Swimming Pools

[stevehaigh]

wow, ozone sounds like the holy grail! Cure for the SAR’S Virus! (http://www.visoot.com/ozone/)

i had a look around as see there are 2 types of ozone generators, UV and Corona Discharge.

http://www.poolcenter.com/ozone_total_eclipse_poolstor.htm

the Corona Discharge produces more ozone and uses less power then UV for about the same price.

does anyown own an ozone generator for their pool? what are you using, what experience do you have?

[roiet]

wow, ozone sounds like the holy grail! Cure for the SAR’S Virus! (http://www.visoot.com/ozone/)

i had a look around as see there are 2 types of ozone generators, UV and Corona Discharge.

http://www.poolcenter.com/ozone_total_eclipse_poolstor.htm

the Corona Discharge produces more ozone and uses less power then UV for about the same price.

does anyown own an ozone generator for their pool? what are you using, what experience do you have?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I forgot to mention I use a UV Ozonator for 2 years. It is the same type as used by small water filtration comp. all over Thailand. 40 Watt UV lamp inside a 20 cm stainlees steel pipe. Costs only THB 9.000

Side effects are more backwash of filter required because of the cleaning efficiency of this Ozonator. The PH reading increases by 0.4 which is actually positive but the CL (chlorine) reading is dropping by 0.3 ppm. My supplied water has a very high iron content of 600 ppm, ( normal is about 200) this leads to over oxidation and brown stains in the pool. Now I run the UV filter 4x 3 hours per day.

No problem at all , once you know it.

[Nawtilus]

Had several pools in Australia - Tiles are the way to go if you are there for the duration - try anti mould grout - Salt water I found to be easier to maintain but the freshwater guys say the same 50/50.

One thing on depth shallow ends are good especially for kids and if the better half is not a swimmer she can still splash around - erect a sail for cutting down on direct sunlight.

I had light fitted to my first pool we used fibre optic cable which kept the light source hence power away from the actual pool - recommend this much safer for all concerned.

Anybody have experience with a fibre optic lights in Thailand.

What are the advantages and disadvantages. Fellow told me today that the lights in pools are dc run and this stops any danger of electrification. So what is the deal with the fibre optic thing. How are they connected and what type of lights etc, available here in Bkk ?? He also asked if it was LED or ???

One advantage he said was you can change the lights colour easily.

[The Skipper]

I was in the pool business.

The best looking pools I've seen look natural with a sand colored plaster and real stone around the top edge.

[Rooo]

I had pools in OZ.At the time we finished our pool in pebble crete or sandwash as it is called here,with the steps out slate type stone.We used a salt water clorination system. The biggest problem we had was algae & black spot.Once it get's hold into the pebbles ###### hard to get rid of them,as they grow in layers & copious amount of scrubbing is required.So with the heat in LOS not putting any sandwash anywhere near the pool.As Skipper said finishing off in natural stone ( sealed)is a nice choice.

[Jai Dee]

Sandwash seems to be the choice of finish for the paving around most pools built in the Pattaya/Jomtien area... both private pools and for condos.

My pool is nearing completion... 6m x 10m long, 1m sloping to 1.6m in depth.

[The Skipper]

Nice job on the pool.

Should look super, full of sparkling water and a few people splashing about.

Very important to keep the black algae from forming. Almost impossible to get rid of.

In some cases we drained the pool and did a strong chlorine wash and scrub The stuff still grows back.

Check the chemicals or pay someone to do it.

Edited April 6, 2006 by The Skipper

[poorfarang]

Wow, that is a sexy pool.

What does somthing like that cost? How long has it taken them so far?

Edited April 6, 2006 by poorfarang

[edd]

Have a look here

http://www.mspool.com/set_system.html

http://www.mspool.com/ceramic.html

Edited April 7, 2006 by edd

[Jai Dee]

Wow, that is a sexy pool.

What does somthing like that cost? How long has it taken them so far?

Total cost for the pool and waterfall (including pump house, filtration system, 2 pumps - 1 for pool and 1 for waterfall, tiling, paving, lighting etc) will be about 950,000 baht.

It would have been completed (including excavation) in about 3 months, but the contractor has been unable to get full access.

[thaiflyer1]

Hang on made a balls up!

Edited April 7, 2006 by thaiflyer1

[thaiflyer1]

Try again...........never posted a pic before so bear with me............

Edit.........that/ll have to do you.......

Just got my pool finished............on sorting the ph now. Photo taken from top of waterfall. Cost 750k inc Jacuzzi and w/fall.

Its been a long haul!

(Maybe one of you kind guys could post the photo for me rather than just the url i seem to have posted )

Edited April 17, 2006 by Jai Dee

[thaiflyer1]

(Maybe one of you kind guys could post the photo for me rather than just the url i seem to have posted )

Cheers mods/admin. ............. J.D. is it possible for you to show my pic or not?

Edit..............&lt;deleted&gt; it ...................it aint worth the effort...

Edited April 7, 2006 by thaiflyer1

[flangeofbaboons]

Erm, Hiya everyone

I'm a new boy so apologies for bad protocol. Me and the Mrs have just had a house built in Rayong and i'm interested in getting a modest sized pool built and wondered what sort of costs are we looking at please. Any help and advice would be appreciated.

We are living in Suffolk and it is pxxxing down at mo so trust you are all enjoying life in Thailand!!

Cheers

Flange

[Nawtilus]

Thaifly, can you tell me if you are in Bkk or ?? and what company you used.

Would also like to get the dimmensions, length, width and depth.

I see the jaccuzi is just off to the right side there. I also see you have kids, any concerns re safety or things you did re this ?

We are currently building a pool, doing it ourselves, also the house, but have experience with it and would still like to compare costs etc.

[Jai Dee]

(Maybe one of you kind guys could post the photo for me rather than just the url i seem to have posted )

Cheers mods/admin. ............. J.D. is it possible for you to show my pic or not?

Edit..............&lt;deleted&gt; it ...................it aint worth the effort...

Done mate.

To access the absolute address (URL) of your photo, right click on it and select properties.

Just a suggestion... maybe a smaller photo next time?

Nice pool though.

[stevehaigh]

i'm planning to design my own pool and have the local chang build it. the local pool company wants 1M bhat, paing maak looi!

i'm thinking 5m x 7m and 1.8m deep at the deep end. any thoughts about the thickness of the concrete and the amount of steel needed for something like this? i plan to use ready mix concrete bacause i don't trust them to mix it right on site.

thanks, steve

[KhunMarco]

FYI

I found this really interesting website about building & constructions in TH.

They have a section about Swimming pools and you can read first hand experiences with precious advices.

http://coolthaihouse.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=19

I don't even have any intention atm to build a house here but I found it very interesting, must be the lego builder in me

[mozzi]

My Swimming pool experience.

I have had a pool for one year now, 10m by 5.5 m basic with light blue tiles and sand cement stuff around the outside as mentioned before.

Alowing the water to rise above the pool line does inedeed leave a ring stain and is hard to get off, I scrubbed it clean but that left sand residue at the bottom of the pool that is hard to suck up, so best to drain off water in the rainy season, also the entire sand cement surround stains as well and that needs a scrub down from time to time or it starts to look grotty, I used some chlorine water mix and the scrubber provided by pool installers.

After one year most of the supplied equipment I was given broke, the leaf skimmer snapped, the vacumm hose ripped and several places, I guess the mixture of chlorine and sun degraded the cheap plastic over the year, but no biggy, easy to replace with better quality stuff.

I have a sand filter that seems to do the job ok and is super simple to operate although the pipe valves have become very stiff and are made of plastic so I am slightly nervous that they may break in the future, these valves are needed when back washing the pool/draining off water.

I was instructed to add the chlorine through the catcher that is in the side of the pool to catch big stuff, like a first stage filter, I found that I got algae growing in the pool and had really big problems getting rid of it, somebody advised adding the chlorine directly to the pool spreading the granules over the whole surface area, I tried this method and have had almost no algae since including the walls and that was through the second rain season, its still a bit but much easier to clean now. One note of caution using this method the chlorine granules may degrade the tiles on the pool floor i'm not sure about that.

I have just started to notice gaps appearing in the tile grouting on one wall so I am in the process of trying to find an underwater grout, I believe you can get a product that can be applied underwater so draining the pool in not needed, if anyone knows of this magic putty could you let me know.

Biggest problem for me is leaves, if you are going to build a pool try not to have it near leafy trees, ideally you want palm tree type trees with big leaves, otherwise you will be clearing leaves a lot, especially come winter time in Thailand, right now infact Nov.

I have installed a timer now for the pump to go for 2 hours every morning, i'm not sure if this will be enough but I am going to try it because I do not have a lot of water, my shallow end is about my waist heght and deep end up to about my chin, if 2 hours is not enough I will set for a longer period. (I wanted a shalow shallow end to factor in children, my own or a future buyer, also the oblong shape was to allow just enough distance to to swim short laps and the addition of less water = less maintenance/electric/chemical/consumption.)

Oh also I was given light filters, like giant coloured contact lenses that sort of suction on to the lights, green red and blue, the green looks fantastic at night, problem was these filters also degraded very fast and cracked and faded within about 3 months, again easily replaceable.

Maintenance for me is chlorine once or twice a week depending on the season, wall scrub about every two months, vacum about once a week, leaf clearing everyday right now but normally the leaves are caught in the catcher, I am surrounded by leafy trees!

I paid about 400,000 for this pool with the equipment, water and giant tub of granulated chlorine, I was told it was a good deal but who knows. Also when I originally negotiated the pool plan and price I thought I was dealing with the people actually involved in building the pool, this was not case, all the work is contracted out, one group for the build, one for the pump etc The net result was all my specifications that I requested were completely ignored, eg I wanted constant slope to the deep end, I got a flat shallow end with a steep incline to the deep end that then tappered up slightly, I asked for built in wide steps from the shallow end I got no steps at all untill I complained to the builders who very nicely added some tiled steps in one corner actually in the pool, better than nothing, when I asked why they were not putting in the features I agreed to they simply said "ah we work to the plan" of course because I was so say getting a good discount price I had to let it slide.

All in all though I am quite happy with the overall finish and the fact that they took very good care not damage any of my neighbours garden when digging the hole as it was a ###### akward area to get to.

Oh one more thing I was not given any ph powders, when I asked they told me to call them if PH went out of balance, I asked about this at a large communal pool nearby and was told they never use PH adjusters, my PH has never been right and that probably explains some of the algae I get but I have never had any other problems like skin complaints or anything but I am now looking to source some soda ash to try and get the PH balance right.

Personally I quite enjoy the maintenance of the pool but I know some people do not like the idea of that at all, so just be aware they do require maintenance so you may want to factor that into your descision unless you have a cleaner or maid or a pool cleaning service handy. And I would have to say that certain times of the year having your own pool in Thailand is heaven, swimming on hot and clammy days and nights is just heaven, especially knowing that it is clean, private and peeless, also it is a great way to get fit and will almost gaurantee to give you great selling power if you decide to move in the future.

mozzi

Ps some of those above pool photos look great, waterfalls and stuff lovely.