Freestanding pool for the garden - yes or no?

[GertieFinkle]

Thinking of getting one of these for the garden this summer. I know it's going to bugger the lawn but I guess I can re-seed it in the autumn. Any thoughts on safety (dc are 9 and 11 and good swimmers), heating it, keeping it clean etc?

Thanks.

Can you even heat those pools? We had the exact same one. It took almost a whole day to fill up, the only way to keep it clean was to have the cover on it whilst it wasn't in use but then that meant that it was always freezing cold! Eventually it exploded and water flooded the garden. I wouldn't even buy one again. Far too much effort for not much enjoyment.

OMG sounds awful! My friend has one and heats her.

Anyone else?

The guardian on Saturday had this as one of the questions/reader's answers, basically the consensus was it costs about £100 a week to heat (heat pump costs ££) or you are swimming in 16deg water brrr.

Just had a look at your link, I think the one in the Guardian was bigger than this, but I still think the water will be too cold for most of the summer.

£100/week

I know, but they did say the one they were thinking of was £3000, so probably significantly larger than yours!

HA! Just a smidge then!

We had one like that (15ft) at my mums when my DC were smaller and I fell against it one day and it caved and was like a tidal wave over her patio ,we nearly lost the dog in the flood! Was hysterical mind you. It also ruined the grass ,was a bugger to keep clean and barely used.

We have one, the kids love it. We dont heat it but the kids wear their wetsuits when they go in. Funnily enough the extra water being sloshed over the sides made our lawn grow better and we just reseeded when we put it away. You have to be prepared to keep on top of the chemicals though to keep it clean.

We applied to reduce our water bill as we were reusing the water on our garden. Can't remember the ins and outs but I know we got some kind of refund.

They absolutely loved it and even swam in it in the rain - but my little one is a water baby. They asked me at the weekend when it was going out again.

You do need to make sure it's placed correctly and pumped up well to ensure its sturdy.

they are a bit of a pain and I wouldn't.

We got one last year. It takes a day to fill and we nicked our neighbours hose as well as they were on holiday. We had it on the patio rather than the grass as I didn't want to ruin the grass and couldn't bear the thought of grass being constantly in the water off their feet. Our patio is in the shade so we also bought a heater and a cover. The heater definitely works and I don't think it's costs anywhere near what is stated above. If you want it warm in the evening you need to start heating in the morning from what I can remember. We also had a filter and the chlorine tablets. The filter was ok but a fishing net was also needed and the chlorine tablets were crap and never dissolved at all. I found the water got really dirty after about a month despite all of the above measures to keep it clean. Ours is still in its box so far this year but might get it out in a couple of weeks when the kids break up. Oh, and for the filter and heater you need to be close to power points (another reason it was on the patio). Amazon and eBay are good for your accessories.

yeah they get filthy with grass.

We have an Intex rigid sided pool (i.e. not the inflatable type) and our DCs are in it as often as they possibly can! We have a pump system which keeps the water crystal clear and always put the cover on overnight. We have a foot 'bath' thingy where the DCs slosh their feet before getting in so grass etc is not a problem.
Disclaimer - we live in France and it is a few degrees warmer (although not much more than Southern UK as we are in the North). We don;t have a heater but we did get a thermal cover (about 30€) which has helped. It can be a bit nippy but doesn't seem to stop the DCs although they come out and get warmed up regularly. We have ours on the back patio so it does;t kill the grass. It cost about 200€ and was a great investment!

Another vote for Intex pool here. Ours is 15ft. Put it up last year in first May bank holiday, and by half term kids were going in it most days after school. It is up now and we were all in it last weekend - and I am world's biggest wimp when it comes to cold pools on holiday.

We have invested in a sand-filtering pump this year which is cutting down the cost of chemicals and it is staying completely sparkling. Learnt our lesson last year when we went away and despite neighbour checking pool daily it went green and proved v expensive to get it back to swimmable. Our DCs were exact same age as your last year and think it's the second best thing we've ever bought (after the trampoline - which I have to say is great to dry out on when you get out of the pool!).