Hand built underground pool

[Doug71]

Found my seven year old watching this on Youtube, he now wants me to build one in the back garden!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chKhccgLlSI

Here's a nice little weekend project if you don't own any power tools or machinery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUU3KfVKCgk

 

[Trevanion]

If local planning saw someone doing that here they would have kittens... no... lions! :lol:

 

[Jonzjob]

Stuff all that hard work. They should have a pool like ours in France. Not that big but ??

Mind you I have no idea just what filtration system they would have in a pool like that? Ours was activated glass and filtered down to about 4 microns 8)

If I now had the chance to have a pool here in the U.K. I would tell you to stuff it. Too much like hard work to keep it up to scratch! And that was after 13 years practice :shock:

 

[sunnybob]

To keep a pool going in the UK would require millionaire income.
Mine here costs me a grand a year in electric and chemicals alone, not to mention any hardware that breaks or wears out, and I only get to use it 3 months a year on average (although this had been an exceptional year, first dip early may and STILL using it 8) ) If it werent for the grandkids spending each summer here I would have filled it in years ago.
I knew a man in Somerset who had an indoor 20 metre pool (he was a retired banker) and even he couldnt afford to heat the thing. His boiler room would have done a couple of large B&B houses

 

[Steliz]

Bob, is the electric bill from heating it or just running the filtration?
I want to put in an above ground pool this winter and was wondering about ongoing costs. I have solar panels that provide all my electricity so just the chemicals to cover.

 

[sunnybob]

According to your bio page, you live in Hungary? If so, youre only going to get a month or two's use per year, unless youre a cold water fiord swimming person. I would seriously reconsider.

I dont have solar electric, at my time of life I would never recoup the costs of install.
A solar pump here is over 2,000 euros, panels extra.

To get clear water the pump needs to run 10 hours a day every day the water temp is over 20c, and less hours a day as the water gets colder. By the time its down to 10c, the pump can be turned off although I run it an hour a day just to keep the filter material alive.

I dont know what your panels produce, but you will need at least a 0.75KW (equivalent) pump for an 8 x 4 x 1.4 deep metre pool.

Chemicals needed depend on the pool. Starting from scratch I seriously recommend a salt water pool. A bit more start up cost but greatly reduced maintenance.
A fresh water pool needs Chlorine, and PH adjuster (up and down) all depending on temperature, original water composition, and usage, so its impossible to advise you on quantities of each.
Then you need algicide, flocculent, tile (or liner) cleaner on a regular basis.

If you are that far north you need to invest in a very good cover and a pool heater to stop the water freezing. When water freezes it exerts HUGE sideways pressure, and can easily crack a concrete side wall.

Its truly a non stop job keeping a pool in good condition. When we moved here we couldnt understand why the Cypriots dont have pools. 11 years on, I know exactly why. :roll: 8) 8)

 

[Rorschach]

To keep a pool going in the UK would require millionaire income.
Mine here costs me a grand a year in electric and chemicals alone, not to mention any hardware that breaks or wears out, and I only get to use it 3 months a year on average (although this had been an exceptional year, first dip early may and STILL using it 8) ) If it werent for the grandkids spending each summer here I would have filled it in years ago.
I knew a man in Somerset who had an indoor 20 metre pool (he was a retired banker) and even he couldnt afford to heat the thing. His boiler room would have done a couple of large B&B houses

A friend I went to school with had an indoor pool at his fathers house. When I visited one day I asked his father why it was empty. He told me that for the first couple of years they lived there the pool was in use and they tracked how often it was used and how much it cost to maintain. He worked out that over a year he could pay for the children (they had 3) to visit the local pool everyday, and pay for a taxi to take them and pick up, and he was still saving money.
The children obviously were not happy when the pool was drained even though they didn't use it everyday of course, but they were told that any time they wanted to swim they could book a taxi and he would pay for it no restriction.

His daughter eventually convinced him to get her a horse, stabling and transport costs for that soon mounted up so he sold up and moved out the country and bought a house with enough land for the horses, he reckoned the savings on that more than made up for the extra cost of living in the country. Sensible chap.

 

[Geoff_S]

They built it because someone told them that swimming keeps you fit.

 

[Steliz]

According to your bio page, you live in Hungary? If so, youre only going to get a month or two's use per year, unless youre a cold water fiord swimming person. I would seriously reconsider.

I dont have solar electric, at my time of life I would never recoup the costs of install.
A solar pump here is over 2,000 euros, panels extra.

To get clear water the pump needs to run 10 hours a day every day the water temp is over 20c, and less hours a day as the water gets colder. By the time its down to 10c, the pump can be turned off although I run it an hour a day just to keep the filter material alive.

I dont know what your panels produce, but you will need at least a 0.75KW (equivalent) pump for an 8 x 4 x 1.4 deep metre pool.

Chemicals needed depend on the pool. Starting from scratch I seriously recommend a salt water pool. A bit more start up cost but greatly reduced maintenance.
A fresh water pool needs Chlorine, and PH adjuster (up and down) all depending on temperature, original water composition, and usage, so its impossible to advise you on quantities of each.
Then you need algicide, flocculent, tile (or liner) cleaner on a regular basis.

If you are that far north you need to invest in a very good cover and a pool heater to stop the water freezing. When water freezes it exerts HUGE sideways pressure, and can easily crack a concrete side wall.

Its truly a non stop job keeping a pool in good condition. When we moved here we couldnt understand why the Cypriots dont have pools. 11 years on, I know exactly why. :roll: 8) 8)

Are you sure I would only get a couple of months? The average temp here since early May is in the high 20's. Until yesterday, it hadn't dropped below 31 for almost 2 weeks.
I have an array of 38 solar panels with a 12.5kw inverter so leccy is not a problem.
I can only put in an above ground pool as my garden is terraced and it is impossible to get any machinery in to dig and remove the soil.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I know a chap who had a large pool - he filled it in as it was costing him a fortune for the neighbours children to learn to swim. My friend, an estate agent said long ago that pools go against the marketability of a property - very few people want them as they know what they cost to run. I looked at a house with one ............ but only because I fancied breeding koi.

 

[Garno]

Are Koi edible? :shock:

 

[Rorschach]

I know a chap who had a large pool - he filled it in as it was costing him a fortune for the neighbours children to learn to swim. My friend, an estate agent said long ago that pools go against the marketability of a property - very few people want them as they know what they cost to run. I looked at a house with one ............ but only because I fancied breeding koi.

I viewed a house once with a pool, the estate agent wasn't happy when I said I would have put in a higher offer if the pool wasn't there. :lol:

 

[sunnybob]

Are Koi edible? :shock:

Yup, but a touch more expensive than your average cod and chips

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