4/16/2014 1:04 PM
I have been helping take care of our 50-year-old pool for the last twenty years. Thankfully we have also had one member that has been on the board or just helped out who did most of the minor work involved. Well he has said this is his last year (I do not blame him). For the last three years we have had another member getting us free chlorine from one of the local plants he works at for free (I think the dates were expiring). This also looks like it will be coming to an end.
So we are starting to get ready for the swim season and need some major improvements to our pumping system. We have basically kept it running as cheap as possible throughout the years. With our main guy leaving after this year I am now trying to help get everything up to code, so to speak. We are a very low-budget course so doing major cost improvements is out of the questions but I want to make sure whatever we do this year makes it easier to maintain.
Out of all of you guys that help out or take care of the pool. How many use a salt water system compared to a chlorine system?
Is it cheaper to operate?
is it less headaches? (I have a feeling I will end up having to do a lot more work with the pool)
Pro's and Con's please.
Looks like we will be replacing the pumps, screens and motors (installed new filters about 5 years back). If you went to salt did you change the type of material your pumps were made of?
Fortunately we have another member that works for a big pool company who may offer to help change things out on the cheap (his cost). I am just fact finding to make sure we are not pushed into something we can not handle.
Any info you may have would be great even if it is just your opinion between the two.
For the last twenty years we basically have been only treating the pool during the swim season and then letting it go and pumping it out and pressure washing it in the spring before the next season. I think this may be the main cause for cracks between the deep end and the shallow end. We are in south Louisiana next to the Mighty Mississippi River and the water table gets high during the spring. I feel that we need to have a system that will keep the pool clean year round in order to stop any more cracking. (your thought on this too please)
Thanks