Above ground pools

Don't forget to include the GrandKids in the Equation - you'll be the Bestest Grandparents out of the two sets!!

 

Na John, but that sucker is almost as much as the pool

 

Yeah, I thought for an above ground it might be a bit much. But for our inground, the Polaris we got is worth every penny. It reduced my pool cleaning time to about 30 minutes a week
Off topic, and I'll change the communication, but we'll be in Frisco the last week in June. C'mon down if you can. I think there's spare rooms. Depends on my kids, I just pay.

 

this happened late last summer. we love it and use it every day.

 

Speaking of robots, mine is freaking my dog out this evening. She went to get a drink and it came up the steps. She ran to the side, and it turned and followed her. She got into the fight or flight position, when it started up the side, she fled. I think she's worried about the robot uprising

 

Gas anyone gone the Aqualoon or filter balls instead of sand? Looking at this instead of silica sand

 

Maybe I can get some help here from @JMB @DJFaninTN @Vizsla @Danimal86

FIL passed away back in December. Going through the probate process and getting the house ready for sale. Well, turns out you can’t insure a house with an empty pool (make sense.. we just didn’t think about it). At any rate, the pool is drained and in unknown condition. It has some hairline cracks in it and the pump/filtration system is missing. Just pipes and electrical wires remain. We’re just trying to get the pool functioning again on the cheap (like super cheap) so we can get the house insured and sold. House is borderline tear down to give you an FYI.

I just picked up a free pool pump but will need a filtration system. Any of you happen to know how to put an in ground system together? Is it as simple as connecting PVC and wiring up the pump? Can snap some photos this upcoming weekend. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

What kind of pool is it? I'm not in the pool care industry, but have a pool.
I've seen a bunch of pool equipment on facebook marketplace for pretty cheap. I'd look for something with manual timers.

 

It’s an older in ground. Looks like from the 50s maybe? That’s when the house was built so assume the pool was original with the house. It has two skimmers (one shallow, one deep end) and only a single return that I could see. No clue on size but it’s definitely on the smaller end. As I said, just trying to keep it from leaking like a sieve and somewhat filter. Can I just buy 5 gallons of flex-seal and coat the whole thing lol?

Wife was told they’ll send someone out to inspect pool/pump to ensure they’re working when she goes to reapply for insurance.

 

most likely, would need to fill it up and do the dye test to see if/where its leaking from. Might be able to chip away and patch any cracks.

 

Use it often. Especially with the summers getting hotter.

 

Might be easier and less costly to just fill it with dirt. I have known people that did that after kids flew the coop and they quit using it.

 

I mentioned that but there’s no easy access to the backyard. Would need to blow out the back wall of the garage and go through there. Family wants to keep it because they feel it’ll bring more value to the home? Dunno about that. Not to mention getting a demo permit in LA would probably take 20 months. At this point I think it might be cheaper to just fill it with water and see what happens


Got the old family saying “hey Nick, you work on cars. You can fix the pool, right?”

 

I missed that part. Normally not an issue in Texas and dirt is cheap. Noone around here would get a permit. Now in Austin different story but Austin has become little CA.

 

Lol I meant to say I mentioned that to the family. They shot it down.

yeah, I normally wouldn’t pull a permit either but with it most likely going up for sale shortly after I’d want to have my bases covered. Looks like I’m going to get some first hand knowledge about pools!

 

Speaking of pools...I see the price of clorine 3" tablets is still high.

 

You've got some answers, but I can add a few suggestions. Simple diagram.

Determine the capacity, there's a lot of pool calculators online, https://www.swimmingpool.com/resources/tools&apps/pool-volume-calculator/
Size the pump filter according to capacity. Look for used to save money since your selling anyway. You should get the chemistry right, at least the chlorine, if it's cloudy or green that will turn a lot of buyers off.

Fill it and monitor the water level. If you lose more than about a 1/4 inch per day in hot, low humidity weather there's probably a leak. You can try the dye test. Or there are companies out there that will perform leak tests for a few hundred.

Fixing the leaks depends on the construction. There are paint/sealants available. Also tape like patches that can be applied underwater.

Whatever you come to, make sure to list the pool as-is.

In my neighborhood lack of a pool only reduces the estimated value of the house by $5000. Crazy because a basic installation runs $40-50K.

 

Sorry about the FIL passing, condolences. Not gonna be cheap, definitely not super cheap. Assuming it’s plaster?, sitting empty ruins the plaster finish and that’s what seals it from leaking. Really need to find someone in your area and get an opinion on restoration, plumbing can be air tested, pool needs filled to leak test, but if the plaster is shot don’t waste your time. If you can get a wheelbarrow in the back yard, a mini skid steer fits, so can be filled in. Where I live a pool adds little to nothing in regards to property value, so might want to check on that. Usually people abandon pools that are broken beyond reasonable repair. Maybe you can fence it off to sell?

 

Thanks for the info gents. This is what I’m working with and what 25ish years as a bachelor might look like
https://youtu.be/nnSjjDOeNlM

Again, just trying to get insurance (and keep it) on the house. If we can get a pump/filter up and running and paint the pool to make it 95% water tight that might be good enough. Zero access to back yard so would have to be wheelbarrowed in as vizla said. Water is expensive but might not be as expensive as the time/money to fill it in along with the hassle of permitting/explaining to appraisers/lawyers/probate court why we filled it in etc etc.

Piping is copper. Now I know why the Statue of Liberty looks the way it does. Will pressure test it this upcoming weekend after I get the lines cleared.

Electrical and timer are on working order. Here’s the pump I picked up and hope to finish rebuilding this week. Got a new seal kit from Leslie and bearings are in route. So far in $120 into it including the 3lb tub of fix-it plaster.

have a couple filters I’m looking to pick up locally. Insl-x rubber pool paint is going to be around another $400. Again, no clue what I’m doing but the guys at Leslie are being super helpful with my shooting in the dark. Wish me luck!

 

When you fill it up, look around the skimmer for leaks, seems like thats the most common place that they appear.

 

look slike you have the pump in hand and you just need to cut back the plumbing and transition to PVC. Probably 3 transitions. This really isn't too tough.

Need to make sure the pump motor housing is grounded to the pool. I suspect having buried copper piping provides the grounds vs a wire.
One other thing before you fill the pool. And you may have already checked. Can you sell a house with a pool with a single bottom drain. Those haven't met code for a long time. There need to be two drains to prvent someone from getting stuck to the drain. It would suck to have to pump it out and redo the drains because an inspector won't sign off on it.

Here's a picture of our filtration ssytem. ignore the salt system. Simple pump and Hayward canister filter. This is a stupid simple system that results in crystal clear water. I clean the filter twice a year. and it takes about a half hour. JMB provided a great diagram this just takes that and shows how it can be built.

 

Thanks for the info! Great stuff. Didn’t know about grounding the pump to the pool. and not sure about the single drain pool. Ill check online but not sure if we’d be grandfathered in since the pool is from the 50s.

How big is your pool? This pool measures roughly 25’ by 12’ with 3’ shallow and 9’ deep or thereabouts. I thought those Hayward’s are for smaller pools but maybe I’m wrong. Is pool size or flow capacity more important when looking at a filter? If I could get away with a Hayward like yours that’d be amazing. There are two for sale locally for 50 bucks.

 

Here is a photo of the plumbing I’m dealing with. The return (arrow pointing to it) should be easy enough to cut and add a sharkbite or whatever those pvc to copper transitions are called (sell them at Leslie). The circled one is going to give me some problems. I tried to keep the inlet threads intact but the solder on the corner cracked when I took out the pump housing. In everyone’s advice should I try to clean up that corner and solder in a new piece of copper that I could add threads to? Or should cut the concrete and add a pvc/copper connector below grade (could obviously gets some bricks to clean it up etc etc.

 

Can you unthread at the joint just above the tee (red arrow).

 

Ours is 28x14 with 6 ft deep end. So volume wise were about 300 gals apart Yours would be or about 3% larger

 

Sorry just seeing this.
Nope, no threads. That’s a soldered joint. And there were threads before (you can see in the video) but the solder joint that held them cracked when I went to take the old pump out. Did a little work this weekend on it. Here’s how the plumbing turned out. Don’t see too many slants in pool plumbing but I was running out of 90* angles and daylight so had to improvise. Hope it works