Forums > Specific Focus > Home, Garden & Construction in Mexico

booboo9

Jan 14, 2007, 9:30 AM

Post #1 of 9 (4722 views)

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how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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newbie here, in Merida.
We are building a small, largely above-ground (7m x 2m x1m depth) pool. Simple, contemporary look.....rectangular, color integrado, concreto, no tiles.
I have construction know-how, but need advice on this.....
1. material, (reinforced block walls......poured floor over metal mesh?) thickness, and reinforcement for the walls? (we want the top to be slightly beveled, so the water flows right to the the edge....w/ a surrounding small gutter for the overflow.
3. water costs and safety......hook up to the city water, and drain into existing septic? or spend $$ on a small well? The city water would be easiest, but what are the minimal purification requirements? (if any? we have 3 small kids)
4. any suggestions for underwater lighting?
thanks always, bb

sfmacaws

Jan 14, 2007, 12:28 PM

Post #2 of 9 (4713 views)

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Re: [booboo9] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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I can tell you that no one who lives in Merida wants to fill a swimming pool on city water, they all say a well is imperative. Without a well, a water truck is the next option.

Many pools there have no pumps or filtration inline but use floating chlorox and chlorine shocks to keeep the water clean and then drain it regularly.

I have an acquaintance who is a mexican electrician that works for some large and small hotels in our area (Riviera Maya) and he will not let his kids swim in some of the hotel pools because he doesn't think the wiring is safe. If you are a contractor you will need to pay close attention to how any underwater lights are wired, according to Rodrigo they are very often dangerous. My advice would be to keep it simple and skip the uw lights, float candles. Humidity and bugs do a number on outside electric runs anyway and they need frequent inspection, maintenance that you will have to do as no one there will know how or consider it necessary.

Have you joined http://www.meridainsider.com/ yet? Excellent info on all aspects of ex-pat living in Merida and the associated beach communities. It's free.

Oh, and Welcome! You live in one of the most beautiful cities in all of Mexico. The heat is trying, I think I could adjust but haven't convinced my partner yet. We will be over there for a week or so at the end of the month and I intend to drag her around on some house tours.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

yucatandreamer

Jan 14, 2007, 4:23 PM

Post #3 of 9 (4696 views)

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Re: [booboo9] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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I second the above, concerning Merida Insider. There are a lot of people in the midst of construction who post on that sight. I too have heard that it takes almost forever to fill a pool without a well and unfortunately you need a rather deep well to avoid the worst of the pollution. Do check with the people on Merida Insider for specific information(I don't have a pool and know very little about them). There is probably someone who can answer your stucco question too!

sparks

Jan 23, 2007, 5:06 AM

Post #4 of 9 (4634 views)

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Re: [booboo9] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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Might want to look at this swimming pool project in Melaque - from start to finish

http://sparks-mexico.com/...egre/pool/index.html

Sparks Mexico - Sparks Costalegre

Papirex

Jan 23, 2007, 2:24 PM

Post #5 of 9 (4608 views)

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Re: [booboo9] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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Do not even dream of draining a swimming pool into a septic tank. A septic tank is a digester. They should consist of a tank with a baffle in the center to allow for two stages of the digestive process. It takes some time for the digestive process to be completed. The effluent that leaves a properly sized, and designed septic tank will be a clear liquid. There will be no bits of paper or anything else in it, if it is properly sized and engineered.

The introduction of a large amount of water from draining a swimming pool would force untreated wastewater to leave the tank prematurely. You will be screwing up your septic system if you drain a pool into it.

The first house we lived in here had a septic tank and a swimming pool. The drain from the pool was simply piped to the curb at the street. There was no water connection to the pool. A garden hose was used to maintain the water level in the pool. That is the typical way pools are filled here.

When the water level in the pool would drop below the level of the skimmers (about 8 inches) due to evaporation in the hot season, I would need to run water through a hose to fill it, that took several hours usually. We had a 10,000 litro cisterna (2641 gallons) and I always looked to see that it was nearly full before I would add water to the pool.

In the rainy season, the pool would overflow about once per month, or more. I would then need to drain the excess water.

The cheapest filter is a sand filter, not the best, but the cheapest, and they work OK. The filter medium is sand. The filter should be back flushed often, that means that water will be drained from the pool during the back flushing operation.

The sand should be changed about every 3 or 4 swimming seasons. You must be sure that unions are used in the piping to the top of the filter so it can be removed when the sand is changed. That was not done on the pool at our house.

The pool was about 25 years old. The sand in the filter had never been changed, and it finally became inoperable. Every time the local farmers would burn their cane fields, we would get an algae bloom in the pool a day or two later. After about five minutes of operation, the filter would begin to return the green muck back into the pool. Back flushing the filter didn’t help. It was one of the reasons we moved out of that place when our landlord told us that we should pay to have the piping changed so the sand could be replaced in the filter.

You may be able to keep water looking clear using chemicals, but it will not be clean enough to swim in. Since our pool and the fountain in the garden were the favorite drinking fountains for our dogs, I didn’t even consider trying to use chemicals to keep the pool clean looking.

There are many homes with swimming pools here with no “equipment”, that means no filter. They are simply a tank in the ground, no piping, no nothing. There are companies that will come to your house and with the equipment on their truck, pump out and filter your pool water, etc. It is an expense most people tire of in a hurry.

You might want to check this link http://www.piscinasmichel.com.mx/ click on the “proseso” button on the left to see a part of the pool construction process. It is a commercial site of a pool builder. I don’t know if they will sell the steps with the built in pump and filter separately, but if they do it might be an easy answer to installing a filter system in a pool, or to retrofit a pool with no existing filter.

Underwater lights designed for use in a swimming pool are low voltage for safety. I have no doubt that the under trained, and under experienced electricians here are probably not even aware that low voltage lighting should be used in swimming pools. You may need to do your own research to find them here.

Good luck, Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

carlw

Jan 24, 2007, 8:21 AM

Post #6 of 9 (4579 views)

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Re: [booboo9] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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To get the best and most easily maintained results, you should get a filtration system and some kind of purification system. Many people are now using the salt chlorine generation system, which uses salt and an electronic generator to produce chlorine in the pool. A small pump and filter would keep the water circulating and keep it clean and sanitary. The easiest filter for a small pool would be a cartridge filter, which can be removed and cleaned, and replaced when it is no longer doing the job. You might want to go to our company's website (this is not a commercial email, as we do not ship to Mexico), to get a better idea of how to build and operate a pool. While some things are different in Mexico, the basics are the same. You could look at the Online Pool School section http://www.poolplaza.com/pool-school/ I think this will give you some ideas. Equipment can be purchased in the USA and taken into Mexico, if you are able to do that ( In Baja, they are building lots of pools, hundreds a year).

morgaine7

Jan 24, 2007, 10:38 AM

Post #7 of 9 (4571 views)

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Re: [sparks] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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Sparks, thank you so much for all that! Pictures speak 1000 words and so on ... ;-)

Kate

booboo9

Jan 31, 2007, 9:08 AM

Post #8 of 9 (4525 views)

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Re: [morgaine7] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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Thank you Rex....... This is real valuable. 2 follow-up questions, if I may.
1. Would it be wise to keep the water recirculating? One, to keep the water somewhat "stirred", to avoid still water that would just attract bugs and
2. If the replenished, in-coming water were from a small fountain, one would have a pleasant sound and, more importantly, aeration/filtration?

Papirex

Jan 31, 2007, 10:36 AM

Post #9 of 9 (4517 views)

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Re: [booboo9] how do I build a swimming pool in Merida?

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BooBoo, I recommend you visit this site: http://www.de-fontenay.com/poolhmpg.htm It is a pool company in Australia-New Zealand, If you poke around on it there is a lot of good pool maintenance information there.

As to leaving the pump running to get constant circulation, that will increase your electric bill a lot. It really isn’t necessary; I used to run the skimmers every 3 or 4 days when we weren’t using the pool, or whenever I had to add chlorine or acid to the pool water to bring the PH into balance, to dissolve the chlorine tablets, or mix the acid in the water, it took a day to do that with our pool, it might be done faster than that, depending on the pumping capacity of the pump installed in the pool, and the piping system used in the pool. There was no intake on the bottom of our pool, only one on one side at the top of the water level. While the skimmers are running, a small amount of aeration will occur.

When the skimmers are running, the water will be circulating through the pool filter. For that reason, I used one of those pool-skimming nets with a long handle to skim off any leaves, etc, on the water before I started the pump, so the filter would not be clogged with them. There was supposed to be a screen at the overflow-intake for the water to return to the pump and filter. It was missing, so the manual skimming of the leaves, etc. was important for that pool.

You should buy a pool test kit to check the chlorine, and PH levels of the pool water on a regular schedule, probably every 3 or 4 days. You can buy those kits anywhere that pool supplies are sold. I used to check ours every morning, but then I am retired, so it was kind of like a hobby for me.

You can buy pool supplies at just about every supermarket, or large store in Mexico, but I found the lowest prices at the small stores and businesses that specialized in pool equipment sales here in Cuernavaca.

I hope this little bit of info if helpful, Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo