Owning a Pool is a Lot of Work

Owning a pool is a lot of work!

This is what people typically tell us when we tell them we have a pool. At first, I thought that what they really meant by that was, "You lucky bastards. I hate you!"

Sadly, I was mistaken.

Owning a pool is a lot of work.

We were pretty excited when we first got the pool, often going in when the air temperature was 80, and the water temperature was in the upper 60s. Unfortunately, as the days get hotter, the water actually feels better when it warms up. Ideally, to 84 degrees. I think we saw 84 degrees but once this summer. When we erected the pool, we hadn't considered the location of the trees in the wetlands, and the pool only gets direct sunlight for a few brief hours in the morning. Then the sun rises and the trees shade the pool, thus depriving it of its life-giving sunlight. Skinny-dipping is no fun when you're shivering.

Before we realized this, however, we switched from chlorine to baquacil. The reason for this was I was about to get another perm, and I wanted to maintain it to some degree over the summer without totally over-drying and destroying my hair. The chemical switch cost around $600. And the pool stank. I mean it stank like algae, although there was none, because the pool never got warm enough to encourage algae to grow. Also, sucking in baquacil-infested water is one of the nastiest things a person could ever encounter. I wish someone had warned us of this, but who's going to warn us when they're about to make a sweet commission off a $600 sale?

The quality of pool products in comparison to their price, upkeep, and lack of product review is astounding. I could go on and on about this, but I'll save it for another post. I can't help but give an example, though. Imagine you've just spent 5 grand on a pool. That's a sizeable chunk of change. You expect everything to be pristine. But the ladder is a cheap piece of crap, and in order to weigh down the ladder inside the pool, you are supplied with 2 large ziplock bags (yes, I said ziplock) that you're supposed to fill with 50 pounds of sand each. So you fill the bags and weigh down the ladder, but you're skeptical about how the bags will stay ziplocked. What will happen if they don't stay ziplocked? You dump 100 pounds of sand into your pool, which you must now vacuum out, which clogs the pump and the filter (yet another very expensive bit of equipment which ironically comes with no instructions) and nothing functions right for a week. Don't ask me how I know this. I might growl at you.

Okay, so we resign ourselves to the idea that we will have to buy a pool heater if we're going to get the full enjoyment out of our pool for years to come. We're talking dropping now $2,200 for something we can't find any reviews about to tell us whether the money is worth it or not.

We went up to Richmond today to get a week's worth of baquacil so we can get in the pool and clean it this week before closing it up for the winter. We have a pool store right around the corner from us, and we could go there, had it not been for my previous point: the quality of their products in relation to their inflated prices is mind-boggling. Literally EVERYTHING we've ever bought from them has broken or has been defective. We've had slightly better odds at the pool store in Richmond. So off to Richmond we go.

While at the pool store in Richmond, we see these sun panels that can be attached to the pool, and the idea is that they collect the sun and use it to heat the pool by pushing the heat through the pump. Cost? $365. Hmmmm, we wonder. But does it work? It claims it pushes 80,000 BTUs per day. But we have a lot of trees, and the solar panels might not get enough sun to do any good. On the other hand, if they do work....well we've just saved ourselves a ton of money....but is it worth it to spend $365 to find out? We pass for now.

We pick up the baquacil we need, and the friendly chemical guy says hello and says, oh, you need more baquacil? To which I reply yes, and it's too bad we have to buy more when we're just about ready to close up the pool, because next year, we're switching back to chlorine. At least the water smells disinfected. And he says, "Salt is the way to go. It's really the best thing." and he shows us this $400 piece of equipment which apparently you add salt to it, and the salt goes in the water and creates chlorine. He says it's way cheaper than going with chlorine, because instead of spending tons of money each year on chemicals, you only spend $50 a year on salt. Additionally, this miracle product prevents the damaging effects of chlorinated water on skin, hair and clothing.

I'm skeptical. I ask questions. Does the water smell funky? Is it salty, like sea water? Does it leave a crusty brine around the rim when the water in the pool evaporates, but the salt does not? Like he knows. He doesn't own a pool. Still, the idea is tempting...

It's almost 7:30 now, and Stefan has been in the pool since 3 this afternoon, trying to clean out all the debris from the pine tree that is dropping pine cones, bits of pine cones, and needles into the pool. These things clog up very easily, and the pool is more covered in pine by-products than I initially thought. He's gotten about a quarter of the pool clean so far.

So we decided that before we open the pool next year, we're going to take down this offensive tree. And while we're at it, we're going to take down 3 additional trees, thus leaving only one tree in our backyard, and that one is far away from the pool. We don't want to do this; we have to do this if we are going to have any fun with our pool for the next 20 years or so.

Owning a pool is a lot of work. We have spent more time fussing with the pool this summer than we have enjoying it. I keep reminding myself though, that it's only hard work now. It will get better, as we learn exactly what it means to be pool owners, and then we really will be lucky bastards.

Right? Right?!?!