Swimming Pools

Pool Design

- over the years we have come across dozens and dozens of self-designed swimming pools and guess what?

With very few exceptions they all had problems - ranging from middling-size, can-be-fixed-but-costly problems; such as pools that had been built with incorrect materials, undersized plumbing, incorrect-grade plumbing, poor or downright dangerous electrics, poorly designed circulation systems, nightmare pump-rooms, pools where there is nowhere to stand up because the water is too deep - yet not deep enough to dive in safely; you name it

Quite a few pools had incurable problems like a broken-back, or were subsiding at one corner, or had insufficient steel-work in the concrete, or pools that were built in absolutely the wrong place for the property, or in-ground pools built in conservation areas - the list beggars belief

When you decide that you would like a pool then you had better reconcile yourself to the fact that it is going to cost you some money

If it is not designed correctly - and constructed to those designs - it's going to cost you a lot more money than you're probably prepared for, and will continue to drain your bank account for the entire life of the pool. This applies equally to in-ground or above-ground pools

Most folks, when dreaming of owning a pool, see themselves hurtling up and down the pool like Mark Spitz on a mission, thrashing the water to a foam as they get super-fit from all that healthy exercise - so they hanker after a pool where they can do just that

The reality is that most pool owners sit on the steps of the pool with a drink, or float around on an inflatable mattress; and you can do that in a much smaller pool and at a fraction of the cost

See 'Small is Beautiful' - it might save you fifty grand over the life of your pool!

Pools are complicated structures that need to be constructed correctly. Whatever size of pool you end up with it's worthwhile getting it right from the start and that means getting some professional design help

For professional plans you really have 2 options: -

Buy plans online

Employ a pool designer

When you have the plans you can then ask local contractors for prices or, if you feel you have the relevant skills and want to save some money, build the pool yourself

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website and can work with you to design (and build) your dream pool - for a lot less than you might think!

All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

For free and unbiased advice, a site visit or no-obligation Quotation*, please make initial enquiries by email. Tell us a little about your pool problem and include a daytime phone number. Thanks, we look forward to meeting you soon

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: -

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Share this website with other Pool Owners and Users, encourage them to read about Pool Safety, learn CPR and help them to save lives, time and money. Please help us to make every pool a safer place - by sharing this information we can cut the number of pool accidents and deaths. Please also see our Facebook page

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©

Filling the pool

- fill her up! Check the pool volume pool; make a note of it on the ‘My Pool Information’ page in your Pool Logbook

Place a plastic bucket, containing 1 roughly-broken-up Tricloro tablet per 25m³ (6,500 US Gals) of pool-volume (i.e. how much water the pool will hold when it is full), in the shallow end of the pool

Put a hosepipe into the bucket and run the water over the Chlorine tablets as the pool fills

Fill the pool until the water completely covers the bottom of the pool

Check the pH of the water

If the reading is higher than 7.4 add Hydrochloric Acid at the rate of 1/2 litre per 50 m³ (1 pint per 13.000 US Gals) of the final pool volume

Take the remaining Chlorine tablets out of the bucket, crush them to powder and dissolve them in water

Pour the dissolved Chlorine all around the pool ensuring that it really is dissolved - do not allow granules of Trichloro to contact a vinyl liner a surface of a fiberglass pool because they will bleach the surface at the point of contact

Take the hose out of the bucket and allow it to 'snake' around the pool as it fills

This will help to stir the water and spread and mix the Chlorine and acid

Continue to balance the water as the pool fills, check for pH and Chlorine when the pool is half full and adjust as required

Add 1 litre of liquid Chlorine (Sodium Hypochlorite) for each 25m³ (6,500 US Gals) of pool volume. It is preferable to add this chemical at dusk

At this stage it’s a good idea to get the water circulating to accelerate the mixing of liquid Chlorine and acid with the pool water

Remove the lid of the pump pre-filter and fill the pump body with water - replace the lid

Turn the Multi-port or Rotary Valve to ‘Recirculate’

Open the Bottom Drain and Jets Valves, close the Skimmer, Vacuum and Waste Valves; switch the pump on

Check that water is coming out of the Jets (i.e. that it is circulating). If the pump is below the level of the pool surface there is generally no difficulty in priming the Bottom Drain pipe and getting the circulation as above but, if the pump is above the water level there may be an airlock in the suction-side pipe-work of the circulation system

Now that your pool is half-full and the water is circulating, check the pH often as the pool fills and add acid little and often for best results

When the pool is full, add Trichloro until the free Chlorine level reaches 1-3 ppm. This is best done by the application of granulated Trichloro (or crushed Trichloro tablets) via the Skimmer or Chlorine feeder. One Trichloro tablet, when fully dissolved in 50m³ (13,000 US Gals) of water at pH 7.4, will raise the free chlorine level by 1.5 ppm

The water with which you are filling your pool may have some organic matter in it, which will be oxidized by the Tricloro and use some of it up

This means that you would get lower than the expected levels, so therefore use 2 tablets per 50 m³ (13,000 US Gals) of volume, to be sure

Excess Chlorine will dissipate a long, long time before your pool’s warm enough to get into

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website. All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: -

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©