Planning a Swimming Pool

[WhoUrDaddy]

When covered and final tweak, maybe 100 k all in, small, 5 X 3 meter, half 2 meter, half 1 meter deep w/ built in seating. Had a pool at most houses I've owned and used them almost daily. No better way to wind down and relax. Could have one of the local companies do it, as neighbor at old house did for half mill, and was only 1 meter deep and crap job..........no thanks.

If you are going to use it, well worth it, very therapeutic, though I certainly wouldn't pay near 1 mill for a pool.

[Astana]

I be the neighbor Astana ref'd...

Odd how 2 folks lookin at the same situation, often describe it differently...


From my POV, my pool is the best 1.5 mil BHT I have ever spent.

Indeed Odd how you were forever complaining about your electric bill, pool running costs and how you had to take the builder to court for shoddy workmanship to anyone that would listen.

[kopkei]

my pool is in no way costing 1.000.000 baht.. ,more around 220.000 baht all in.... (due to expensive tiles)
and chemicals,DE powder, chlorine, hydroclorid acid , soda ash, not more than 1.500 baht/year....make your own calculation...so to me and my privacy i get , it is worth it , but indeed it is up to everyone's preferences....

[LilRed]

Big A:

I stand by ALL my statements.

Electicity issue - solved. (Put a timer on the pumps so's they dinna start at the same time causing a major current in-rush peak... Cut my monthly bill by 40%.)

Chemical costs - solved. (Did some serious shoppin around and found chemical supplies at roughly 1/4 what I had been payin from the supplier recommended by the pool builder...)

My law suit was a waste of time, for reasons other than the merits of my case.


You n me hadn't even discussed my pool in over 3 years... Drop by when next you get RnR. I'll show ya...

Back to the thread, I have several good pool O&M manuals and a great pool design text book. Any you guys wanna have a look, PM me. There's a lot to runnin one, but, it can be done w/o too much hassle.




Coxo/Kopkei:

I disagree about the salt chlorinator and DE filters. I have had real good performance outta of mine since 2006. I most strongly agree about the privacy issue, but, more importantly, I control the water quality and safety... I haven't seen a pool in Udon, mine excepted, that didn't cause me concern over water quality. This is particularly of concern to me because of the amoeba fowlerii problems surfacing with more and more frequency...

ATB

[Astana]

Big A:

I stand by ALL my statements.

Electicity issue - solved. (Put a timer on the pumps so's they dinna start at the same time causing a major current in-rush peak... Cut my monthly bill by 40%.)

Chemical costs - solved. (Did some serious shoppin around and found chemical supplies at roughly 1/4 what I had been payin from the supplier recommended by the pool builder...)

My law suit was a waste of time, for reasons other than the merits of my case.

Great to learn that you've solved all the problems that you had moaned and droned on about for so long.

[yaliman]

After reading up on amoeba fowlerii, İ for one will be wearing a nose clip when swimming in pools from now on. Thanks for the heads up on this Lilred.

[LilRed]

Wikipedia:

"Naegleria fowleri /nəˈɡlɪəriə/, popularly known as the "brain-eating amoeba", is a free-living excavate form of protist typically found in warm bodies of fresh water, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, and hot springs. It is also found in soil, near warm-water discharges of industrial plants, and unchlorinated or poorly chlorinated swimming pools in an amoeboid or temporary flagellate stage. There is no evidence of this organism living in salt water. It is an amoeba belonging to the groups Percolozoa or Heterolobosea.

N. fowleri can invade and attack the human nervous system. Although this occurs rarely,[1] such an infection nearly always results in the death of the victim.[2] The case fatality rate is estimated at 98%.[3]"



I did not know about the saltwater as highlighted above. It's a pretty good reason to use a salt chlorinating system.


ATB

[jackspratt]

After reading up on amoeba fowlerii, İ for one will be wearing a nose clip when swimming in pools from now on. Thanks for the heads up on this Lilred.

I would back that up with a tinfoil hat.

Although statistically, I would imagine you are far more likely (wherever you are) to be killed in a road accident on the way to the swimming pool.

[glalt]

I'd like to have a swimming pool and yes, I have had them before. As long as you keep up with the pool, you won't have any problems. It's when the pool is neglected and gets away from the owner, that is a nightmare.

The reason I don't have one is because I KNOW my wife's nieces and nephews would be pissing in it. How do you prevent that without being a selfish, crotchety old fart.

[WhoUrDaddy]

Although statistically, I would imagine you are far more likely (wherever you are) to be killed in a road accident on the way to the swimming pool

or hit by lightning........maybe win the lottery.......

[fatbob]

by kopkei » August 24, 2013, 11:27 am

my pool is in no way costing 1.000.000 baht.. ,more around 220.000 baht all in.... (due to expensive tiles)
and chemicals,DE powder, chlorine, hydroclorid acid , soda ash, not more than 1.500 baht/year....make your own calculation...so to me and my privacy i get , it is worth it , but indeed it is up to everyone's preferences....

Your figures are total BS, if your gonna put an argument forward tell it honestly, 220 k all up, what is it 2 met by 2 met! Pump 25k, filter 25k, skimmer box or surge tank? skimmer box 8k, chlorinator 25k, lights 20k, piping 10k, electrical distribution board etc 15k, now for construction, excavation, rebar, formwork, concrete, tiles, adhesive and grout, M&E room and labour, chemical to balance pool on first fill, then every time it rains as it dilutes and go's out the overflow, more chemical. A small pool will use at least 1500 thb in electric per month, you have to turn the total volume of water over 2 1/2 times each day, they aint cheap.

[Barney]

Never hear anyone discuss the preformed fibreglass pools that became popular in australia some time back. they wold have to be cheaper.
There is a factory here in Khon kaen with the pools out on the road.

[Alchai]

Well thanks for all the inputs, there shure is a lot to consider befoere actually building a pool and as pointed out a few times I need to be really certain that I think the cost and the hassle is worth it. My garden is not big enough for a large pool like LilReds (really nice pool by the way) so if I decide to go ahead with this I would definatly be looking at DIY options and also as Barney mentioned composite pools. These must be less worries when it comes to the structial integrity I would think. Does anyone have any experience with composite pools? Also, only one posted a comment on putting a roof over the pool. I actually think it is a very smart idea but maybe I am missing something!

[parrot]

We have an abundant supply of 77 degree drinkable well water....and one very hot summer day many years ago, I got to thinking about how to take advantage of that. I bought the largest cement ring available.....a cover for the ring, a bag of cement, and a pvc faucet. Our gardener fixed up a nice shaded area with the cover on the ground, applied a layer of cement, and put the ring on top. He drilled in a outlet hole for the pvc valve, and touched up the area around the ground with a layer of cement.
The next day, late on a blazing afternoon, I filled up the ring with water and soaked. Ahhhhh....then let out the water. I filled it again in the evening and watched the stars with my wife. Ahhhhh.
No chemicals, no filters, no electricity (other than the well pump). Water in, water out. And I can easily hook a hose to the outlet valve and direct the water to the neediest plant in the vicinity.
As I recall, the total cost was around 600 baht.
I took this photo of a friend's two boys who were visiting and took advantage of the pool. They were wearing jungle masks for the photo. They didn't seem to mind the smallness of the pool or the lack of a diving board.
I love big swimming pools......but I lack the desire to put up with the headaches involved. The 'pool' still stands after 8 years. No cracks, no missing tiles, no headaches.

[kopkei]

coxo , no bs at all , my second pool , you must be pool installer?...
no chlorinator ,( no salt water) these things are expensive and do not last long...i use a floating chlorinator with 90% chlorine tablets..so no special expensive electrical box , just a timer in between ....( same my former pool)
some figures, haywarth super pump 1hp 16.000 baht, DE 2420 haywarth filter 28.000 baht ,big emaux skimmer bargain price 4.000 baht, no lights in the pool so also no bugs in the pool...no main drain , no use at all this , can pump the swim empty with a normal pump,( and in the former 10 year pool never had to drain the pool) excavation and all the concrete work ( 20cm wall and floor , 12mm rebar 2 layers, waterstop...enc..) around 65.000 baht ,work 35.000 baht , tiles 38.000 baht special price, work tiling 8.000 baht ,sandstone foot pad 8.400 baht,piping thai pipe 1,5 inch/13.5 only 6 pipes 1.020 baht ,some small pvc connections...,2 double union valves, 1 one way valve , take your calculator and count ...and weep?...a pool is not expensive to make , but some people seems to make it way more complicated than it has to be..( americans -australians ?) not meaning to insult any one... , same remark go's as of building a home..btw the pool is 6x4M... i have all my bills but i am not going into posting them, i am happy with the result....i will leave it at this...so believe it or not...and barney the fiber swims are bloody expensive...

[kopkei]

and for those whom want to know how to build a no nonsense pool , look here ( a friend of mine)
http://www.coolthaihouse.com/forum/view ... =19&t=3141
do not forget to look at the total price of this pool 10x 5M...

[Techland]

There is one more thing that I never hear someone talking about. The pool is most fun when you suddenly need a quick cool-down and just jump in it...or in the morning to get awake and a clear head...using it just the second you want to use it. And here comes the problem, as we are in Thailand: I would never jump quickly into an open outside pool without first carefully examining nothing already takes a bath in it that would give big problems to me...like snakes...seriously LilRed, you just enjoy it whenever you like or have to do the examination first? That would personally already put me off, take away lots of the fun, really.

@ Coxo: that's something I heard from the guys from Pattaya as well. The water is not only cleaned, but also renewed constantly, adding significantly to the water costs. Is that a standard design/method, or can it be avoided with better filters?

[kopkei]

water can always be filtered , so if by circumstances your water is green like hell, the problem can be solved by filtering , cleaning filter many times until the water is clean again , that is why you have a filter , now water expensive ?
i have filled up the pool with city water (took about 24h), and same time 4 watertanks with a total of 6.800L and the bill was including usage home 1.500 baht....to expensive?(incase you want to change for any reason) and indeed in a tropical land as this you must look for uninvited guests...which mostly are frogs... ...after owning a pool never have had a snake or something else in the pool...i do not know what coxo means by all his expensive chemicals in the pool , when to many chemicals maybe more bad than the snake inside...

[LilRed]

KK:

Sjeng's pool is very nice. His cost per cu.m was 3,000 bht.


My cost 5,000 bht/cu.m (in '06). I have several cost items tho, that Sjeng did not opt for.

One, I highly recommend as worth the extra money, is the over the side returns. A nice safety feature.

Because I wanted a safe diving board meeting Western standards, I made my diving end 4 mtrs deep. The depth, necessitated, highly-early, cast in place, reinforced concrete walls, 12" thick. And, piles... throughout.

Sjeng's design is very functional, nice lookin and a great value for what he paid. Mine, a bit more, but, I opted for some more expensive options.

Mine's been good - 8 yrs on and no biggies...


I surely hope Sjeng's, and, my pools last another 25 yrs!


Techland:

Yes, I do have a quick look in da pool, prior to entry. As I do with all potentially hazardous, uh, entries here. The surge tank worries me more tho, it's dark and hard to see in...

I calculate the rainy season gives me a complete water replacement, at least twice/yr, and, so only add water during the dry season to replace evaporation. (95 sq mtrs surface area... Some times as much as 1,200 LITERS/day.


ATB

[kopkei]

of course lilred you have a bigger swim , than you need an over flow system, i think when you go bigger than 10x5m you can not use a skimmer anymore , but sometimes they do use more than 1 skimmer , but over flow is better...
also the cost price per M2 can change quickly depending what price class tiles you use , i have used tiles that cost 680/m2
10years ago i only payed 200/M2.....