Neighboring community announced they will not be opening their municipal swimming pool this summer to save money. They say it costs $100,000 to operate for the season, but they must spend $50K to mothball it while it's idle, so only $50K saved.
Wow. What needs to be done to mothball a pool?
Drain it and sweep it out after it's dry. Sounds odd to me. Half the cost to run it for a year is what it takes to not run it? I'd look into it more?
Rich
lost revenue
Dunno. If the surrounding soil is expansive, there could be concerns with the walls cracking with the pool empty - maybe need to do something to brace the walls?
Jerry
If it's currently covered and empty of water, nothing. -----
- gpsman
Like fill it halfway with heavily chlorinated water? Floor heaving is more likely than walls cracking, but I'm no engineer.
(Same concept as why residential sand'n'vinyl pools are never emptied all the way...)
-- aem sends....
Maybe you misunderstood or they weren't clear. It may very well be that what they meant was that even with the pool emptied and shut down, there will still be expenses for insurance, security, general maintenance, and other fixed costs that will still need to be paid whether it is open for swimming or not.
that's bs. All it takes is a super shocking treatment and a good cover.
s
you don't drain a pool unless you want massive amounts of trouble and stand a chance of never using it again.
s
Well also, on Vinyl, the stuff shrinks real bad after being exposed to chlorine. If you let it dry out, they usually tear off the top when you refill them. I wouldn't even take a vinyl pool down half way. I used to just pull the hose off the skimmer of our above ground and let that be the winter level.
s
Residential pool, sure. A municipal pool is what, a quarter of an acre? Nobody makes covers that big.
-- aem sends....
Floating covers are quite commonplace for municipal pools. They retain the heat and reduce evaporation. But the liability issues remain, just as they would with an empty pool.
Next to a school, years ago a community pool was drained for repair. A local kid died after he dove from the diving board into an empty pool. Kids climbed the fence at night for a swim. No lights on.
oh really? best get out and take a look. They certainly don't leave them exposed to fill with leaves and every other kind of s*it.
s
Aye, they drained one around here a few years ago. Then it rained, raising the water table up to the point where it floated the pool a few inches.
That turned out to be a big mess.
Jon
exactly, and people say concrete don't float.. LOL!
steve
Drained my pool just last year: For what I know it was the first time.
My water table is 385' below the desert and will never cause my pool to float.
What is needed to mothball a pool varies greatly with the design of the pool, the local ground conditions and the local weather conditions.
varies greatly with the
suggest community fund raising to cover the remaining 50 grand difference. and remind them the kids who would of hung out at the pool may turn to mischef and crime, from boredom
suggest community fund raising to cover the remaining 50 grand difference. and remind them the kids who would of hung out at the pool may turn to mischef and crime, from boredom
Leave about eight inches of water in the deep end of the pool and use it waterboard the miscreants found guilty.
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