The Home Improvements Thread (2)

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I must be doing it wrong then with the pool.

Maintenance: Minimal. Throw in a floater once a month or every 2nd month depending. Backwash occasionally.
Electricity cost: Automated using home assistant, only when solar forecast more than 18kWh for the day, it will turn on.
Water cost: Hmm little, I basically the rain water only gets dumped into the pool, not using for the garden really.

The leaves became a non-issue after adding the pool cover. Lucky its rectangular form. Heck, because of cover, pump not needed in winter either.

Since our little one loves water, its ok.
 
Tinuva said:
I must be doing it wrong then with the pool.

Maintenance: Minimal. Throw in a floater once a month or every 2nd month depending. Backwash occasionally.
Electricity cost: Automated using home assistant, only when solar forecast more than 18kWh for the day, it will turn on.
Water cost: Hmm little, I basically the rain water only gets dumped into the pool, not using for the garden really.

The leaves became a non-issue after adding the pool cover. Lucky its rectangular form. Heck, because of cover, pump not needed in winter either.

Since our little one loves water, its ok.
Click to expand...

do you have a solar panel for electricity ?
 
1st time i will be owning a pool so i need to learn more about maintenance

some guys charge like R150 a week or so for maintenance

but will take all that into consideration once im there
 
As much as my pool annoys the living fsck out of me for 6 months of the year, I'm in roughly the same boat as Sammy...

Maintenance is minimal, every 2 weeks or so it gets 15 minutes of attention.
The electricity cost isn't exorbitant as it only runs 4 hours a day at most, but I don't have solar to offset that...
Water cost is also minimal as it is quite small so the evaporation rate is relatively low, and at this time of the year I actually throw away vast quantities of water from the pool as it rains so damn much that the pool is almost always overflowing.
 
ToxicBunny said:
As much as my pool annoys the living fsck out of me for 6 months of the year, I'm in roughly the same boat as Sammy...

Maintenance is minimal, every 2 weeks or so it gets 15 minutes of attention.
The electricity cost isn't exorbitant as it only runs 4 hours a day at most, but I don't have solar to offset that...
Water cost is also minimal as it is quite small so the evaporation rate is relatively low, and at this time of the year I actually throw away vast quantities of water from the pool as it rains so damn much that the pool is almost always overflowing.
Click to expand...

the previous owners use a borehole so i have no issue with water

i want to see the costs of solar so i can commit to that instead of using the ever increasing electricity

in CPT from december until april every day is a swimming day
 
I.am.Sam said:
the previous owners use a borehole so i have no issue with water

i want to see the costs of solar so i can commit to that instead of using the ever increasing electricity

in CPT from december until april every day is a swimming day
Click to expand...

Its on my radar for the future as well, in terms of solar stuff... taking as much of my house "off grid" as is financially feasible.

As for the swimming days, its already getting to that point in DBN tbh.. water is already almost at the point of not freezing ones bollocks off when you get in.
 
Tinuva said:
I must be doing it wrong then with the pool.

Maintenance: Minimal. Throw in a floater once a month or every 2nd month depending. Backwash occasionally.
Electricity cost: Automated using home assistant, only when solar forecast more than 18kWh for the day, it will turn on.
Water cost: Hmm little, I basically the rain water only gets dumped into the pool, not using for the garden really.

The leaves became a non-issue after adding the pool cover. Lucky its rectangular form. Heck, because of cover, pump not needed in winter either.

Since our little one loves water, its ok.
Click to expand...

yeah floater once a month, like 3 cups of chlorine every second week. backwash every 2-3 weeks. I fill my pool pretty often though as i have a leak somewhere :( probably like every 3-4 weeks it gets a fairly large topup.

no cover.

pool runs 4 hours a day, mostly covered by solar also

brush the step maybe once a week or so
 
I.am.Sam said:
1st time i will be owning a pool so i need to learn more about maintenance

some guys charge like R150 a week or so for maintenance

but will take all that into consideration once im there
Click to expand...
My installed cost and everything ended up at R130k. That said, same install will be much cheaper now. Back then in Cape Town didn't have the option of Sunsynk inverters, but now you do, already saving a pretty penny on that alone. Prices came down majorly on both batteries and panels so again I think you can do it closer to R80k now depending on other cable lengths and stuff you need.

It covers the whole house, but in winter I can't power geysers on it, only service batteries for night loads. Currently however, usage is 2kWh CoCT power and 20kWh from solar.

That said, we do have threads here on mybb where you can ask your questions and learn more.
 
I.am.Sam said:
so how much does a good pool cover cost for say a 6*3m pool

the pool has a fence but i want to remove it and add a cover rather
Click to expand...
Just check SA laws. Pretty sure you need both a fence and a safety net or cover.

I got a quoted R6.8k for a 5.8X5m PVC cover.Gauteng.
 
ToxicBunny said:
As much as my pool annoys the living fsck out of me for 6 months of the year, I'm in roughly the same boat as Sammy...

Maintenance is minimal, every 2 weeks or so it gets 15 minutes of attention.
The electricity cost isn't exorbitant as it only runs 4 hours a day at most, but I don't have solar to offset that...
Water cost is also minimal as it is quite small so the evaporation rate is relatively low, and at this time of the year I actually throw away vast quantities of water from the pool as it rains so damn much that the pool is almost always overflowing.
Click to expand...
I've got a jojo tank attached for the backwash, so I save a lot of that water for winter. On the maintenance it's fishing out the leaves, trying to get the bloody kreepy to actually work, I have 3 massive 20m pine trees on the pavement that are old and dying so their pine needles are constantly everywhere, trust me pine needles are destructive as they clog everything, pool nets don't help.
I've had to replace gutters thanks to them, Johannesburg water has to come out every 3 months to clear the sewerage line from their pine needles, the road is clogged with them, yet the municipality says trees are good.
 
MGMT said:
Just check SA laws. Pretty sure you need both a fence and a safety net or cover.

I got a quoted R6.8k for a 5.8X5m PVC cover.Gauteng.
Click to expand...
Either or as far as I know. I have a net, not that it's been on the pool since 2019 as it's broken.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Its on my radar for the future as well, in terms of solar stuff... taking as much of my house "off grid" as is financially feasible.

As for the swimming days, its already getting to that point in DBN tbh.. water is already almost at the point of not freezing ones bollocks off when you get in.
Click to expand...

ok durban weather has changed

buddy stays in umhlanga and at 1am you can take a dip in december
 
Tinuva said:
My installed cost and everything ended up at R130k. That said, same install will be much cheaper now. Back then in Cape Town didn't have the option of Sunsynk inverters, but now you do, already saving a pretty penny on that alone. Prices came down majorly on both batteries and panels so again I think you can do it closer to R80k now depending on other cable lengths and stuff you need.

It covers the whole house, but in winter I can't power geysers on it, only service batteries for night loads. Currently however, usage is 2kWh CoCT power and 20kWh from solar.

That said, we do have threads here on mybb where you can ask your questions and learn more.
Click to expand...

ok one last question, do you need to change the batteries in time ?
 
I.am.Sam said:
ok one last question, do you need to change the batteries in time ?
Click to expand...
Do you mean charge instead of change?
For charging, I manage that by not using them too much by controlling the death of discharge using home assistant and solar forecast.
If you meant changing...they should last at least 10 years but I am sure they can go longer than that.
 
Tinuva said:
Do you mean charge instead of change?
For charging, I manage that by not using them too much by controlling the death of discharge using home assistant and solar forecast.
If you meant changing...they should last at least 10 years but I am sure they can go longer than that.
Click to expand...

yeah change batteries cause someone else told me those batteries are very pricey

so need to look at cost of investment vs return and when will we break even or see a "profit"
 
I.am.Sam said:
ok durban weather has changed

buddy stays in umhlanga and at 1am you can take a dip in december
Click to expand...
Remember for a person in Durban or surrounds freezing their balls off is 18 degrees :).
 
Lupus said:
I've got a jojo tank attached for the backwash, so I save a lot of that water for winter. On the maintenance it's fishing out the leaves, trying to get the bloody kreepy to actually work, I have 3 massive 20m pine trees on the pavement that are old and dying so their pine needles are constantly everywhere, trust me pine needles are destructive as they clog everything, pool nets don't help.
I've had to replace gutters thanks to them, Johannesburg water has to come out every 3 months to clear the sewerage line from their pine needles, the road is clogged with them, yet the municipality says trees are good.
Click to expand...

Nah, I am lazy AF with my garden, its all indigenous so I never water it... it must survive as if it was in the wild :P

And yeah, my maintenance is the same, I have a damn litchi tree overhanging the pool and it drops a fsck ton of leaves all year round.
 
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