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[Dr spike]Are you using is year round? Did your neighborhood/ city/town give you any trouble? What brand did you go with? How close to your house is it and do you run outside in the winter or have a cover "way" to the pool? Want it so we can go year round too!
Graciec,
I bought the house last year in December. When I moved in the previous owners closed the pool for me, they closed it late in November. They did say that you could run it year around, but due to the increase in natural gas prices, the bills can add up. I checked on the pool each week over the winter, it did freeze over, but the ice was not touching the sides, and it was very thing, less then a half-inch or so. It also did not freeze as fast as the lakes did around here. When the weather first got cold here the temp in the dome was a good 20 degrees higher than the outside. The ice melted far before the snow and the lakes were clear too. The temp for most of the winter in the dome was 10 to 20 degrees above the outside.
I do not have a covered walkway to the pool, but it is not very far from the back of the house.
While talking to my neighbors about the history of my house, I found out that the owners before the people I bought the place from did leave the pool open some winters, but they were not sure if they did it every year or not.
Also from what I can tell from talking to my neighbors, there was no problems that they knew of from the neighborhood or city for the dome installation.
My pump and filter are in a pool house that is attached to the back of my house, so they are also sheltered from the elements and cold. My heater on the other hand is no longer in the pool house, but just outside of it. Not sure why someone did that, there is a chimney in the pool house for the heater, plenty of room for it. There is also a cold air intake duct still there for the old heater.
I am not sure yet if I am going to leave it open all year long, but I will sure extend the season if I don't :)
A downside to the dome, is that in the summer, even with the windows open, the temp inside is a good 10-20 degrees warmer than the outside. Also if I don't open things up the humidity is just plain too high. The water if unheated stays a cool 72 in the summer so far.
I do like having it though.
Oh yeah, it is a Hansen Weather Port. I don't know much more about it, like cost, where to get it, how hard it is to assemble, all that fun stuff.
Thanks for the info...I have researched domes. I am disappointed to hear how cold it stays inside. I was assuming it would warm up and stay warm inside;they do sell extra heaters with some dome models.
I guess the gas prices would scare me off too, since it ridiciously high to heat our homes in the winter already.
So you have used more as a winter "cover " and don't really swim in it when it gets cold?
I have looked at ameridome and one other brand.
I still may try it one of these years for 2,000$ it is worth taking a chance, since we will never have an indoor pool.
Thanks for your input.
Graciec,
You are welcome for the info.
I would suspect that if you heat the pool in the winter the air temperature in the dome would be warm too. I would think that one of these manufacturers make a heater for them, but I haven't looked into that.
I do want to see if I can keep it open all year, but I am afraid of going broke with the price of gas. :)
I think the dome can extend the season in our area, but unless you have a large disposable income to feed the gas company, you might not be keeping it open all year. :D
Swimming in the winter is what hotels are for. Buy a room on occasion and save yourself the $300 per month plus gas bill. :)
Wisconsin has an indoor water park, I have not visited it yet, but I want to.
We have a few indoor water parks that are not to far from me. I haven't been to them in quite some time though.
Since I have had the pool, I can not make myself use a public pool. I have been in a few hotels recently and they just are not as clean looking and smelling. I guess I am spoiled. :)
Yes, I would probably think the same thing. lol. I don't swim in public pools either, but if I was going to do it I am sure that I would end up thinking along those lines. Paranoia comes to mind.
The last water park I did go to, I rember seeing a child throw up in the pool, I am sure that it was promptly dealt with (yeah right) needless to say, I relocated to another pool.
WE Could take our test kits with us to the public pools and water parks do our own quick test on the water(s) before us or our kids go in!!!!!
You try the dome thing in the winter and let me know how it goes!!!
Is yours cloth or vinyl and is is bolted to the deck ?
:) I wanted to do this once but the family thought I was nuts! I have often wondered what the pool operators would say if I walked straight in, test kit in hand, and starting testing pool side.:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by graciec
Dave
That is just awesome! Once my eye heals, (I popped it) I am going to do that. lol. It will take at least a month though.
what could they say if you do it no so noticibly!!!
My dome is vinyl, it is staked into the ground surrounding the deck.Quote:
Originally Posted by graciec
If I keep the pool open over the winter, I will let you know how it works out. I just have the fear of a gas bill in one month that is equal to my yearly total :eek:.
I have thought of taking the kit with me. I probably will do that next time I am going to a public pool. I should wear a lab coat when I test it too. :D
That would be fun, walk to the pool in a white lab coat, open my stainless steel briefcase, pull out the ps234 kit, clipboard, pen, safety goggles, and some elbow length chemical gloves/sleeves. Then take a sample and test it at a pool side table.
I've been interested in the idea of a dome for a while. I would like it just to extend the season not to use it year round. I'm up by NYC and theres only a couple of months where it is warm enough. I wonder if you could use a solar heater to keep it warmer. The Fall and Spring sun can be really strong.
Please have someone film it, I would love to see it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Spike
That is a great idea. I will have someone film it. :) Might have to get a few cameras going to catch all of the different reactions.Quote:
Originally Posted by sevver
Sounds like something a comedian like Howie Mandel would do just to see people's reactions!!!
I am going to a rather large water park today and plan on bring my small cl/ph test kit with me to test the h2o. What do you think the #s will be????
I'm afraid to guess.:eek: You might even want to consider taking a sample to bring home to do a "full run" of test. Be sure to keep the sample in your purse, towel or some other dark place. Let us know what you find.Quote:
Originally Posted by graciec
Dave
Darn it...realatives from out of town talked me out of it because it rained a little...will go another day and do what you said!!!! Get a sample and put it in my cooler or something!!!