you, everytime, for everything. Avoid signing any liability waivers wherever you can. Whats a real crackup is they'll send you the crane companies insurance certificate with all the liability limits etc (ie 20million for public liability) but try and make you sign a liability waiver for any damage / loss caused to roads, driveways, structures etc.
  -Underground services (sewer, stormwater etc). They DO NOT check for this before starting to excavate. The digger reckoned 9/10 times they hit the sewer line. If they do you'll have to get a plumber in to run the sewer/stormwater around the sides of the excavation - expect $500+. Its better to know that you will hit these things and have a plumber on lined up to do this if you can.
  -Time off work - You'll need to be on site for several days. Dont just leave them to do it, there will be decisions to be made at the time, such as exactly where the pumps will go, where pipes for heating will run, orientation of pumps etc. So this will be, dig day, delivery day and the day after (or however long it takes to fill the pool), handover day, install of heating day, install of coping day etc.

  Last words:
  -If sales peoples lips are moving, they're lying. They are worse then used-car salesmen from 20 years ago. I didn't have this impression to start with and am the kind of person to give people a chance, but soon learned otherwise.
  -Dont bother complaining, NO ONE in the company will care / do anything about it unless its written on your contract or you've got financial leverage. I wasted a lot of time / effort / stress going up through all the layers of management to be met with broken promises or outright lies from them all.
  -Consider project managing it yourself; consider just buying the shell and getting them to deliver and install it, and getting everything else done separately - the work will be subcontracted anyway and you may be able to negotiate better prices directly.
  -coping and paving; consider arranging this afterwords - this gives you much better flexibility about what pavers/stone you want. Plenty of people can and will install coping.
  -Oh pool lighting, make sure you specify you want one with a remote control - if they cant, then get a 3rd party to supply and install on the delivery day (need to be installed before the pool is full of water and back-filled around the edges).
  -Make sure you have a good amount of $ in reserve for contingencies.
  -Stuff will go wrong, there will be delays. You wont get good customer service after the contract is signed.
  -Unless you're prepared to go to court: you are very unlikely to get resolution on anything that's not on the contract and you'll never see that deposit money again if you cancel.

  -Accept up-front that once you've signed that contract, you don't really have any choice (short of losing your deposit or going to court) other than to let the whole thing run its course, try not to get stressed and it'll get there eventually.

  Good luck.

  • 

    Nugs on 10/05/2017 - 12:57

    just read this for the second time.

    thanks for the detail.

    who did you go with? PM if you want to.

  • 

    Pred8r on 22/05/2017 - 00:30

    thank you.