In ground pool opinions

[Howard 538]

I have an old Kreepy that would work if anyone could use it.  It likely just needs replacement of the pad that surrounds the intake valve.  It can be used with your regular vacuum hose, or Walmart hose would also work fine.

 

That said, for those of you who have done liner replacements, what was the total cost all in?  For a 20x40 pool, the water replacement adds a significant amount if using city water.  I called a friend with the Fire Dept to see if they would be willing to send over a pumper truck for a donation, but he was basically not too keen on the idea.

I replaced mine about 15 months ago and it ran around $3,000 for a 20x40 pool.  All the bids came in within about /-$300 with the exception of the outfit that would give me a lifetime "guarantee"  that one was $5,500 but only if I signed on the spot - yea right!  That included all work by their dedicated crew, no subs.  It included any and all work needed to the base below the liner, and water treatment and chemicals.  They did the entire job in one day.  Probably not 100% legal, but we filled the pool with a high capacity submersible pump in a stream.  Filled the entire pool in six hours.  Figured the stream owed us since we dumped the old winter water there as well   There was one other bidder that at no extra cost told me they had a big bladder they could pump the old water into and then reuse that to fill the pool.  I figured with 15 year old water and who knows what in it I was better to start from scratch.

[Howard 538]

For those who follow the BBB method, I am finding it hard to maintain my chlorine levels without using the tabs because I just don't have the time to check the chlorine levels every day or every other day.  I can check it every Friday and through the weekend. Any suggestions or is it OK to use the pucks in moderation?

Once you know what you are doing, through experience, it really get quite easy.  I use BBB with the exception that I put one puck in the chlorinator once a week.  My reason for this is two fold.  First you do need a certain amount of stabilizer, and the pucks add that.  If you use just pucks you do end up with too much stabilizer and this is why many people have issues.  The other reason I do this is that the pucks tend to drop the pH while bleach raises the pH, thus by doing this I end up adding much less borax.  If I go away for a week I will add three pucks for the week.  As for testing, it really only take a minute or two to do, how busy can you really be?  That said, I maybe test the pool once every two weeks anymore as when I swim I am able to tell what is needed at this point by the taste of the water.  Call me crazy, but it works well.  I also have a very low level of chlorine (1-2 ppm) almost never shock the pool and never have any algae or other issues.

[Howard 538]

Love my aquabot turbo when it's working.

Salt water chlorine generator is the way to go. Just got back from 2 weeks vacation and water is clear.

Haven't put a drop of chlorine in a month and level shows a little high (I had it turned up while on vacation).

Go for sand filter though. My DE filter is a PITA.

If DE is done right, it is not a PITA and is far superior in filtration than sand.  I have heard that some people actually put a little DE in their sand filters to improve filtration.  As for operation, get the biggest DE filter you can.  I have the largest size Hayward unit for my 20 x 40 pool, I think it takes 7.5 pounds of DE when you charge it.  I also have an intelliflow pump that I have set at 1650 RPM which gives me a flow of around 15gpm that I run 24x7.  It consumes about 340 kwh at that operating speed.  Using this low continuous flow I have good turn-over and almost no pressure drop across the DE filter.  I typically change the DE only once during the year and that is with opening the pool the first week in April and closing in mid-October.