swimming pool maintenance summer/winter

[ashtondav]

I am looking into the costs of our small group of apartments and would appreciate any advice or experience on the subject of costs of maintenance of a pool.

The pool is 8M * 4M.

It is used from April to October. In peak summer it is used very heavily by many people (probably 14).

At the moment the pool is maintained as fully operational all year (in other words it is maintained mechanically and chemically to a standard that you could go for a dip in January if you wanted)

What do think is the best process of summerizing/winterizing such a pool (a cover is not practical)?

How many visits and hours a week would you expect for maintenance in Summer (as i say very heavy use)?

How many visits and hours a week in winter?

Cost of labour?

[beachbabe]

I'm interested in that, too.

If no one has any views, does anyone know a good website which shows advantages and disadvantages of various approaches.

[suenos]

An 8 x 4m pool is the same size as our villas which used to have around 14-16 holidaying guests every week. I presume this is a clorine pool and not a salt water pool?

Clorine - You will need it maintained approximately twice a week in heavier use periods. During July / August you will need about 4 tablets (Multi - 4 in 1) doses twice a week (8 in a week) and backwash the pool at the same time. Hover the pool once a week. Also make sure someone keeps an eye on the pool level so it doesnt go under the pump level every day - you may need a hose thrown in daily. You can get the tablets in Mercadona for around 25-26 euros for 5kg tub (not exactly sure how many are in it - but about a 3 week supply in peak season).

Make sure all apartment people shower before they go in. Most Holidaying Brits (Especially with Kids) slosh mega doses of oil on themselves and jump in and out of the pool all day. Explaining that you need to shower the excess off before you go in may fall on deaf ears, as they think showering will wash the oil off but jumping in the pool wont . You will find the pool can get contaminated with oil very quickly leaving the entire pool with an orange oil slick. If this happens you may need to flock it. Which will put the pool out of use for 24 hours - You can only flock twice before you will have to drain the pool and refill it. However if you keep an eye out and if the water goes cloudy, put more tablets in and it should clear it. We have only ever had that problem once and that was because we did not put 8 tablets in a week.

Make sure all inflatables are taken out every night so the pump can clear the pool. Increase your pump timer so it works a lot at night when nobody is in it. But we tend to have it on for an hour every 3 hours.

Is your pool tiled or painted? If it is tiled, you will probably find you will need to re-grout the tiles every year, simply because of the amount of use it gets and the grout comes out from the joints in the bottom of the pool.

I know 8 tablets sounds a lot. It will not hurt anyone - Remember the pool is not under normal useage.

Hope this helps.

[suenos]

Sorry - meant Hoover, not hover

Labour - My son who is 14 looks after our pool and a couple of others in the area. He gets 10 euros an hour - so he makes about 20 euros per pool per week during summer. During winter it about 1 hour a week.

When noone uses it - put only 1 - 2 tablets a week to keep the pool clean.