This or that

Bigplumbs

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We have both a pool hot tub and boats and I certainly would not be without the pool if you go for above ground pools that are slightly submerged the work and potential issues are far less. Also inflatable hot tubs are very good and cost effective. Chemical cost is no where near £50 a month if you know what you are doing. I pay less than 50 quid a year.

last year we used our pool loads and quite a lot this year
 

GravyStain

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We have both a pool hot tub and boats and I certainly would not be without the pool if you go for above ground pools that are slightly submerged the work and potential issues are far less. Also inflatable hot tubs are very good and cost effective. Chemical cost is no where near £50 a month if you know what you are doing. I pay less than 50 quid a year.

last year we used our pool loads and quite a lot this year
Do you have a UV filter?
What size pool do you have?
 

Alicatt

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Do you have a UV filter?
What size pool do you have?
I have an Intex above ground salt water pool, 32ft x 16ft x 1.5m or 9.75m x 4.88m
Initial set up was the hardest bit, digging out the hedge, digging out the foundation and filling and levelling it out, it's not perfect but is within tolerance with one corner that sank about 2cm after filling, the pool holds about 75 tonnes of water in it.
We bought the pool one year in a sale and it was less than half price, we got the filter and pump replaced with a chlorine generator as we already had a large pump and filter for our previous pool as we had planed of getting a larger pool, solar panels we had already but they are not quite enough, it took about 175kg of salt for the correct level of salt for the chlorine generator.

All in all the set up has cost less than €1000 and I still have not reached that figure after 3 years of use, next year we will be spending around €5k on a heat pump to help heat the water, we borrowed one last summer, it was too small but it did make a difference.
Ground works cost the diesel for the machines as my son owns them,
Neighbour helped in the levelling of the site, him and his father own a groundworks company and we did this while installing a new boundary fence between our houses and he was building a new extension to his house.

Pool hmmm lets say it was very cheap ;) (one of these pools normally costs around €1500 or in the US $1000)
hoses and fittings €150
Robot for cleaning €129
reel and solar cover €140
Salt €140
Occasional flocking agent €15
2x Solar panels €270
So around €840

Edit to add: Although I'm in Belgium, I'm not that far south we are about level with north London and about 180km from the sea, and 10km from the nearest canal basin.
 
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Bouba

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My pool is fiberglass and almost exactly the same size as my boat. Therefore I am really the only one here qualified to decide between the two. And I say boat....
 

GravyStain

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I have an Intex above ground salt water pool, 32ft x 16ft x 1.5m or 9.75m x 4.88m
Initial set up was the hardest bit, digging out the hedge, digging out the foundation and filling and levelling it out, it's not perfect but is within tolerance with one corner that sank about 2cm after filling, the pool holds about 75 tonnes of water in it.
We bought the pool one year in a sale and it was less than half price, we got the filter and pump replaced with a chlorine generator as we already had a large pump and filter for our previous pool as we had planed of getting a larger pool, solar panels we had already but they are not quite enough, it took about 175kg of salt for the correct level of salt for the chlorine generator.

All in all the set up has cost less than €1000 and I still have not reached that figure after 3 years of use, next year we will be spending around €5k on a heat pump to help heat the water, we borrowed one last summer, it was too small but it did make a difference.
Ground works cost the diesel for the machines as my son owns them,
Neighbour helped in the levelling of the site, him and his father own a groundworks company and we did this while installing a new boundary fence between our houses and he was building a new extension to his house.

Pool hmmm lets say it was very cheap ;) (one of these pools normally costs around €1500 or in the US $1000)
hoses and fittings €150
Robot for cleaning €129
reel and solar cover €140
Salt €140
Occasional flocking agent €15
2x Solar panels €270
So around €840

Chlorine generator was something that I thought about getting. I've now gone down the UV filter route which will drastically reduce the chlorine required whilst keeping the pool generally healthier. This will reduce the costs. I have a 19KW heat pump, which is fine for mine, but not big enough for yours!
~£50 a month IS on the high side, but I reckon I generally spend around £20 to £30 a month on Chlorine, flocking agents, Ph reducer, shock etc... This should reduce quite a bit once the UV filter is plumbed in and fired up. I do like the idea that it kills all the bacteria that pass through it.

Bear in mind that I have an indoor pool that is used all year round and not 5 months of the year. This inevitably adds to the overall annual cost.
 
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Alicatt

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Chlorine generator was something that I thought about getting. I've now gone down the UV filter route which will drastically reduce the chlorine required whilst keeping the pool generally healthier. This will reduce the costs. I have a 19KW heat pump, which is fine for mine, but not big enough for yours!
~£50 a month IS on the high side, but I reckon I generally spend around £20 to £30 a month on Chlorine, flocking agents, Ph reducer, shock etc... This should reduce quite a bit once the UV filter is plubmed in and fired up. I do like the idea that it kills all the bacteria that passes through it.

Bear in mind that I have an indoor pool that is used ALL year round and not 5 months of the year. This inevitably adds to the overall annual cost.
A friend of my middle son has a small pool with a UV filter, everything is set up to run auto magically, I've only been at his house once and never got the chance to ask about his set up.
The chlorine generator produces only just enough chlorine to keep the pool clean, even the salt is very low in concentration, tasting the water it is slightly salty but no where near the level of the sea, we did try just chlorinating our last pool and we swapped back to salt as soon as we got this pool up, it feels good to swim in and there is no sting to the eyes,
Biggest costs are for the electricity but we have solar panels that produce enough to cover the cost of running the pool and household.

pool assembled and starting to fill it:
YYAe5E7sm.jpg

Half full or empty?
pApj50esm.jpg

Filled
CdGeXZFsm.jpg

We get regular visitors
_DSC2844smc.JPG
 

GravyStain

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A friend of my middle son has a small pool with a UV filter, everything is set up to run auto magically, I've only been at his house once and never got the chance to ask about his set up.
The chlorine generator produces only just enough chlorine to keep the pool clean, even the salt is very low in concentration, tasting the water it is slightly salty but no where near the level of the sea, we did try just chlorinating our last pool and we swapped back to salt as soon as we got this pool up, it feels good to swim in and there is no sting to the eyes,
Biggest costs are for the electricity but we have solar panels that produce enough to cover the cost of running the pool and household.

pool assembled and starting to fill it:
View attachment 120052

Half full or empty?
View attachment 120053

Filled
View attachment 120054

We get regular visitors
View attachment 120055
Had very similar for the last 2 years which we enjoyed so much (especially our 6 year old) that we decided to take the plunge (boom boom) and go for the indoor pool. I paid £2k for our heatpump, so hopefully yours will be a fair bit less than E5k?
 

Hurricane

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When we moved into our last house, there was an old derelict swimming pool which we got working.
Even with a heat pump, it didn't get enough use and always needed cleaning - grass cuttings and leaves etc blew over it.

So, in the end, I built a huge conservatory over it.
I kept the heat pump and used it an an air extractor thus collecting all the heat gained from the conservatory.
The pool also had oil fired pool water / space heating via under floor heating pipes as well as de-humidification and high lever ventilation.
In a previous life, I was an air conditioning engineer so I understand psychrometrics.
The whole thing was connected to the house.
Here's a photo of the pool bit.

loddon_13_MedRes.resized.jpg

And - do you know:-
Like others have said on here - the boat has had far more use

That was in the last house - no pool in this one yet.
 

Alicatt

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Well we are budgeting for €5k (£4.2k) heat pumps are quite expensive here and the recent exodus of the UK has made getting the more cost effective units from there a bit more expensive.

One of about 22kW is about €5.7k and that is on the small end of the heat pump size for our pool
Fairland Inver-X 22kW (Boost: 26kW) zwembad warmtepomp (IXCR66)
 

BoatNoob

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Some good points, yes slightly biased forum and also like comparing apples with cider to an extent. Having neither at the moment I swing in favour to a boat as well...
 

Bigplumbs

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Do you have a UV filter?
What size pool do you have?
No uv filter Inhave a sand filter. Have a UV filter for my fish pond though and it works very well

our pool is 24 ft x 12 and about 1.2 m deep can have a nice cool off and swim. But it is a modest size it is heated by either an air sourced heat pump or a oil fired boiler all of which I rigged up myself as I do for most things

we were in it yesterday and it was very refreshing after a day on you boat in the sun and salt water jumping in typology or little hot tub when you get home is very nice
 

Bigplumbs

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This is our little pool and Inflatable hot tub. The pool is a Doughboy and the hot tub (that needs a little air in the pic) from Lazy Spa. All simple very reasonably priced, easily DIY able and very cheap to run (unless you leave the hot tub on 24/7 which is a little stupid)

I even have cheap temp sensors so I can see the pool water temp on my phone anywhere I might be. I moved the steps to a better location during lockdown when I built what we call the Hobbit hole.

Also below is a screen shot from the app re the temp monitoring. We dont like the pool too hot and generally like it at 78 degrees f
 

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Bigplumbs

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When we moved into our last house, there was an old derelict swimming pool which we got working.
Even with a heat pump, it didn't get enough use and always needed cleaning - grass cuttings and leaves etc blew over it.

So, in the end, I built a huge conservatory over it.
I kept the heat pump and used it an an air extractor thus collecting all the heat gained from the conservatory.
The pool also had oil fired pool water / space heating via under floor heating pipes as well as de-humidification and high lever ventilation.
In a previous life, I was an air conditioning engineer so I understand psychrometrics.
The whole thing was connected to the house.
Here's a photo of the pool bit.

View attachment 120058

And - do you know:-
Like others have said on here - the boat has had far more use

That was in the last house - no pool in this one yet.

Now that is some style....... Certainly up a level on mine both in boats and pools but it goes to show that you can have these things at all levels of cost/Price/afordability
 

Bigplumbs

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The beauty of above ground pools or semi submerged is they are safer if you have children running about, and things dont blow or drop in them nearly as much. We love ours and in that pic it is about 28 years old
 

Alicatt

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The beauty of above ground pools or semi submerged is they are safer if you have children running about, and things dont blow or drop in them nearly as much. We love ours and in that pic it is about 28 years old
With the grand kids it was a factor that we took into account when getting our above ground pool, it's quite difficult for them to climb the sides, with the two youngest you have to keep a beady eye on them all the time at 6 and 5 they are constantly testing you.

This is our second above ground pool, rats or mice got into our first one and chewed big holes in it when it was being stored for the winter, which coincided with the death of our Jack Russel. We got our first pool in 2005 and it lasted until 2016, we had one year without a pool while we organised the replacement and got the ground works done, and this one has been up since 2018.

The pool is filled with ground water which has a lot of iron dissolved in it, the reaction of the salt, chlorine and the iron in the water turns the water brown with rust which then has to be filtered out.
 

Momac

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Buy the boat

Look for privately owned pools that may be available for hire when required
The grandchildren go for swimming lessons in such a pool
 

Bigplumbs

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Buy the boat

Look for privately owned pools that may be available for hire when required
The grandchildren go for swimming lessons in such a pool
It does not need to be one or the other. With the right pool you can easily have both
 
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