Thinking about getting an in ground swimming pool? Then I will first recommend that you get a vinyl liner in ground pool. There are other types of in ground pools that you can get but in my opinion the vinyl liner in ground pool is the best bang for your buck. I am not going to get into the reasons that I feel this way at this point but if you would like more information on why I personally feel this way please check out my blog post titled “Why My Vinyl Liner In Ground Swimming Pool is Better Than Other Types of In Ground Pools” or “Types of Swimming Pools and Which is the Best”. These two posts go into detail about the different types of swimming pools and the pros and cons related to each. The reason for this post today is to let you know what type of equipment you will need on your swimming pool.
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| Heat Pump |
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| Heater |
To start we need to identify your expectations of your swimming pool. Are you the type of person that does not like to add additional chores to your list? Are you like me and find that doing certain light chores is more relaxing? The reason we need to ask ourselves these questions is to figure out how much you want to do as far as maintaining the pool. Also if your pool is in an area that gets a lot of sun you may decide that you don’t want a heater or heat pump on the pool. In my opinion though if you are spending the money to have a pool installed then you may want to go ahead and get the heat pump or heater anyway just in case. It is better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it. So this brings me to my next point. Heater or heat pump? The difference is that a heater uses natural gas or propane to heat the water and the heat pump uses the air temperature outside to heat the water. There are some drawbacks and benefits to each one. For instance a heater has the ability to heat the water quickly and in lower temperatures. The downside is that the heater costs more to operate each month. A heat pump is electric and does not require a gas line to be ran so the initial install will be a bit cheaper for you. Also running the heat pump costs significantly less than a heater. The downside of this is that a heat pump will not heat the water in lower temperatures and it generally takes longer to heat the water. However once the water is up to the desired temperature the heat pump will kick on and off to maintain that temperature. For more information on heat pumps and heaters please check out my blog titled “Gas Heater V.S. Heat Pump.
Once you get that figured out you will have to decide on if you want an automatic pool cover installed. For this decision you may want to check your local codes that regulated swimming pools in your area. For instance here in indiana it is state law to have either a auto cover or fence around your pool. That may be the case in other states as well or there may be a variation of that law. Ideally if you have the means, it is a good idea to have both. A fence is a good safety measure to keep unwanted guests out of your pool or neighborhood kids. The automatic pool cover will do the same thing and in addition to that will help keep the cost of heating the pool and chemical cost down as well. I am big on safety and I feel that having two or more barriers to get past is safer than just one. many auto covers require a code or key to operate and a fence will help prevent children from gaining access to your pool area. For more information on swimming pool safety please check out my blog posts with “Safety” in the title or visit http://www.poolsafely.gov/ which is a government website dedicated to keeping pool users safe.
Now you will have to decide on how much time you want to spend on maintaining the pool. In recent years some pretty dramatic steps have been taken to lessen the amount pool owners will have to spend on maintaining their pools. I have gone into great detail about this subject in several of my blog posts. However just to recap, Paramount Pool Products have a number of products that will keep the cost and time of maintaining a pool down considerably. Their Swing Sweep system is a wonderful in floor cleaning system that will literally clean debris out of the pool for you. In addition to that it promotes better circulation of both water and chemicals. That alone will help keep the cost of heating the pool down.
If that is not something you are interested in then you might be thinking about an cleaning robot of some sort. If this is the case I would most definitely recommend Jandy’s Polaris 9550 Sport. This product comes with pre programed cleaning patterns as well as the ability to control it with a handheld motion sensing remote much like that of a certain video game system. This is something that could turn a chore into a fun activity for the kids.
There are also a few other products by Paramount that I would recommend in addition to the Swing Sweep system. Their Clear O3 and Ultra UV can be used in combination to dramatically reduce the cost of pool chemicals for you the pool owner. If you were to use these items in conjunction with the Swing Sweep system and Venturi skimmer than you could potentially have a maintenance free swimming pool and could then use all of your spare time to just enjoy the pool. I have also posted about these items in the past including the Venturi skimmer for you to take a look at and I assure you that you will be intrigued.
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| AquaLink Z4 |
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| AquaLink RS One Touch |
Another line of very intriguing products are Zodiac’s automation systems the AquaLink Z4 and AquaLink RS. Both of these systems allow you to sit back and let the pool take care of itself. The RS system is a little more complex as far as what it can do but both of these systems are designed to be user friendly and allow you the pool owner to make certain changes to the pool at the touch of a button. One of the coolest things is that you can now hook up these systems to the internet and access them from your mobile device. Out of town? Forget to turn down your heat pump? Leave the water feature on? Just pull out your phone and turn it down, or turn it off without burdening a neighbor to go over and do it.
These products are all things that are available today. for more information look at my other posts, or go to the websites http://www.paramountpoolproducts.com/, http://www.zodiacpoolsystems.com/. Talk with your builder to see if they offer these products and if not you may want to consider another company. These products work well and could potentially create a very relaxing environment free of the stress of pool maintenance.
