6 Salt Water Pool Design Mistakes To Avoid
You can easily go overboard when designing and building an inground salt water pool. Costs can increase quickly and you may regret some of the things you chose that may not be easily changed. You may also neglect to consider certain costs that must end up being paid.
Here are some things to avoid when designing your pool before you sign on the dotted line.
1. Lack of Salt Water Chlorinator System Features
Modern salt water chlorinator systems have a number of great features and sometimes, the additional cost will quickly pay off. Here are the main benefits I like about our Hayward AquaRite system:
- Pool pump timer to turn it on and off as needed on several schedules. Save electricity, convenient, pump lasts longer.
- Automatic salt cell cleaner to avoid having to clean the cell manually. Less work, cell lifespan increases.
- Real-time salt level monitoring. No guessing and less measuring salt with a strip tester.
- Super chlorination feature to quickly bump up chlorine levels during heavy pool usage, hot weather or frequent rain. Convenient and automatic.
- Pool automation features that enable you to hook up lights, water features, heater and other devices centrally.
2. Poor Filtration System
I’ve written about the three main types of pool filters already and you can certainly pick one that will suit you. In general terms:
Sand filter
Is the cheapest to buy, easiest to install but requires weekly backwashing and sand replacement every 5-7 years.
Cartridge Filter
More expensive to buy than a sand filter and cartridges need to be replaced every 3-5 years but maintenance is less (you rinse cartridges 1-2 times per year) and it filters smaller particles than sand ie. it’s a better filter.
D.E. Filter
Most expensive filter to buy but it also filters out the smallest particles ie. it’s the best filter. It does require backwashing, D.E. (diatomaceous earth) needs to be added to the system with every backwash, filter grid needs to be cleaned each year and D.E. material is a class 3 carcinogen so care needs to be taken.
Considerations
- How much money do you want to spend on a filter system?
- How much time and effort do you want to spend cleaning and maintaining the filter?
The difference in cost to buy each filter is in the hundreds of dollars. So I’d like to get one that does a good job with little maintenance. That eliminates the sand filter since it finishes last in terms of the size of the particles it can remove.
Our filter is a cartridge filter System 3 from Sta-Rite and I’m fine with the level of maintenance with it. Assuming there is no bad algae outbreak, I rinse the cartridges once per season, maybe twice, and it’s a 15 minute job give or take. I can live with that. It filters better than a sand filter and I don’t have to backwash each week and then refill the pool with replacement water.
I’ve never used a D.E. filter but I don’t feel like owning a filter where I have to refill it with a substance (sand for a sand filter, diatomaceous earth for a D.E. filter) and doing both backwashing and washing as with a D.E. filter. Pools are for swimming in and I’d prefer to minimize the maintenance I have to do for it.
3. Choosing The Wrong Shape
I wrote in more detail about pool design already as it relates to pool shape. We have a funky looking kidney-style design which suits our landscaped backyard. It was done that way already when we bought the house. Some shapes are more expensive to buy and install especially if it’s a custom design that requires more digging in the ground.
But our next door neighbours have a similar backyard shape and size to us and they put a fiberglass pool in. It’s rectangular with rounded edges and it’s cool looking too. It’s also smaller than our pool so it takes up less space and unlike us, they still have grass left in the backyard for their dog to run around on.
Pool Deepness + Pool Shape + Pool Size = the biggest determinants of cost.
So our neighbors considered their pool usage and acted accordingly. Speaking of which…
4. Ignoring Your Pool Usage
Our neighbors also picked a plunge pool so it’s the same height throughout and only goes about 6 feet in depth. No diving board and only one set of stairs to enter the pool. But it suits their purpose and they saved money by going smaller and more shallow.
Everyone buys a pool thinking they’re going to be diving off the board on a regular basis, head first into the pool. I think I’ve dove into our pool a dozen times and mostly that’s just to say that I did it. We have a diving rock and if we didn’t have it, I wouldn’t care and neither would my wife since she only dives from the deck. My kids don’t dive. A diving board takes up space, hangs over the pool and ends up being a nuisance and maybe even a safety hazard.
I think about the swimming we do in our pool and honestly, we could easily get by with a pool with no diving rock and even without a deep end 9 feet deep. If we had a 6 feet deep pool, we wouldn’t notice as our kids are mostly in the shallow end and many times, my wife and I are too.
The deeper the pool = the higher the cost.
5. Neglecting Long Term Costs
Focus on the total cost of ownership and not just the up front cost that you pay when you build it. We already talked about the initial higher up front cost of a cartridge filter over a sand filter. And you have to replace cartridges over a few years.
But cartridges filter out smaller particles than sand filters (ie. they filter better) and rinsing the cartridges 1-2 times per year is easier than backwashing weekly like with a sand filter. You pay for convenience and better filtration which is the point of a filter.
Vinyl vs Fiberglass vs Concrete pool: Which makes sense for you? Vinyl might be the cheapest up front but fiberglass might be cheaper over time and fiberglass is sturdier than vinyl. And concrete will probably be the most expensive to build and maintain over time.
We have a vinyl pool but I have two neighbors with newer fiberglass pools and they’re really smart looking. And no vinyl to replace.
6. Not Understanding Your Local Laws
What sort of fencing do you need to contain your pool? In all likelihood your local area will have specific laws on the height required, possibly the inclusion of a self-locking gate that closes on its own and perhaps an actual lock on the gate itself. In fact, you might want to put a better fence in for privacy reasons too. Completely new fencing can run several thousand dollars depending on the style and size. And may need a permit.
If you have little kids does your backyard and pool design enable the addition of an extra fence separating the pool from the rest of the backyard? So basically you’d build your fencing around the property but then have a separate fence enclosure into the pool, to keep kids out. Maybe you’re legally obligated to have one.
How are you going to fill and refill your pool with water? Are you in an area with frequent water shortages like they have in California that might limit or prevent you from filling your pool with tap water? At a rate of 9 – 10 cents per gallon, filling a decent sized pool with trucked in water may easily cost $1,300 or more. Are you allowed to drain water onto the road into public sewers? If not, how will you get rid of old water when needed and how much does it cost?
Fencing is expensive and also might be a legal requirement. So might the filling and emptying of water from your pool. You might also need to consider the issue of building permits, underground gas and water lines and the like.
Looking for more thoughts before you build a salt water pool?
Here are 5 benefits of buying a salt water pool system over chlorine that you might not be aware of.