Chaichara

Cleaning the plates is generally possible but if the calcium deposit is very thick it might take several hours for it to dissolve in the hydrochloric (muriatic) acid. If the plates have been buckled by the deposit, the electrode may need to be replaced. However, since PoolRite was liquidated a couple of years ago, genuine replacement electrodes may be difficult to find. Some generic copies may be available on Amazon or eBay and are certainly being offered by several pool shops in Australia.

If correctly maintained, electrodes can last for 4 years or even longer. I've known of some (Surechlor models) still in use after 8 years. The Poolrite Enduro, if I remember rightly, was supposed to reverse it's polarity to self-clean, but I may be confusing it with the Surechlor, a later model.

The basic out of the box Desjoyaux 8 x 4 meter pool they show on their website is $35,000.

Assuming your information is correct - and there is no reason to believe it should not be - $35,000 is getting on for twice the price of top-qualty in-ground overflow type concrete pool, fully tiled, complete with reliable branded pumps & fiters, LED colour changing underwater lights, pump house, and salt water chlorinator. Built by Western owned or managed reputable pool companies.

The problem is that many (perhaps most?) bona fidae pool firms these days won't move their trucks out of the yard for a traditional 4 x 8 (unless it's just round the corner). Aye, there's the rub.

Anyone who assumes from the outset that they can't afford a product isn't even the target consumer anyway. FWIW, I paid less than 30K for mine. Whether that is considered cheap, affordable, or expensive, is relative only to one's purchasing power vs. need for use; (my pool is rather larger than 4 x 8!). It's certainly a lot less than the previous model I had, and it does a lot more and is easier to use. I think that's at least value for money - which is important whether you are a Steintischsäufer or a retired movie star. There are still plenty of 'shophouse' pool stores (and some real estate agencies too) with the old, obsolete models in stock that they are still holding out for a buyer for at twice the price.

Archetypal comment from the ThaiVisa members who post more complaints than useful information. I don't think their adverstising agency would even be interested in answering such a rude remark - if indeed they follow up on such threads at all. if you were really interested, you would fill in that form or even call them as I did, and as previously mentioned, I've already ordered mine. Perhaps you should search the net for all the other pool shops who have a proper online catalog, show the same product, speak your language, see if they distribute the product, and see if they publish the prices - and then go compare. Good luck!

[That said, a book on pool construction recommended by the OP is nearly the price of one of the new Dolphins!

This is not a true statement regarding the OP or the price.

Correct. My error. It was indeed someone else mentioned the SPATA guide that costs two thirds of the price of a robot. In this thread: http://www.amazon.com/Builders-Guide-Swimming-Pool-Construction/dp/1889892505/ref=sr_n1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444039526&sr=8-1&keywords=1889892505

you mentioned a book that costs $49.95 and one that costs $64.00 - both probably great for DIY pool constructors.

That said, a book on pool construction recommended by the OP is nearly the price of one of the new Dolphins!

Got a lead on someone that sells the Dolphins in Thailand, at reasonable prices?

Yes, but unfortunately I'm not sharing it. I've been accused of being a shill too many times by some of our ruder TV pool forum members. It's easy enough to find - there aren't 2,000 respectable pool supplies retailers in Thailand.

I have read elsewhere that Emaux pumps are significantly louder than Hayward. I am unable to find spec documentation for Emaux models. Noise is one of the important deciding factors on my list of considerations.

Anyone have spec docs they can share?

From what I've seen here in Thailand, I wouldn't say that Emaux pumps are significantly louder than any other brand. But then, I've neve put different brands side by side and listened too them, and that's why I'm very warey of heresay. Most people don't design pools that large too close to a house where the noise may be a disturbance and in any case, a proprly conceived project will have the techncial equipment located in a dedicated machine room. From what I understand, othersuff, you are probably going to build a failrly large pool under very exacting specifications, so if your budget isn't so much of a deciding factor, if you think it would give you peace of mind, go for Hayward - it won't make any difference to thr retailer who stocks both, and the price difference won't impact more than about Baht 10,000 - 20,000 on a 2 mio baht pool. Bear in mind though that the top of the range products from Emaux as well as Hayward are designed for quiet running. FWIW, I have Emaux pumps: two on the filtration, one on the waterfall and one on the fountains, sometimes the are all running together. From the garden I only hear a low murmur, and from the house I can't hear anything. If its spec docs you want, why not search for them and download them from the manufacturers' web sites?

Interesting comment Chaichara - so you are saying that for someone who has say a 90cu.m pool (me) i should just suck it up (figuratively and literally) and keep doing the manual vacuuming job.

After 4 years of doing so I was about on the point of getting a robot

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I didn't say that at all,Santi

The Emaux, The Kreepy, and the Barracuda, or any products from other brands that look similar, are not true robots. The pattern they describe when cleaning the floor is completely arbitrary and they also rely on a fairly powerful pump. Any pool that functions from a marginally adequate pump/filtration system - especially small-pool systems of 1HP or less - may find that the actual suction through the vac port or the skimmer plate is not sufficient to provide enough suction power for an optimal performance. I know several people here and in France who have bought these things and where they are now, like in my house in France, lying around unused in the pump house or the garage.

For my money (and I'm not rich), I would invest in a proper robot for anything larger than, say, a 4 x 8. Your 90cu doesn't mean anything here - it could be a very small but very deep pool. Robots are designed to clean the floors and walls, not to take over from the general filtration system. So what I said was that I'm giving my exelent Dolphin Swash (that doesn't climb the walls) to my father in law, and buying the new Dolphin S-Series that replaces it, cleans the walls too, and amazingly at a significantly lower price than what I paid for the Swash a few years ago. What we must not forget however, is that for many of the posters here (some who even quibble over a few satang difference in the price of chlorine from one retailer to another), proper robots may well be stretching the average retiree's budget. What you decide is to do is up to you, don't take my advice as a retired, out-of-touch pool pro, talk to a pool professional who is in business and who is honest enough to sell you what YOU want and need rather than the product that makes him the quickest sale and/or the most profit.

That said, a book on pool construction recommended by the OP is nearly the price of one of the new Dolphins!

That said, no complaints with them except for their pool cleaner robot - cheap yes, effective no - everything else from them is OK but there's clearly higher quality and much more expensive options available.

None of those kind of pool cleaners, even the more expensive Pentair Kreepy Krauly or the Zodiac Barracuda are really suitable for anything much larger than a plunge pool - I've got a shed full of them at my house in Avignon. I've had a proper robot from Dolphin for several years here and now that prices have gone down with a huge bump in Thailand since they introduced the new series this month I'll be getting one that climbs the walls and giving the old one to my father-in-law.

Hayward equipment is roughly twice the price of Emaux. That does not necessarily represent any significant difference in quality. Hayward have long monopolised the world market for pool supplies and has become somewhat of a household name in the US, like Astral in continental Europe and Certikin in the UK, but nowadays there is stiff competition from nearby Australian manufacturers with their state-of-the-art assembly plants in China, whose brand names are just as much a sign of quality in Asia and Australasia as Hayward is in the northern and western hemisphere. Hayward's double logistics from their outsourced motor manufacturer in Mexico to California for assembly might not be conducive to keeping prices down.

I don't think a genuine pool constructor is much bothered about the price difference - Baht 25,000 to 50,0000 for a pump and filter together does not impact significantly on a Baht 750,000- 900,000 budget for a decent medium sized domestic pool. It only matters if someone wants a really cheap solution for a 3 x 4 plunge pool.

If someone walks into a store and says "I want a 1.5 HP Hayward TriStar, please" the shopkeeper isn't going to argue any more than if the customer asks for a 1.5 HP Emaux SPH. A sale is a sale and he'll dive into the store room and fetch whatever the customer wants. Some customers might ask for advice or for the specialist's personal opinion, but that's a different ball game and a good pool salesperson will still let the customer make his own choice after weighing up the pros and cons. For pool customers who are convinced that expensive automatically equates to high quality and have no budgetary consideradtions to take into account - fair enough, Hayward pumps are probably not going to break down any sooner than Emaux.

No pool builder in Thailand is going to invest Baht 22,000.00 in a book about standards, especially if they are not even native English speakers. Also, Isan is an area the size of England and Wales although that may seem small for English speakers from other parts of the world. You don't have much choice in Isan. The further they have to come - and that could be 500Km (300 miles) and still in Isan, the more expensive they would be. AFAIK, there are reputable companies in or around Surin and Udon Thani but not much else inbetween. You'll probably get the best service and reliability from pool constructors who speak your own language fluently and who bring with them a knowledge of pool construction from the USA, Australia, or Europe. There are no pool builder associations here in Thailand. Like any diploma-mill worldwide, however, there are several organisations (from what I see , they are based in the US) who will sell you a certificate for several 1,000 dollars.

I would suggest you talk at length to a pool company (a genuine incorporated firm) and let your sixth-sense work. There is evasive and there is evasive, some kinds of which mean they haven't really got a clue, some which mean they are not going to reveal to you the trade knowledge for free so that you can go off and build your pool yourself. Some may only be interested in providing a turn-key project while others may offer a complete technical equipment package and/or other levels of assistance - a lot depends on the scope of your project: are you making a big fuss about a 3 x 6 splash pit in your yard, or is it a half-olympic for a golf club, an international school, or a fitness centre? But remember, this is Thailand, and if you're going to stand behind your chosen team and yell at them as one would back home, they'll just walk off the job. If you think getting quality here is 'mission impossible' try getting a law suit to make them come back to work!

Ask them some leading questions about what kind of waterproofing methods they use for concrete pool construction, what brand of tile adhesive and grout they use, what kind, size, and grade of PVC piping they use and what kind of glue. Ask them what components they put in their control boxes. Ask them what brands of filters, pumps, and underwater lights they install - then check out the Internet and see if those brands are officially represented in Thailand or if the products came across in a small pool builders luggage or are cheap Chinese copies. And see how long they hesitate before answering. But don't make it look as if they are having to pass an exam while you have the text book in your lap.

Desjoyeaux is another franchise. A French one, and with over 5,000 members worldwide , possibly the largest for pools. Sharing the corporate image as part of the deal they pay for, the individual franchisees set their own prices and quality, the latter often depending on the labour they are able to employ locally. It's also a very interesting exercise to compare their prices for pool accessories (chlorinators, swim jets, robots, maintenance tools, etc), chemical products they are obliged to import, and concrete landscape gardening (custom pool decks) with those of reputable independent constructors and retailers. Personally, I would choose a fully customisable in-ground concrete pool over the design constraints associated with fibre-glass and vinyl liner pools. But that's just my opinion.

1. Crossy does not state which of these products he is interested in but somewhere later he mentions 44 ton so I assume it to be the big one.

2. All these Intex pools can be purchased on line much cheaper from Lazada (where the named supplier is probably also getting them from). Also, SwimmigPoolsThailand stocks some of them, but the identical ones marketed under the Jilong brand. When I looked last, they were also quite cheap, in fact I bought a 3.6m inflatable from them last year. GlobalHouse also has a line in large, steel-walled vinyl liner DIY pools for about Baht 59,000.00 complete with accessories. The kit is on a pallet and weights about half a ton.

3. For an inflatable pool , just level the land with sand and put any heavy duty plastic sheet over it.

4. For a 44 ton pool, lay either a level 10cm thick concrete base, using rebar DB9@20 (that means a 20cm mesh of 9mm rebar, tied with proper binding wire, and with the rebar ends curled over so that they are totally encased in the poured concrete). Add a little waterproofing additive (nam ya ganseum) to the concrete. Put some plastic sheeting on top of the concrete when it has cured, and put the pool on top of that. OR just level the land, put 5cm pre-stressed concrete planks down and drift a level 5cm layer of concrete on top of them over standard wire mesh reinforcing . As a reference, I recently built a 60m driveway to my house using compacted gravel on dry clay substrate, 10cm 'Steng' 180 concrete on a rebar grid DB12@20. It takes a fully laden 10 wheel truck, bearing in mind that the load points are on the small footprints of the wheels. For a pool, the load is spread evenly everywhere.

5. Getting a custom above ground concrete pool built will cost many times more - probably well over Baht 100,000.00 if sdone by a bona fide pool constructor. This would of course be a very permanent solution but you would have the advantage of having a proper filtration system, underwater lighting, and any other plumbed-in accessories such as Jacuzzi jets or a salt water chlorinator. You could build such a pool yourself and save 20 - 40% of the cost but you would need to be aware of the special construction methods and correct way for laying tiles (which is the only reasonable solution for covering the concrete inside). If you buy all the technical equipmenty from one supplier, they may give you some free advice and even plans and specifications. You have to ask around.

It depends where you are. Most JD Pools are independent franchises and set their own prices (and quality). Any bona fide pool constructor should be able to provide a ballpark figure - over the phone even. A site visit is necessary before anyone would commit to a firm quotation though, as some local factors could impact on the price.

Vaseline, a petroleum based jelly, should never be used on rubber O-rings or gaskets of any kind in any technical or industrial applications. It swells the rubber, which becomes sticky, porous, and loses its elasticity.

For O-rings in pool applications it generally suffices to moisten the rubber with clean water, of if lubrication is necessary, use siulcone lubricant sold specifically for use with rubber gaskets. Difficult to find in Thailand. Small 5 gr tubes or sachets often cost Baht 400.00 or more. Can sometimes be found in stores specialising in scuba equipment or underwater photography.

s far as I know there aren't any. The south of the country is poorly served with pool shops. In fact, quite paradoxically, most pool owners on the Surat Thani - Nakhon Si Thammarat stretch 'import' what they need from Samui! I can't see how the double logistics for pool salt can be truly economical, especially considering that because it is a cheap , the transport costs more than the product.

I belive that one of the sponsors here does a weekly (or perhaps fortnightly?) delivery service for orders to that area at a reasonable cost. That's what they do for my house near Krabi anyway but I have to take a minimum of 30 sacks.

Yup ^^^.

And a 500 Baht RCBO would likely have saved him

Is there a difference with the voltage here? Many years ago, I was in my father's pool when the pump went off. I opened the box to switch it back on and accidentally hit a live wire as it was late at night. The current grabbed me, but luckily when I fell back, it let me go. Would a GFCI have helped with that??? Or is 120V less "dangerous". Just curious....

Again, RIP to this man and my heart goes out to his wife. How horrible.

A GFCI (American for RCD) would likely have tripped and reduced the severity of the shock you received, you would still have felt it mind.

120v is perceived as less dangerous, in reality once it gets past the skin resistance even a 12V car battery can kill.

Also called an ELB and RCCB among other many acronyms, and generically here by the major Thai brand name Safe-T-Cut, I'm really amazed that this farang house was not built to proper Western standards. It appears the owner was French - The French company Legrand was one of the pioneers of RCCBs that would fit on DIN rail in a standard consumer unit. I used them when I completely rewired my 400-year-old land house in France in 1994. It's not as if the things are unknown in Europe and they are now law in most countries.

You could try using a stainless steel algae brush.

Should I be regularly shocking or boosting my pool?

Not boosting but boasting that you have such a perfectly maintained pool with little or no addition of chemicals. Congratulations - a rarity indeed.

A basic testkit, as the one you describe in your post, test for pH and TOTAL chlorine only which is useless since it is the FREE chlorine that sanitizes your water.

We know. But a basic tesk kit is perfect for BASIC testing, especially for domestic pools and doing some first checks on a new fill. Any other testing equipment may possibly work out significantly more expensive, and particularly budget conscious pool owners will know that it might not be necessary to launch into high cost testing equipment right from the outset especially when one can apparently buy stuff six times cheaper in some other country.

Looks to me as if it is nothing more than a total lack of regular normal maintenance including maybe even a lack of backwashing/rinsing the filter system.

Test strips are not very accurate and they are expensive. A simple pH & Cl test kit for baht 200 (some pool shops selling them for a LOT more) would do all you need to understand the basic additions of chemicals such as chlorine and pH Minus until perhaps the pool reveals more detailed problems that need to be addressed, Very murky water also first needs to be clarified using a flocculant, and some of these products are marketed by pool shops at exhorbitant prices. Sometimes it's actually cheaper to drain the pool, give it a good clean and start over with a fresh fill and than keep it properly maintained.

Indeed, replacing them with LED lights is the obvious solution. Most manufacturers are gradually phasing out their Halogen bulb models.

Quality LED panels are sealed in resin and are 100% waterproof. Claimed to last for 22,000 hours or more (that's about 10 years of pool illumination time).

It's always amazed me how much people just can't refrain from grossly exaggerating when they post on internet forums. That and of course the fact that they ostensibly don't read threads from the top.

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING is four times more expensisive than it is back home, not even wine, and the moral of the story, if anyone finds anything too expensive here in Thailand then they should be on the first plane back home.

As far as pool products are concerned, if they were purchased from a genuine accredited dealer the service is excellent - perhaps even better than in Australia. Now, if you bought something that fell of the back of a lorry or came unbtanded from China or from a back street one-shophouse wide 'pool dealer', chances are the first time anything goes wrond with a product you bought he doesn't want to know. Perhaps he smuggled it back from Oz on a plane too

If I remember rightly there are over a thousand different tarrif codes. The customs people really don't know what they are doing most of the time with small private packages. I once left a laptop in a hotel in Paris and the staff gracioulsly sent it to me by UPS. It took 48 hours to arrive then another 6 weeks of hassle to convince the customs that it was a used computer, and that no way was I going to pay Baht 15.000.00 duty on it. I got my way in the end but it took several visits to the airport. So much for express shipping. Needless to say, the UPS staff were also pretty clueless and they were trying to get me to offer the customs a Baht 6,000 backhander just to get the thing released and over and done with. It all boiled down to the fact that the hotel had declared it as a laptop computer, whereas if they had simply declared 'personal effects left in hotel' there would have been no hassle at all. I tried to convince the customs officials to take a look at it and see for themselves that it was second hand, and the reply was "Do you think we have nothing better to do than climb over mountains of miscellaneous packages in the UPS pen?"

Small private packages in groupage containers are never physically inspected - its very different from breaking open a 20' container in the port which might be stuffed full of pirate watches for example. It therefore depends much on what kind of declaration the sender put on the package, a chlorinator could be declared as 'home and garden' or' 'power tools' or 'domestic appliance'. Unless every thinkable item in the world has a dedicated customs code - and it doesn't' declarations are very often just guesswork, unless it's a manufacturer exporting thousands of the same product every day.

Pool supplies are traditionally expensive the world over, let's face it, unless you can build it yourself a pool is in the luxury goods market so if you can't afford the upkeep, you don't buy one. 17 years ago I paid over 1,000 Fr in France (that's about AUD 30.00} for a simple plastic lid for a Certikin (made in England) sand filter. That piece of injection moulded transparent plastic was worth all of a few cents to produce. The big profit therefore is being made by the manufacturers and every one down the line suffers. Those who are selling Zodiacs (or any other chlorinators) at extremely high prices are just being greedy, and most of them don 't even carry stock, simply ordering from the importer when a customer wants one. Those are the ones, BTW, who will find any excuse for not providing product support later on. Those who are offering the lowest prices are either the importers, or very near the top of the food chain and sell in sufficient volumes to keep their prices down. They are the ones who are accredited dealers and who are supported directly by the manufacturers and offer the end user some real support.

Only a handful of pool firms in Thailand have proper web sites, and as far as I can see only one operates a proper online store. You'll notice however that none of them publish the prices of some capital pool goods, so it's no good providing links, you'll just have to do what I do and phone around or go into pool shops pretending to be a potential buyer. In 2007 I was looking for a PoolRite SureChlor and a shop in pattaya wanted 45,000. I got the farang shopkeeper down to 32,000. (glad I didn't buy it with no spares available now. )

Sorry to change the subject somewhat.But it baffles me how vehicles are so much more expensive than some other places in the world and the

Average salary is so much smaller.They must have 10 year car payments to be able to purchase it.

They do - well, 7 years actually, and the interest is low. Very cleverly calculated by the manufacturers and the loan companies. At 7 years here a car is almost a wreck but still worth half its new price, so in endeffekt you never stop paying for one but you have up to 50% deposit for the next one. That's why most of the cars you see on the roads in Thailand are almost new. Good question is: where do all the 7+ year cars go? Not scrapped surely?