HELP !! Pool refill

Why? It will be more expensive than filling from a mains water supply, and you could spend some money in chemicals to get it to the correct balance.

Thanks Jim but we hade a lot of debris in the pool plus loads of mosaic tiles missing and the lights did not work. We are part of a syndicate for our irrigation water and thought it would be best to have a tanker deliver. Also we thought it was illegal to fill the pool with mains water ???

A good friend of mine is a pool expert, and he'd never recommend tanker water. The worst that could happen is that your mains water supplier might contact you to say that the spike in your usage indicates that you might have a leak.

Jim is absolutely right, by far your best bet is "sweet" water from the mains supply. Although it will still need some chemicals to balance the water quality, the cost for them is likely to be less than if you are trying to adjust agricultural water from a tanker. And yes, tap water will be significantly cheaper.

I am convinced that the water companies, without actively encouraging it, accept that their customers are going to fill their pools with mains water. After all, the water companies' pricing structure, certainly in the area I am familiar with, profits from usage of water over and above normal household consumption, by having a tiered rate (0 - 7 cu metres = cheap, 7 - 14 = a bit dearer, 14 - 21 = dearer still, over 21 = quite expensive) which effectively means that they can clobber people with a pool to fill.

In 15 years of maintaining & repairing pools, Costa Blanca wide, I never heard of any water company objecting to a pool being filled from the tap. Why would they?

Geoff. 

Hi Geoff

Do you know anything about pool heaters ?

We are buying our villa this month and would like to hear the pool , I was thinking air source heat pump.

What is used in Spain ?

Good morning Pete.

I'm not sure what sort of pool heaters are in vogue nowadays, but I believe that aircon-style inverters are popular.

I was in business repairing and maintaining pools for ten years, and I have another five years experience helping people with pool problems. During my time in business, I started selling pool heaters, but soon dropped the idea. I found that they were more trouble than they were worth. 

To heat a 50 or 60 thousand litre body of water takes an awful lot of energy, whichever type of heater you use, and people find that, however much they like swimming off-season, they're not comfortable with the costs involved. Add to this the fact that on a winter's day, with a chilly wind blowing, however warm the pool is, getting out of it is no fun!

I'm sure some folks will disagree and tell me how much they love their pool heater etc, but I'm just speaking from my humble experience of talking to numerous customers and friends.

Geoff. 

I too am no expert, but considered years ago heating to pool. ( thought solar to start with) I then realised (after research) how much panelling or alternative energy imput was required to raise the temp just 2degrees! Given that heat rises...... I'd probably get a week's more oportunity per anum. I gave up on the idea, retricted my time & didn't even consider a wet-suit. Villas

Many thanks to Jim Taylor for marking my reply above as helpful.

What a pity that PeteCPS couldn't be bothered to do the same. I wasted quite a bit of my time typing that out, didn't I?

Geoff.