I am interested in having a swimming pool built in my garden as Bulgaria provides the perfect climate in the summer to make full use of one. However,having never owned or run one before I am interested to hear from anyone else who might have one what it is like to run and maintain a pool. Are they more hassle than they are worth. Do you have to use a shedload of chemicals in them and do you have to spend hours each week keeping them clean and are they expensive to run?

Of course I would like to hear the benefits too! For me, swimming is a great way to exercise but I would like to know the realities before dreaming about long hot summers in the pool.

Hmmmm, we would have loved a small pool too, but the upkeep and chemicals would have been too much for us. Instead we got an inflatable plunge pool which we filled from the well and didn't use chemicals as they would have had to be emptied on the garden. We refill it regularly to keep it cold and clean though there is a filter with it (expensive refills) and empty it when we water the garden.You are right about the summer being ideal. Dave put our's away at the beginning of the month when we had a cold snap but then regretted it when the weather turned summery again. Now Dave has to go to the river for a dip, which he rather likes as he can watch kingfishers at the same time.

Willowsend has a pool at his rental house so he may be able to help. Good luck.

Sara

I have always fancied one of those endless swimming pool machines, but have never got around to finding out the price (which I expect would be way too expensive) and if they are available in Bulgaria.
I love swimming for the exercise, but I have always thought that most small garden pools are really too small for anything but cooling off.

Yes I am fascinated by these endless pools as they are great for swim training. I have this idea of swimming with a piece of bungie tied around me with the other end attached to the pool. There must be something you can buy which turns small pools into training pools. If anyone knows I would be interested.I have also heard that if you leave the pump running overnight they use very little in the way of chemicals. Now I know it's doesn't sound cost effective to do this or terribly environmental but if I understand you can get solar pumps so that may be the way forward. I would be interested to know.

We have a river near us which could be an option. My husband needs no encouragement to get into the water but I am a bit iffy about swimming in rivers due to dangerous undercurrents. The Yantra river is only a stone's throw from us but I am not sure how deep or fast flowing it
Is yet.

All in all we might just opt for one of those oversized paddling pools yet and my soon to be neighbor says it's only 4 lev to use the local pool 10km away. Still, there's nothing like the spontenayity of jumping in your own pool.

The simple answer to all the OP questions is Yes! In addition to all that stuff, consider that the pool will almost certainly freeze solid during the winter months unless you empty it beforehand. I thought long and hard about a 'proper' one, before deciding to get one of these above ground jobbies..3 metre diameter and almost a metre deep, although there are much larger sizes available..my kids love it!!

Made by 'Intex', it comes with a filter and a cover and takes about an hour to set up or dismantle..one of those 'floatie' chlorine pill holders takes care of any nasties provided you keep the filter pump running whenever it's not in use. That's how we do it and the increase in our electric bill for almost six months use was a mere 3 leva!

You'll never be able to train for the Olympics in such a pool, but I bet if you've been grafting in the garden on a 40 degree day and have something like this to relax in.........! We've had 7 excitable, wriggling 10 year old girls, plus 4 responsible adults in ours on more than one occasion.

How rude of me..I should have mentioned that this pool cost me around 350 leva, complete, four years ago and is still available in most big stores, right here in Bg.

Sounds like fun round at bgbazz's in the summer

On the subject of water. I had considered what would happen at the end of summer when I emptied the pool as most people do. I would probably create a biblical flood to the houses at the bottom of the garden. Then I heard that they can truck the water into into the pool. Perhaps they can truck it out again at the end of summer?

Yep..it is a lot of fun! At the end of summer, we just syphon it out onto the lawn.. there is no alarming flood and no problems for next door folk. Get up in the morning, pool is empty, give it all a clean and pack it away until next season. Simple really.

I don't have a pool and my main comment is based on a similar topic from another date would be to make sure you really know out how much all the running costs will amount to over a year because some people say it's not exactly cheap, some have even said that if they had known beforehand all the implications then they would not have initially bothered with one.

I don't know if it's necessary to empty a pool at the end of a season so more information would be useful, because sometimes pools can crack when empty because of the ground pressure on the walls, on the other-hand you need to know if when it freezes will that create any damage.

Pumps, Filters, Chemicals, UV Filters, Pool Cleaner, Pool Cover.
Or chemical free, but with higher maintenance costs.

Without meaning to be rude but the main selection of people who said they would never be without one appeared to be financially better off than most.

As I said, I can't actually help, but maybe gave you something else to think about.

Using this item eliminates all chemicals!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ... 19df4210d2

bgbazz wrote:

The simple answer to all the OP questions is Yes! In addition to all that stuff, consider that the pool will almost certainly freeze solid during the winter months unless you empty it beforehand. I thought long and hard about a 'proper' one, before deciding to get one of these above ground jobbies..3 metre diameter and almost a metre deep, although there are much larger sizes available..my kids love it!!

Made by 'Intex', it comes with a filter and a cover and takes about an hour to set up or dismantle..one of those 'floatie' chlorine pill holders takes care of any nasties provided you keep the filter pump running whenever it's not in use. That's how we do it and the increase in our electric bill for almost six months use was a mere 3 leva!

You'll never be able to train for the Olympics in such a pool, but I bet if you've been grafting in the garden on a 40 degree day and have something like this to relax in.........! We've had 7 excitable, wriggling 10 year old girls, plus 4 responsible adults in ours on more than one occasion.

How rude of me..I should have mentioned that this pool cost me around 350 leva, complete, four years ago and is still available in most big stores, right here in Bg.

Do not under any circumstances empty your in the ground pool for the winter as the hard winter will cause you all sorts of problems with cracks in the side walls as the frost will get in and cause expansion and in some cases cause a lot of damage to the side walls. It has the same effect as your patio where all the joints of grout come out, and a classic example is the state of the roads and the damage the frost does. Please click on the link [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ... d-Pool.htm
Last week I emptied (with the help of a professional) my pool, completely re-grouted it and cleaned it, re-filled it to 10cm below the skimmer at a water cost of about 120leva (which is a lot cheaper that have to repair the pool in the Spring from frost damage)
We then put the tarpaulin over and secured it down to the ground. took the pump off and will have it serviced to make sure the bearings are alright ready for next year then store it inside the villa
YES, an in the ground pool is expensive to have and maintain but for a letting holiday home it is an essential part of ones holiday

If you click on this link you will see the difference between the before and after ready for winterising [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Hope that helps

Just another thought with regards to the winter frost.

We know problems can arise with empty pools (as mentioned earlier), but are there any problems with pools totally freezing over and possibly expanding, obviously initially the ice will push upwards (not that people always notice that much) but what happens in severe frost cases?

Yes Phil the frozen water will expand, but only upwards, that is why you fill the pool to 10 cm below the skimmer to allow for that. As an example put a bottle of milk in your home freezer and I bet that when you go to get it the top will have been blown off and you will have an ice lolly on top of the bottle
We have had our villa for 7 years now (apart from when the perpetrators were in there for two years) and never had any problems with the pool because it has been winterised in the proper manner with the right chemicals and cover

Plenty of good tips for you Kazbegi..hope you found them helpful. I'll stick with my above ground, no mess, no fuss, put away for the winter version..works for me.

bgbazz wrote:

Plenty of good tips for you Kazbegi..hope you found them helpful. I'll stick with my above ground, no mess, no fuss, put away for the winter version..works for me.

Me too. It is enough to cool us down (especially freshly filled!) costs nowt and digging and doing keeps Dave fit. I don't do fit these days, but pottering in the heat certainly sets up a sweat....sorry, glow. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Sara

Yes thanks for all the tips and advice. I at least now know not to empty a pool for winter which answers one of my queries. I guess we will have to decide what to do when the time comes. All your reasonings make sense, we just need to find out what is best for us. Afterall, our first Bulgaria summer will be next year. We will wait to see what that brings