Quote:
Originally Posted by Cajundaddy
Pools are incredibly easy to take care of if you do three things:
1. Keep them free of leaves, seeds, and fecal matter (duck poo).
2. Keep the chemicals balanced and shock treat regularly.
3. Keep the filter in good working order and running long enough each day.
I typically spend 10 minutes a week and the pool always looks great. Some folks like gardening, I like puttering around the pool. My DE filter needs cleaning 3 times/year. A 15 minute operation and requires no tools to assemble/disassemble.
"Trouble Free Pool" is a very good online resource. Spend some time there to get familiar with common terms and weekly duties.
From your description (visiting ducks, high TDS, overhanging trees, sand filter, AZ summers) I suspect that this pool will be more difficult to maintain weekly than most. High CL2 levels were probably being maintained to combat the bacterial effects of a regular influx of fecal matter (duck poo). Be diligent because if it gets away from you it will turn green very quickly and be a bear to get blue again without a complete drain and refill.
Good luck!
$80 actually sounds pretty cheap for pool service as here it is typically $110/mo. In AZ expect to spend $40-$50 per month in chemicals during the summer.
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The ducks are winter visitors. Haven't had any issues for a few months now from them.
We'll see how it goes, I plan to spend about an hour a week fiddling with it. I do enjoy doing it. The chemicals seem to be cruising along nicely, but that can always change. I don't think it would have gotten so cloudy today if I'd been able to vacuum it before the kids jumped in a stirred up the sediment. As soon as I opened the back door they headed out too. They don't mind murky water....
One of the guys in my office has a guy that puts in the salt equipment and maintains it all for $40/month... He may get to handle ours if it gets to be more hassle than I like. I'm still mixed on the salt though. I did like the one I swam in, but I'm not in love with what the salt does to the decking and pool fence on the ones I've seen here.
Speaking of decking, our cool deck is chipping up, and the pebble tec top edge of the pool is looking sad. Its a 15yr old pool, I suppose its time to have the deck redone. We'd like to get rid of all the damn gravel around the pool too and have concrete about 2' wide at least all the way around.