# Pool or no pool?



## Trubrit (Nov 24, 2010)

I am soon moving out of my tiny apartment in Madrid to a 280 square metre villa 50 miles away by a beautiful lake. The owner has said that I can have a villa with a pool for no extra cost but I must maintain it, do you think that maintaining a pool is costly as I am only a teacher and do not have loads of cash ?


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## lynn (Sep 25, 2008)

Trubrit said:


> I am soon moving out of my tiny apartment in Madrid to a 280 square metre villa 50 miles away by a beautiful lake. The owner has said that I can have a villa with a pool for no extra cost but I must maintain it, do you think that maintaining a pool is costly as I am only a teacher and do not have loads of cash ?


There's no doubt about it, a private pool is a luxury... Having had one for the last couple of years, I am really quite keen to move to somewhere with a communal pool so that I don't have the hassle of maintaining it! It sits there unused for six months plus of the year, but still demands cleaning.. Yes, during the hot summer months it is a godsend, but if you are moving to a villa by a lake, can't you use that???


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Trubrit said:


> I am soon moving out of my tiny apartment in Madrid to a 280 square metre villa 50 miles away by a beautiful lake. The owner has said that I can have a villa with a pool for no extra cost but I must maintain it, do you think that maintaining a pool is costly as I am only a teacher and do not have loads of cash ?


In my experience a pool is easy!! You need to buy chlorine/multi tablets which cost around 20€ for a tub of 20 and they last (depending on the size of the pool) around 6 weeks, some hydrochloric acid, which you put in every few weeks if the Ph is too high, the Ph testing kit which I dont know how much it costs, but we still use the one we bought three years ago and you need about an hour a week to check the balances, hoover and net it!! Thats my experience of pools. We have two kids who dont use the pool as much as they used to, cos obviously if its used alot or is in an area where its gets alot of "stuff" blown/falling in it then it needs a bit more work.

If you use a pool cleaner to come in once a week, that is probably about 100- 200€ a month, then I guess you dont need to do anything. 

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> In my experience a pool is easy!! You need to buy chlorine/multi tablets which cost around 20€ for a tub of 20 and they last (depending on the size of the pool) around 6 weeks, some hydrochloric acid, which you put in every few weeks if the Ph is too high, the Ph testing kit which I dont know how much it costs, but we still use the one we bought three years ago and you need about an hour a week to check the balances, hoover and net it!! Thats my experience of pools. We have two kids who dont use the pool as much as they used to, cos obviously if its used alot or is in an area where its gets alot of "stuff" blown/falling in it then it needs a bit more work.
> 
> If you use a pool cleaner to come in once a week, that is probably about 100- 200€ a month, then I guess you dont need to do anything.
> 
> Jo xxx


what about the cost of the electricity to run the filter/pump?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> what about the cost of the electricity to run the filter/pump?


I dont know how much that actually costs (we've always had pools so I cant compare without). but theres another question, how long to keep the filter running? I've always got by on running ours for an hour a day, maybe two in the summer if we're using it and we've never had any problems. Some people say you should have it on more - dont know, but yes thats a good point!

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> I dont know how much that actually costs (we've always had pools so I cant compare without). but theres another question, how long to keep the filter running? I've always got by on running ours for an hour a day, maybe two in the summer if we're using it and we've never had any problems. Some people say you should have it on more - dont know, but yes thats a good point!
> 
> Jo xxx


I can't say either......

we had a private pool when we first came here, but since then we've always had a communal one

I have to say it's so much easier - someone else keeps it clean, yet it's still always there when you want it


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> I can't say either......
> 
> we had a private pool when we first came here, but since then we've always had a communal one
> 
> I have to say it's so much easier - someone else keeps it clean, yet it's still always there when you want it



I agree!! I guess alot depends on whether you want a pool or not!!! When we first came, we wanted a private pool for the kids, but as they've got older, they're not interested in it. In fact I wouldnt have bothered having a pool when we moved down to Benal, but this house just happened to have one, so there it is (I topped the water up in ours last night and forgot to turn the hose off - so thats more expense LOL)! There are benefits tho. You can go in anytime you like, communal pools tend to have opening times. Its nice to have a pool thats private with no other people around, I love the midnight swims in those hot summer months. But its a personal choice and depends on whats important

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

lynn said:


> There's no doubt about it, a private pool is a luxury... Having had one for the last couple of years, I am really quite keen to move to somewhere with a communal pool so that I don't have the hassle of maintaining it! It sits there unused for six months plus of the year, but still demands cleaning.. Yes, during the hot summer months it is a godsend, but if you are moving to a villa by a lake, can't you use that???


It's probably a reservoir where swimming is not allowed...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Imo the benefits of having your own pool far outweigh any disadvantages: no screaming kids, no unwanted noise from other people's chats, rows, radios etc, swimming naked when you feel like it - although if I did that in a communal pool I'd soon have it to myself...
Our gardener/handyman chucks in some chemicals each week and scrubs it with a hoover-type thingy when it looks grubby. 
Like Jo, not sure about the cost....as well as the pump/filter we've got a device that pumps out excess water after heavy rain and that is operational for much of the winter.
But for us it's become a must ..although we lived happily for years without one!!!


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

We have a large private pool, about 12 metres by 6 metres, and it costs around 50 euros a month in electricity. In the hot summer, pools can lose a lot of water from evaporation and you have to keep it filled above the skimmer line. We don't pay for water which is a bit of a help, although generally water isn't that expensive. Costs around 30 euros a month for chemicals and I have to clean it every week during the summer which takes around 1 - 2 hours.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

thrax said:


> We have a large private pool, about 12 metres by 6 metres, and it costs around 50 euros a month in electricity. In the hot summer, pools can lose a lot of water from evaporation and you have to keep it filled above the skimmer line. We don't pay for water which is a bit of a help, although generally water isn't that expensive. Costs around 30 euros a month for chemicals and I have to clean it every week during the summer which takes around 1 - 2 hours.


But doesn´t it depend on whether you´ve got dead leaves, dust, algae etc? Some people seem to have to do daily maintenance. 

We´ve got firms advertising pool maintenance for €50 a month on the CDLL. I suppose they have to do it all year round even though you only use it half the year (possibly less in Madrid?)

Apparently it costs €250 upwards to fill up the pool from scratch, so if you lose 10% a month in evaporation that´s another €25 for top-up. Our water bill doubled when I got a garden hose last year!


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## Sonrisa (Sep 2, 2010)

I dislike swimming pools, public or private. I hate the smell of them, and how they destroy my hair and skin. 

My grand mother's house has one, but bcause she is so old, my mother, who lives next door, is supposed to take care of it, which she doesn't... in fact she has a tantrum every single summer and threatens to cover it with dirt and grow tomatoes over the pool. Anyways, long story short... somehow, I am the one who ends up refilling it and mantaining it during the summer months, not because I want to, but because my husband loves the damn pool.

they cost a fortune, and they are a pain in the butt.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

The pools I know of are used only in June, July and August - possibly into September. Anyone who uses one outside those months is probably doing it because they think they should. They are a pain to maintain. 

People who enjoy having a pool are either rich and don't care that they are an expensive and underused indulgence or masochists.


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## fourgotospain (May 4, 2009)

When we moved here I wasn't that fussed about having a private pool - a communal one was always fine when we lived in Asia (and actually private pools there are only for the extremely wealthy), BUT with primary aged children it's fab! Mine are totally water safe so I'm happy for them to go in without constant supervision - I can be in the kitchen checking through the window whilst making dinner, etc. If I had toddlers it would be a nightmare, and when they're older they'll be able to use a communal pool by themselves but right now it's great.
We negotiated that our pool guy is included in the rent so it even gets cleaned!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jimenato said:


> The pools I know of are used only in June, July and August - possibly into September. Anyone who uses one outside those months is probably doing it because they think they should. They are a pain to maintain.
> 
> People who enjoy having a pool are either rich and don't care that they are an expensive and underused indulgence or masochists.


We used ours from May to October last year, several times a day.
We're not rich and I don't think I'm a masochist but I do like privacy and I'm certainly not a sadist which I would be if I showed myself in my bikini before the public gaze.
We had an inground covered pool in the grounds of our house in Prague - you slid back the cover in summer and could heat it in winter. Something went wrong with the thermostat one month and the water heated up to over 30 C. It was like being slowly stewed.
I guess we must have looked silly in winter trudging through the snow in wellies and bathrobes with towels over our arms...


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## fourgotospain (May 4, 2009)

> The pools I know of are used only in June, July and August - possibly into September.


Ahhh well the girls cheat and wear wetsuits! They've been swimming for 2 weeks now and will probably carry on well into October. They have always been little fish since they were small and both swam unaided at 3.5yrs - growing up in the tropics is a different kind of childhood! It's lovely for them now as they come home from school at lunchtime completely roasting and hop in to cool off - bliss!


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## uffington15 (May 4, 2009)

Been using ours for over 2 weeks and does matter if it's cold we go in each day [it's ther so it's rude not to use it lol] Pool cleaner is included with the rent, 1 a week in winter and twice in the summer, how good a job he does will have to be seen. Always said we weren't bother about a pool but we dont want to live on a community we need to have a private one.


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## Jaxx (Apr 21, 2010)

A salt water pool is much cheaper to maintain, couple of bags of salt a year instead of chlorine tablets!


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

I only start ours up around june as i'm the only one who's likely to use it. It's still got the cover on at the moment. Last year I barely used 5kgs of chlorine in the 3 months it was on. Water top up is irrigation as I'm paying for it per month whether I use itor not. The pump only need to run to turn over the whole quantity of water once per day.Mine only runs for 4 hours in total a day & is timed to come on when no one is in the pool. I take it you realise that the pump is not meant to be running when their are people using the pool ? Even more so if you run it using the floor return.The pumps & filters come with stickers on to this effect but they are usually removed before the customer sees them. I only found out as I installed my own & the instructions were all there. Our additional electric cost is approx. 3 Kw a day, so about 4 € a week. 
If you live in an area like I do then really the pool needs cleaning at least twice a day. If it's not dust, leaves, blossom, bits of the black plastic they use in the fields then it's the combine coming around & the pool looks like 20 people have been in it with oil on ! 
I only use it now to cool down when I've been working or I get in as it's easier to clean from inside.
I do know one man who uses his pool 365 days a year. 8 am he's in it every day & swims 50 lengths, ( he's in his 70's ) then out in to the jacuzzi ! Mine you he has got a bottomless pit of money . His wife said only last week that the electric bills are horrendous.
I swore I would never have another pool after having one in the UK & doing nothing but cleaning , chemicals, testing ,etc; in the short time available when I wasn't working. :confused2: I found that I needed it here to cool down after working, although it's not a good idea to go in when you been working outside in the sun for hours . Personally , they are more trouble than they are worth.


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

I would be surprised if that lake, even if swimming is legally not allowed, gets surveillance and people bothering to stop a person swimming in it? There's an artificial lake in Sau (Catalunya), in theory not intended for swimming, but those I know who went there swum without any hassle and without anyone bothering to tell them to leave the pond.

In any case, you need water. I have a friend who lived in Madrid and didn't leave her flat or workplace during daytime because it was too hot to handle during summer. She'd leave only in the evening when it became a bit cooler. A swimming pool or lake to swim seems like a necessarity to me during summer if you're not living close to the sea. None of my friends have a private pool except for one family ; they have not complained about the maintainance. 

Now this may sound silly, but the months when it's too fresh to swim, can't one simply cover their pool to avoid the water from getting covered with leaves and other unpleasant things floating around? The open air swimming pools in Belgium (where the climate is much more unpredicatable than here) either let the water run away during the winters or simply cover it.


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## Sonrisa (Sep 2, 2010)

gerrit;501207
In any case said:


> Jeez that's extreme, I have endured many summers in Madrid without a swimming pool or AC for that matter and people go out and carry on as normal. Terrazas were also packed at lunch time
> When I lived in DOha, now THAT was hot!
> 
> About the lakes, my brother got fined once for practicing windsurfing  in a protected lake up north.


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

I guess I really can't comment on pools persay, not when you consider mine was a plastic one held together by a metal frame. However, saying that my grand daughter loved it so much she wouldnt come out and Uncle had to go in one day fully clothed to get her out, (she discovered we couldnt reach her if she stood in the middle). Running costs were slight, one 5kg tub of chlorine etc lasted all summer, the filter and pump are solar so no costs there. Cleaning, before anyone got in we would skim the surface for any dead insects etc, and hoover the bottom for sand (didnt seem to get too much blown in, usually came off grand daughters feet) every couple of days. Alas we don't have the pool anymore, a freak accident involving the water truck put paid to it, but I am seriously considering building a water balsa (can't have a swimming pool but can have a balsa) near the house in the coming weeks. Subject to funds of course.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

gerrit said:


> I would be surprised if that lake, even if swimming is legally not allowed, gets surveillance and people bothering to stop a person swimming in it? There's an artificial lake in Sau (Catalunya), in theory not intended for swimming, but those I know who went there swum without any hassle and without anyone bothering to tell them to leave the pond.
> 
> .


A lot of the time swimming is not allowed due to safety issues. Almost every year somebody dies in the Madrid area, normally, someone young out with a group of friends, because of illegal swimming. Lots of times there's no easy way to get out, (long sloping banks), or there's a lot of weed that they get trapped in or there are undercurrents. The other thing is that often they are fishing areas so either the illegal bathers can upset the fishers by scaring away the fish or getting tangled in their tackle.

As for Madrid - it can be murder in the summer, especially if you're working and *have *to go out. If not you can pick and choose your times.


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

I live close to the River Ebro which has a strong current which will pull an adult off their feet and sweep even the strongest swimmer away, add to this the contaminants in the water and I reckon you are asking for trouble if you go swimming in it. 

Some of the village kids used to swim in the canal which runs alongside, but this is also dangerous as it also has a strong current plus doubly contaminated with pesticides so the best idea is to use a pool I think.


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## Malagueño (Apr 18, 2011)

*Easy peasy.......*

No doubt about it, a private pool is the business here in Spain!

Somebody said that instead of chlorine, they had a salt generator for sanitisation.

But a salt generator actually generates chlorine!

The biggest bugbears for most people are the horrible affects of the chlorine and the maintenance.

That's why I would go for a no-chlorine/no-salt system everytime.

Saves on all those chemicals and there's practically no maintenance at all!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Malagueño said:


> No doubt about it, a private pool is the business here in Spain!
> 
> Somebody said that instead of chlorine, they had a salt generator for sanitisation.
> 
> ...


When you rent a property, as the OP is planning to do, you dont get a choice of system!

Jo xx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> When you rent a property, as the OP is planning to do, you dont get a choice of system!
> 
> Jo xx


good point


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## Malagueño (Apr 18, 2011)

True Jo.....true!

Sorry, but I got carried away with the discussion of pool maintenance and problems rather than answering to the original question.

Apologies


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I like the sea best, it's maintenance-free!


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## Guest (Apr 18, 2011)

you should ask the rental agency how much to have the pool maintained. we had a pool for twenty years before moving to Medellin. here in spain out here in the sticks we have an indoor and outdoor community facility. but having a private pool is just that...private...and can be much more enjoyable than a community pool...

That being said...if I had another pool...it would be a salt water pool....


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