lynste Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 So hubby and I are in dispute over a rental with a pool or a gated community with a pool???? Personally i like the idea that the pool is someone else's responsibility to clean, maintain etc other half prefers the idea of walking out patio doors to his own pool. Would be great if people could let me know how much the reckon they spend on additional electricity/waters, chemicals and servicing they pay for the pool. not sure if it would differ between states but we are looking at the Gold Coast TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george70 Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 (edited) Do you have kids? If not, I'd go with the community pool. The reason being, us, and the people I know with older or no kids, generally find their pools unused. I go in ours about 5 times a year, the wife hasn't been in for a couple of years. Bit of a novelty that wears off if you ask me. Unlike the upkeep, which never wears off unfortunately. Different ball game if you have little uns though. Edited October 27, 2016 by george70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Just check if there are any rules for.the community pool. My friends son isn't even allowed to have a ball in their community one - even if they are the only family down there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Just check if there are any rules for.the community pool. My friends son isn't even allowed to have a ball in their community one - even if they are the only family down there! They could always just ignore the rule? Australia needs more civil disobedience. Way too many BS rules that people comply with because they think they have to. If it's a crap rule like this one, ignore it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Quite often, houses with pools have maintenance included in the rent. Our last place did, and we were supposed to pay for chemicals, but all chemicals used in maintenance were billed to the landlord so we never bought any! Can't estimate how much electricity cost as we had some solar panels, and the pump was on a special tariff. Can't have been extortionate as quarterly bill rarely went over $300, and we ran air con and two big fridge freezers as well. We used a pool cover and rarely needed to top up water, and tended to use the water tank if we did top up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 By the way, we have no kids and I use the pool every day, in fact now we have our own house I had a heater put in to keep the pool warm in winter. Novelty has never worn off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 One last thing - if you rent a house with its own pool, make sure there's not much greenery growing by the pool. We had loads of bamboo that provided good shade, along with an unbelievable volume of leaves and crappy little twigs. Took ages to fish it all out, it never looked clean! Got very little nearby now, about 5 leaves have blown in since we moved in 10 weeks ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 (edited) One last thing - if you rent a house with its own pool, make sure there's not much greenery growing by the pool. We had loads of bamboo that provided good shade, along with an unbelievable volume of leaves and crappy little twigs. Took ages to fish it all out, it never looked clean! Got very little nearby now, about 5 leaves have blown in since we moved in 10 weeks ago! I agree. If you are a swimmer it's not unusual to use a pool everyday. I've never owned one though, although my brothers have. They heat theirs with solar panels in the winter. Does your current place have solar panels? How much does yours cost you in your current place? Edited October 31, 2016 by newjez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 If in a rental the strata title fees should surely include pool maintenance? Hence the renter pays zilch. If own house would depend on personal use. I had one for years in a former house and was quite frankly glad to see the end of it. It involved a lot of work and I prefer getting out of the house personally and to the beach and real salt water. When rented decades back, did fall foul of the nominated ' guardian' of the premises, a tyrant of epic proportions after she forbid a house sitter using the pool when I was overseas, as only my name was on the lease. One does need to hold nerve in such circumstances when the sparks fly. Ridiculous regulations do require being held accountable and challenged. Just don't expect to win popularity contests doing so as most appear to buckle under duress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Just had solar fitted today! 5kw system, awaiting Energex connection. We haven't had a bill yet, excepfor the first couple of weeks when the pool pump was off, but will be interesting to see how our first full quarter without solar will compare to the following quarter with solar! I expect the bill will be pretty high as I ran the heater a fair bit for a few weeks after it was installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Just had solar fitted today! 5kw system, awaiting Energex connection. We haven't had a bill yet, excepfor the first couple of weeks when the pool pump was off, but will be interesting to see how our first full quarter without solar will compare to the following quarter with solar! I expect the bill will be pretty high as I ran the heater a fair bit for a few weeks after it was installed. We have a 4.5kw system and reliably get 25kwh a day out of it for the warmer 6 months. You should do better with the slightly larger plant and being a bit further north. It reduces our bills by about 35-40% and will pay for itself in 3 years which is a no brainer really. We do use a lot of power (young kids, people at home most of the time, pool pump, aircon throughout etc) but that's partly why I put the panels in..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Oh, in reply to the OP: I don't find it a massive maintenance cost or hassle. Ours is saltwater, I probably spend about $15 a month on average on salt and stabiliser in the summer months. Electricity, don't really notice it on the pump, it's set up to run at night (cheap rate) and about midday (when our solar panels will make more than enough to cover it, it draws about 1kW). With a saltwater pool you do need to run the pump a fair bit as that's what makes your Chlorine. Less money on chemicals though Cleaning it is pretty easy, just once or twice a week run around skimming and picking up the leaves the pool cleaner misses. We have solar heating which is OK and not expensive to run (it's just another pump, that runs the pool water through a system of black pipes on your roof) but it only really extends your swimming season by a few weeks either end. We will swim regularly from November through to the end of March, I guess if we got more "active" heating and/or a cover we could again extend that a bit but I can't ever imagine wanting to swim in Sydney between May and September - just too cold outside, thanks Oh, and we have greenery around ours too :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 (edited) Wow 25kw a day is loads, we'll look at battery storage when the price improves! Got 12c FIT which is double the standard, but still poor! Edited October 31, 2016 by paisleylass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Oh, in reply to the OP: I don't find it a massive maintenance cost or hassle. Ours is saltwater, I probably spend about $15 a month on average on salt and stabiliser in the summer months. Electricity, don't really notice it on the pump, it's set up to run at night (cheap rate) and about midday (when our solar panels will make more than enough to cover it, it draws about 1kW). With a saltwater pool you do need to run the pump a fair bit as that's what makes your Chlorine. Less money on chemicals though Cleaning it is pretty easy, just once or twice a week run around skimming and picking up the leaves the pool cleaner misses. We have solar heating which is OK and not expensive to run (it's just another pump, that runs the pool water through a system of black pipes on your roof) but it only really extends your swimming season by a few weeks either end. We will swim regularly from November through to the end of March, I guess if we got more "active" heating and/or a cover we could again extend that a bit but I can't ever imagine wanting to swim in Sydney between May and September - just too cold outside, thanks Oh, and we have greenery around ours too :-) [ATTACH=CONFIG]34255[/ATTACH] Nice! My parents have a cover on theirs and it does make a difference. Theirs is in a retirement village, and it is a huge pool but shallow. Not sure if that makes a difference, but they swim all year now with solar panels heating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Probably worth if having kids. Perhaps also if living well away from beach. My experience though with Perth's heat in summer, is that it had to be regularly checked for contamination as well as being kept clean. A pool can also be a non selling point to a house. But obviously appreciated by new arrivals to this country, so a matter of personal preference at the end of the day. I'd far more support a deep water sea pool located at one of the beaches, big enough to host a decent crowd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 (edited) We use our pool for about 9 months of the year. It's fairly small and costs about $5 a month in chemicals, salt etc. Its got Solar power heating through black tubes on the roof ( not sure what they are called ) Must look into getting solar panels for the house although our power bill isn't too bad I have been told the pool pump contributes to a third of our power bill. Never had s problem keeping it clean just take a sample to the pool shop once every couple of weeks in the used part of the year and just let it be in the winter. We live about 5 streets back from the ocean. Edited October 31, 2016 by LovelyWA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest241083 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 ...........a pool doesn't have to cost a lot in chemicals Ime( salt water I have found the best ). ...........a big enough filtration system will look after it.... ...........havving solar for power helps keep costs down.... ............and a great way if you want to heat the pool.....though beware if you get lots of white cockatoos .............they can peck holes in the black matting.... ............it's great in the evenings..... ............still had one when I lived two minutes walk to the beach..... .............when it gets too dark to go to the beach.......you have the pool..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 ...........a pool doesn't have to cost a lot in chemicals Ime( salt water I have found the best )............a big enough filtration system will look after it.... ...........havving solar for power helps keep costs down.... ............and a great way if you want to heat the pool.....though beware if you get lots of white cockatoos .............they can peck holes in the black matting.... ............it's great in the evenings..... ............still had one when I lived two minutes walk to the beach..... .............when it gets too dark to go to the beach.......you have the pool..... Very good point! We love sitting in the pool pool with all the lights on with a glass of wine in hand on a balmy evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Wow 25kw a day is loads, we'll look at battery storage when the price improves! Got 12c FIT which is double the standard, but still poor! Today: Was a nice sunny day today hence the consistency. Best days in high summer we'll get over 30kwh. Just checked and the max ever was 33.8kwh for a day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 What's wrong with the sprinkler out the back to cool down the kids during times of heat duress? Worked for earlier generations. Little chance of a fatality as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Today: [ATTACH=CONFIG]34257[/ATTACH] Was a nice sunny day today hence the consistency. Best days in high summer we'll get over 30kwh. Just checked and the max ever was 33.8kwh for a day Fantastic! Hope it won't be too long til Energex gets us connected! I think avg daily consumption at our last place was about 18kw/day. But we were a bit conservative using the aircon. I'd love to run aircon in daylight hours within reason, just using solar, to avoid build-up of heat and then run fans after dark. Next up, maybe replace old, noisy hot water system with solar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 I'd love to run aircon in daylight hours within reason, just using solar, to avoid build-up of heat and then run fans after dark. Yeah that's part of the reason we got it. On a hot sunny day you know you're making plenty of power, so you can put the aircon on for free essentially during the day. Means I'm not nagging J about how much she has it on during the day when I'm sat in a nice a/c office ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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