Watermom's New Pool Adventure

[Watermom]

OK. So, today is a bright sunny day despite being a little cool this morning. Supposed to be mid-50s this afternoon, so should be a pleasant afternoon for working outside to dismantle the existing deck. My deck is built to curve with the pool, but since we are replacing the 24 ft AG with a 27 ft AG, the arc of the curve won't match up with the new pool. So, today the old deck comes down. My three little golden retriever girls wanted to help ........... but, apparently nobody else thought they would be good workers, so they got left behind on the main deck beside the house with the gate shut.

Now, if I could just get that pool installer to return my phone calls! Three phone messages left with no call-backs. Not getting the warm fuzzy ..........

[Watermom]

Called my pool store back yesterday afternoon to let them know that I still had not heard from the pool installer guy. (He is not a pool store employee, just an independent guy that they have referred many customers to in the past few years. They say he does really good work, though.) At any rate, after having called them mid-week to tell them I couldn't get a hold of this guy, they, too tried to reach him and left him a message saying either call me or call them back. He didn't return their call either. So, they gave me the name of somebody else that they use and that guy called me back about 15 minutes later and was at my house a half hour after that taking a look and giving me an estimate. So, if my pool and liner which were ordered a week ago arrive around Thurday of this week which they think will happen, then we are on the schedule for this guy to install the new pool next weekend. After working most of the day yesterday and out there again today, my old deck is almost totally dismantled.

(I'm glad they got me on the schedule so quickly. I normally get my equipment hooked up by now and start chlorinating as our weather gets warm pretty early and I don't want green water. Since I'm getting ready to dump the pool, it seems a waste to go to the trouble to hook up the equipment and start dumping bleach in but my pool is getting a slight green tinge. Hoping it doesn't get too bad by next weekend, but temps are supposed to be in upper 70s so I expect by next weekend, it will be pretty green and yucky! I have a feeling I'll end up throwing some bleach in there cuz I just can't stand to see it turn green!)

[CarlD]

This is exciting! When I did my FantaSea, their installer guy was a bit persnickety...

[Watermom]

Guess who called this afternoon? Yep --- the first guy who we've been trying for a week to get a hold of. Sorry, I tell him, we have already hired someone else since we didn't think you were interested.

[Watermom]

I have been fighting the urge all week to go throw some bleach in my pool which is green. I have a real problem looking at it green, but it just doesn't make sense to spend the money on bleach when the pool is coming down. We are in the process of draining it by siphoning it with a hose. I thought the new one might be installed this weekend, but the weather hasn't been real cooperative and I'm not sure if the pool and liner came in yet. I called the pool store this afternoon, and they are still on their winter hours and closed on Friday, so I'll try again tomorrow.

The deck was torn down last weekend and off course the area under the deck had no grass growing. Now with all the rain, we have a nice muddy area in the yard. Of course this also means that I have muddy pups. Yuck! I have three golden retrievers, all female, a 7-yr. old and two 11-month old pups. The older one has more sense and doesn't see the mud as a playground. The puppies have NO sense and have no intentions of avoiding the mud.

When the installer was out here last weekend looking around, his initial plan was to get the ground prepped and then come back the next day and do the pool walls and liner and then the third day, cut out the skimmer and return. I told him that plan wasn't gonna work. The ground prep and the wall installation have to happen on the same day. There is no way I'll be able to keep the dogs out of the sand, etc. So, he's gonna have to work a long day and not leave a freshly prepped area just sitting there unless he wants to redo it. I know that is kind of a pain for him, but that's why I'm paying him!

[Watermom]

For years, we have fought with our solar cover. It is a huge piece of vinyl and even cut into smaller pieces, it is still a pain. The last few years, we cut our cover into fourths and rolled each piece onto a piece of PVC pipe and then lifted each out onto the pool deck. This has certainly been better than any other way we have tried but even still, I've continued to wish for an easier way. Recently, when looking on line, I ran across something called a Solar Roller Cover Stick. I think I'm going to buy one and hope that it works as well as it appears. You can take a look at it at the following link and there is a place on that page where they have demo videos of how it works. If any of you have bought one of these, I'd love to hear your comments.

http://www.solarroller.com/products/...over-stick.htm

[AnnaK]

We cut ours in sections and fold it accordion-like when we take it off, then either stack the sections on the deck or under it. With this method of folding it's easy to put back on the water: You just push it to unfold with the net pole. It's a one person job. The solar stick looks interesting but may require two people to lift out. My deck isn't wide enough on the long sides of the oval to where this would be feasible.

[kelemvor]

I'll be waiting with bated breath to hear the results. I abandoned the pool cover I bought last season after using it only a handful of times. Total PITA to deal with, but I sure wouldn't mind having my pool 5-10 degrees warmer.

[Watermom]

I know what you mean about it being a total PITA to fool with that huge piece of vinyl!! But, the difference it makes in keeping my pool warm is HUGE so despite it being a pain, I still use it. Especially when combined with my solar heater, there is quite a difference in my pool's water temperature. Without the solar cover on there, you basically lose at night whatever heat you picked up during the day.

[AnnaK]

Nights is when our pool loses all the heat gained during the day. We run the pump at night to take advantage of the 50% reduction in rates. The above-ground steel walls act like a heat sink when the temperatures drop at night.