Swimming Pools - Middle Class Affluence?

[Bobbieo]

I had my pool drained two summers ago to save on water and energy and found out yesterday my neighbor across the street did the same thing. So did the neighbor two doors down.

Anyone else on DU drain their pool? We live in a middle, middle class neighborhood but Yuma's summer temps used to make a pool almost a necessity before the recession.

[DeadEyeDyck]

1. I decided to go green

and let the air out of ours. All three rings.

[Bobbieo]

2. had those plastic ones for years until we moved to Yuma. I lived in

the darn things all summer, too.

[Warpy]

3. I notice my neighbor hasn't filled her hot tub for a couple of years now

I haven't asked her about whether the economy is the reason. I do know she's putting in a lot of hours at a couple of startups.

I don't live in the kind of neighborhood where people had swimming pools, even though NM summers can be brutal, too.

[Bobbieo]

4. I was paying more than $100 a month for maintenance, chemicals, water,.

energy. I used to skinny dip every nite for an hour during the summer to cool off to be able to sleep even with AC - then I discoverd I was too weak from arthritis pain to get in and out of the pool by myself. Time to shut it down.

[Warpy]

5. Ow, my sympathies, I'm getting there fast

Here in NM, you just take a couple of quick showers a day to do the trick.

[Kolesar]

6. Fill a glass with ice cubes and water and keep drinking it

I had knee pain last time I was in the desert, and I noticed that keeping ice packs on my knees made my whole body cooler.

[Warpy]

7. I get more mileage out of soaking my head

and letting it air dry.

[Kolesar]

8. That's what I do before I go jogging on a warm day

I don't run in "hot" weather. Just can't do it

[txlibdem]

9. That pool of yours could replace your air conditioning

There has been some amazing developments in the area of geothermal heating and cooling recently. Costs are only 10% to 20% higher than a standard central air system and the energy use is reduced by up to 80%. I don't know about your area but here in Dallas the A/C is the biggest expense of the year. Geothermal heating/cooling units remove the heat from the water in winter and use it to heat your home, hot water heater, and some people have it for in-floor heating as well (Mmmm, cozy). Then in the summer, you flip a switch and the unit runs in reverse, removing heat from your home and putting it into your pool.

I remember a few years back we took a trip to Phoenix and took an after-dark dip in the pool. It turns out that the pool was officially closed at dusk and someone had simply forgotten to lock it up! We got a stern talkin' to. But that was sublime having the warm pool all to ourselves for about 20 minutes...

Just something to think about. You might be able to get back into that pool!

http://www.geothermalheatpumpforum.org/geothermal-heat-pump-discussions/706-using-swimming-pool-as-heat-sink.html

Then again, some people are using a geothermal heat pump to heat only their pool. And others are using a solar pool heater with a UV system to kill off the algae, etc. Runs completely off the solar and continuously pumps the water through the UV tube. Greatly reduces chemical use, too. Depends on your budget. I've seen some home-grown solar pool heaters that you could put together over a weekend (you'll have to get used to the pipes going in and out of the pool probably... unless you can tap into the pool cleaner pipes. Too many variables. Does your pool have a waterfall or an attached hot tub? If so, you should be able to tap into those pipes.

Hope that helps.