There are a lot of misconceptions about pool ownership that usually scare many potential Australian homes from taking the plunge into getting their first swimming pool. Today we’re going to take a look at these misconceptions to see their origins and to see if there’s a grain of truth to them.

For the complete newbie, yes, it may look like it’s too complicated! I mean, for many, this is the first time they will encounter terms like ppm/parts per million, pH levels, stabiliser, alkalinity and so on. But the reality is, these are just labels. Yes, sure you can go in depth and learn about all these values so that you can be more efficient in your pool balancing tasks, but for the absolute beginner? You really don’t have to.

Why do we say this? Well, all you need to actually know are the levels where they’re supposed to be and how to adjust them. Understanding what each chemical does can come in the future! Here are the levels that you need to look out for (p.s. You don’t even need to memorize them as many testing kits will have the values listed as well!)

• Pool pH - 7.2 to 7.6
• Calcium Hardness - 200ppm to 400ppm
• Free Chlorine - 1ppm to 3ppm
• Total Alkalinity - 120ppm to 150ppm
• Cyanuric Acid - 30ppm to 50ppm

Essentially those are the only numbers that you need to know as a new pool owner! Test and balance them at least once a week to keep your pool algae-free and crystal clear!

Once you’ve gotten the hang of testing and balancing your pool water and once you’re pretty familiar with handling the pool chemicals then learning more about what each one does. When you’re ready, you can check out the following specialized guides.

• A Beginner’s Guide to Pool Maintenance: Keeping Your Pool Clean and Safe
• 33 Things All New Pool Owners Should Know About
• Everything you need to know about pool chlorine
• Is Cyanuric Acid / Stabiliser a friend or foe for your pool?
• Bad Pool Chemical Combinations
• Ultimate Guide to Pool Chemicals
• How To Treat Pool Water For The First Time

And if you’re overwhelmed and you’re worried about not having the right chemicals, then it’s a good idea to stock up and save (whenever you get two or more of the same chemicals from the online pool shop, you'll get up to 14% off!)

Yes, this is true. Swimming pools are dangerous, but that’s what all the Australian pool safety regulations are there for! They’re not there for added red tape or inconvenience, they’re there to ensure that your swimming pool will be safe for everyone in the household.

In addition to the regulations put in place, the best thing safety-wise when it comes to home swimming pools is proper supervision. As long as you keep an eye out on the kids then safety really shouldn’t be an issue. Plus if you really think about it, the earlier you get the kids used to the pool, the better they will be at swimming so this danger goes down over time!

Another thing to consider is to add the proper safety signs and depth markets so that you’ll know exactly what to do in cases of emergencies and to let everyone know how deep the pool is at certain points to avoid non-swimmers from accidentally jumping into the deep end.

Much like everything on the list, this is partly true. But this can be prevented and minimised by proper pool maintenance like keeping your pool chemical levels balanced, proper cleaning and preventative maintenance will greatly reduce the need for expensive repairs. The more you take care of your pool, the more you’ll be able to spot potential problems and deal with them before they become expensive problems!

Now this is probably the number one issue that scares most potential pool owners away, the pool upkeep. We’ve dived deeply into this topic before and you can check out that post here, but the funny thing about that article was that we discovered that the more your focus on your pool, the more maintenance you do, the less you’ll be spending on pool upkeep!

Aside from keeping a close eye on your pool, another way to reduce pool upkeep expenses is to actually get better, more efficient pool equipment. For pool pumps, you can actually save anywhere from 70% to 80% on your pool electricity upkeep cost when you switch to an energy-efficient variable speed pump! Don’t believe us? Check out this post where we compare the electric costs of a regular pool pump and a variable speed pool pump by the numbers!

Getting a pool cover can also greatly reduce your pool upkeep by keeping debris out, saving your pool chemical levels, a pool cover can also keep the temperature in your pool water from dropping by a couple of degrees. If that doesn’t sound like much, remember that a pool heater will take a few hours to raise the temperature of your pool water by that much! That alone is a few dollars every session if you think about it! Pool covers also have a slew of other benefits which you can read about here, so it’s not just savings!

For other ways to reduce pool upkeep costs, consider investing in an ECO-Friendly pool.

A lot of people will say that if you plan to sell your home in the near future then don’t get a swimming pool as this will reduce the value of your home. Well, this is partially true since if a pool isn’t maintained properly and it ends up being a green swampy hole then yes, it will definitely reduce the overall selling price of your home. We have also written extensively on the topic here looking at whether swimming pools are good investments or liabilities here. The key takeaway for it is that on a monetary standpoint, you’ll never get back everything you’re going to put into your pool. But getting a pool isn’t for profit, it’s for your well being!

In our opinion, a swimming pool is an amazing investment due to the following reasons:

• You’re saving up on pool membership fees!
• You can go for a swim ANYTIME.
• You can host your own amazing pool parties with no restrictions!
• It’s safe, private, and did we mention that you can use it ANYTIME you want?

While this may be true in many places around the world, especially in the northern hemisphere, in Australia where we’re much closer to the sun (just kidding! But it feels like it right?) and our winters are much milder, we can actually use our swimming pool with the use of a good pool heat pump in combination with a solar pool cover! And the good thing about pool heat pumps is that they’re not as expensive as traditional gas or electric pool heaters when it comes to ongoing costs! This also leads us to…

This may have been true before the advent of energy-efficient pool heat pumps but now, with pool heat pumps from Water TechniX, you can literally heat your pool for cents on the dollar! We won’t go into all of the details on how pool heat pumps can achieve this since we’ve gone through all of that in this article where we explored extending your pool season with a Water TechniX Paradise heat pump.

If a heat pump is out of reach, then here are some other ways you can heat up your pool on the cheap.