Prosper Pool Cleaning
QUESTIONS ANSWERED...

What are the pros and cons of owning an endless pool?

Answer...

I have one. An Endless Pool E-550 to be exact. I DO NOT work for nor am I paid from Endless Pools. I Bought from an Endless Pools dealer; not endless themselves. The dealer was very, very helpful and we paid -30% less than what Endless lists for.

Options: Surround sound system, Treadmill, 4-piece cover.

I am a competitive swimmer for the US Masters and swim about 4+ times per week. We actually bought this for the sake of my wife and her not being able to run on land because of her back. That problem is in check at least with this.

My wife and I swam at the local rec 4 days per week and both of our children are on swim team. With the pandemic and wanting to be back into the water plus offer some side benefits we went with the pool. Now, If we only swam one day a week it would have been a complete waste of money. We swim a lot and workout total 5–6 days per week. With the underwater treadmill, you will have a very good workout.

I’m a Home Brewer and Electrical Engineering student so I understand water chemistry very well. Therefore I do not pay anyone to monitor my pool. I only submit a sample once a month and go from there.

YOU MUST understand water chemistry if you want to own one, else be prepared to hire someone to care for it, a local pool company perhaps.

***Pros:***

1. We installed into our 3rd stall of our garage to knock down costs, therefore, we only paid for electrical install, 2–3 heavy coats of white primer/sealer on all walls and ceiling, and the pool itself.
2. Being as it is in the garage; leaves and other issues are non-problematic, no issues with phosphate due to rain either.
3. Fills fast with a garden hose: 2,340 gallons with 2 garden hoses from house equated to only 3-hr 15-minutes to fill. Time may vary, but our water pressure is very good.
4. Maintains heat very well; garage holds annually above freezing and below 80 in summer.
5. Chemical control is a breeze, I do not have to put much effort in here. however, the caveat is; we heat ours to 82 F which is right about the competitive swimming temp. Anything above that you are certain to have chemical swings. Therefore once again; UNDERSTAND fully water chemistry.
6. Available whenever I want it, no rules, no waiting, no pool too hot or too cold. What better that just walking downstairs? I still love my local rec 9′ competitive pool though and will use it.
7. 1/2″ thick acrylic shell construction, so it was a one piece delivery. No hassle, just find a level floor capable of supporting 220 pounds per square inch. Almost any garage floor will do as it is distributed weight and most cars weight about 3,280 pounds or about 820 lbs per tire and therefore around 820 lbs per square foot.
8. Adjustable swim current; I swim toward the top end of 65–100% and the current is even smoother yet at faster pace.
9. Will immediately force you to correct your timing and/or stroke deficiency. At first I kept drifting to the right and could not figure out why. Adjusted my stroke and paid attention to it and now I can go 5+ minutes non-stop.
10. Works best with Breast stroke, fly, free, back in that order. Butterfly is especially a good stroke here for timing, followed by breast.
11. After a long swim there are Jets in the back that go from your shoulder to your knees and all are adjustable from on/off and high/low flow. 23 jets to be exact.
12. Underwater treadmill is ideal for anyone suffering from back issues.
13. A very safe alternative to teaching someone how to swim.
14. Water is shoulder height about 54″ deep.
15. More than enough room to swim in. Even if you want to swim, others can still use the jets.
16. The sound system is awesome!
17. Lighting on both interior and exterior is a fun touch.
18. Teaches consistency in your stroke (Pacing) being as the swim machine is constant, not variable.
19. Ability to offer individualized practice for the swim team.

***Cons:***

1. 4-piece easy flip cover can be a hassle at times. But; you are gaining a lot of energy efficiency here so it is worth it. I would estimate 10–20% over the roll over one due to thickness and sealing.
2. If your stroke is way off, the swim machine could have a hard time compensating the flow in a steady motion. However, it helps you correct a bad stroke quickly. The faster you go, the smoother it is. The smoother your stroke is, the compensation has no problem.
3. Cannot practice flip turns; maybe you could but I advise against it.
4. No diving
5. That’s all I have for now.

Why is it that most people think having a swimming pool is a bad idea?

Answer...

I have an in ground swimming pool in the backyard. I didn’t build it. I didn’t even want it. But when the house came out on the market, the right floor plan, the right neighborhood, the right school, the right price, in the end I had to make some concessions. My first thought was that it was going to be a lot of work and expensive. It turned out to be some work and some cost but not nearly as much as I expected.

Our neighborhood has a community pool. We have been on the waiting list for 4 years and are number 624. You probably ask why we are on the list if we have a pool already, but community pools are places to socialize and join community activities. Average wait time is 7 years. But I think it will be longer than that. Cost for a 1 season lease was $900 last year just to put it in perspective. Now, the gym where I work out has a pool which I use for exercise, and our family pays about $75 per month for all of us x 12 months is $900. So use $900 as the opportunity cost for access to any pool.

Ok, about the backyard pool. It holds about 20k gallons, too small for swimming laps but good for splashing around and cooling off. The pool has a heater and also a heated spa. As far as self maintenance goes, it’s not as bad as I expected and depends a lot on the time of year and the weather. If there isn’t much grass, leaves, bugs, or other stuff blowing in the wind I need to empty the skimmers and main filter about twice per week, which takes about 5 minutes. Oh, but a bad week, leaves falling off of trees, cherry blossom petals, we’re talking several times each day. It eats away at your time but it’s not heavy yard work. Actually, much easier than mowing an equivalent amount of grass but probably about the same amount of time total. By the way, someone still has to mow the grass around the pool.

You’re probably wondering about cleaning. You see shows and movies where you can spend hours with the pool vac cleaning the bottom of the pool. Yes, you can do that. But most home pools including ours have an automatic cleaner, this little robot made by Polaris that runs along the bottom of the pool and sucks up any debris. They work very well. Unfortunately, mine isn’t working at the moment, so I’ve spent about 5 hours this week vacuuming (I’ll get to that in a moment). Usually, I don’t vacuum at all—bad week. The filter system is automatic and programmable. Again, depending on the weather, I will have to backwash the filter anywhere from twice per week to once per month. That takes about 15 minutes to roll out the hose, rest the system for backwash, flush it out, get all the water out of the hose so I can put it away and then roll it up and stow it. At the gym or community pool, I have to do none of these tasks. If I have an algae bloom that really sucks. In addition to the regular cleaning, I have to scrub the sides of the pool with a big brush every day—which takes about 30–60 minutes, add chemicals, and then flush out the system from the previous day. I had one when we first opened the pool and it lasted about a week. I also have to test the water—five minute job. And the pool shop is 1/2 mile from my house where they test your water sample for free. Your situation might be different if you lived 5 miles away from the shop (with traffic). Opening the pool, if you do it yourself takes about 1–2 hours, longer if you’ve never done it before. I wouldn’t recommend closing it yourself. Too much can go wrong.

Now comes the part about cost. It costs more, but again not as much as I thought. The filter pump has to run 8–12 hours per day (depending on who you ask) to do one water exchange every 24 hours. This adds to the electricity bill. I have a hard time putting an exact number on this, but I estimate it is around $50 per month for my area. Again, just an estimate because my A/C runs during the same time of year that the pool is open, and I have no way of breaking that out of my bill. What about heater? I NEVER use the pool heater. It is just like throwing money into the pool and flushing it out the backwash. The heat boils off and is lost within a day. I use it for the spa. How much does it cost? Hard to say. Depends on the weather and how much you use the spa. But it takes about 45 minutes to heat up—so imagine running your stove for 45 minutes with all the burners on plus the time you want to sit in it. Chemical costs? If your water is good, you can usually get by with once a week shock (about $10 worth for my size pool) and chlorine tabs—probably $5–$10. But again, when I had the algae bloom I threw in about $50 worth of shock in 3 days and spent another $100 on chemicals. How about maintenance? Hiring someone to close the pool is about $450 once per year. You need to hire a professional, because if water is left in your lines and freezes the cost to repair might be nearly as much as a new pool. As I mentioned, my cleaner isn’t working. That’s because my booster pump is burned out. Pool equipment generally lasts, but stuff is old and eventually breaks. I have a home warranty but it doesn’t cover the booster pump. That’s going to run me another $425.

And I almost forgot water. I can’t put a number on that either. When I open the pool, I have to fill it for about an entire day (from the winter level) to get it to the right level. Think about running your garden hose all day and how much water you are spending. A few years ago, we had a problem and had to empty the entire pool. Refilling it took an entire week. Good news is I can recycle rain water. That’s right, when it rains I just run it through the filter and it comes out clean. Problem is that it doesn’t rain when I want it to. After a few days of hot weather I come home and see that the water level has dropped. Just leave it until it rains, right? No. Your filter pumps are designed to pump water not air. If the water level drops so low that air starts getting into your filter you run the risk of burning out the pump which will cost another $450 to fix. Run the pump with too much water, and you risk not getting the water clean and having algae grow. So on these dry days I have to turn on the hose and fill up the pool just enough. Then a few days later it rains so much I have to pump out the extra water, and I am kicking myself for not being able to predict the future.

Insurance? Yes, I have increased liability coverage on my house because of the pool. That’s not really that much extra. But I don’t think I could ever rent the house out and would have to be careful if I ever asked anyone to house sit. I have seen too many cases of tenants who will conveniently “get injured” but will be willing to settle out of court. You can pay them direct or pay a lawyer to win the case. Either way you lose even if you win.

Now with all this cost and extra work, how much do we use the pool? We probably have about 2 parties during the summer season. My son is 17 so he has his friends come over on Friday and Saturday nights to hang out. But he leaves for college in August. On hot days, I might jump in after work just long enough to cool off—say 10 minutes or so. And when the water starts to cool I will warm up in the spa but probably only on weekends. I have to add that there is something soothing about looking out your window to a yard full of clear water.

Does all of this time and money add up to the benefit of having it? Probably not overall. But honestly, it’s not that bad. I actually expected a lot worse. It’s not necessarily bad to have a pool. It’s not bad to drive a BMW if you can afford it. I can’t afford a BMW. In the end, it depends on what you want.