Akita Pool

[EddieWalker]

In order to get the pool up and running, I bought a Chlorinator that uses either Chlorine or Bromine. I get really itchy skin from Chlorine, so I'm using Bromine. I've been using it in my hot tub for years with great results. The Chlorinator uses slow release tablets. Either 1 inch or 2 inch. I bought the last two 1.5 pound bottles at Walmart last week to get it going.

Walmart is sold out. Amazon is sold out. Lowes and Home Depot are sold out. I tried Walmart.com and they had one left that was 5 pounds. I bought it!!!! Hopefully it arrives in a couple days and I'll be good for awhile.

 

[dragoneggs]

My family and friends have always fared better with bromine vs. chlorine.

 

[dodge man]

In the one pic it looks like your dog is going to eat your head. Nice setup and it looked like a good day.

 

[EddieWalker]

I haven't worked on the pool or done anything new to it. I'm still on the original water, which is a first for me. The chlorinator and Bromine are doing the job. I have it set to where I'm consistently at 3-4 ppm. We have had some issues in finding Bromine tablets. It's hit or miss at the local stores, but Amazon has been pretty good with the small 5 pound buckets. Summer ends in mid Sep, and then it cools off enough that it's not fun being in the pool anymore, so I'm good for the rest of the year on Bromine.

Yesterday we had a birthday party for our Grandson. Warren is now 5 years old. Since he love Dinosaurs, we bought a few to decorate. To say he was excited wouldn't do justice to his reaction!!!! If there was a better reason for building the pool, I can't think of it. He just loves playing in the water, and he's now big enough that he can walk in it and his head is above water. I think 3 feet deep was the perfect depth for this pool.

The dogs just drink out of it. Last year the puppies would come into it, but not this year. They like to run around it more then anything else. When I'm in the pool, they come to visit and slobber on me. I'm usually in it every evening.

The last picture is of my dad. He's 85 years old

 

[MossRoad]

Nice!

When we got our first above ground pool, I added quite a bit if sand to it before putting in the liner so it was only 3' deep. Great depth for the kids to learn.

 

[grsthegreat]

This is my labs pool……..and her favorite rock

 

[bindian]

Awesome shindig Eddie. I thought the dogs loved the pool?
hugs, Brandi

 

[forgeblast]

I built a deck on our pool last summer so that our golden dude could swim its been so much fun.

 

[EddieWalker]

Last year the two puppies would climb into the water and swim out and around. One of the boys would stand in the water on the first step, but he would never go any deeper. This year, they have not gone into it at all. We are having a cooler then normal winter, so maybe it's just not hot enough for them? Akita's don't appear to like swimming. They do drink a lot of it, and they love to slobber on me when I'm in the pool, but otherwise, it's just something to chase each other around when they play. And they can run around it pretty fast, over and over again!!!

 

[gsganzer]

Eddie,
You might have posted it somewhere in this thread, but how many hours of sunlight does your pool get?

Our 6' round water trough pool gets sun from about 1:30pm until about 8PM in the summer. This usually brings the pool to between 86 to 93 during the summer if I leave the solar cover off. If I put the solar cover on, it makes it too hot to be comfortable (96 to 105). I find that a temp of around 88 to 90 to be very comfortable (meaning you could sit in it for hours). I also have a wood fired thermal siphon coil that can heat it up at a rate of about 2 to 4 degrees an hour, so with the solar cover and the coil, we can enjoy our pool to around the first few weeks of October.

 

[EddieWalker]

It's in full sun most of the day, but by 5pm, the house starts to shade it. When the sun is shining on the pool, it's too hot to be in the pool. I've thought about putting an umbrella on the side to create some shade, but it's extremely rare that I'll get in it before 6pm. I don't know what the temperature of the water is. I've never thought to check it. It's cool when I go it it, but in a very refreshing way. I will just float in there for an hour before dinner to cool off and relax. I haven't found anything else that comes close to doing this after a hot day working outside.

 

[dodge man]

When we had a pool we had a solar heater. There were times in the summer when the water woukd get to warm, in that case I’d turn the heater off during the day and open the valves at night to cool it off.

 

[EddieWalker]

I had some concrete left over from my shed project and wanted to get it out of the way. We realized that when we poured the concrete for the porch that it should have gone out a little farther, so this seemed like a good time to get rid of all those sacks of concrete. Since there is a round section of the concrete, I cut out 4 inches where the form started so it would be thick enough to have some strength. I drilled into the original slab and the cinder blocks of the pool for the rebar, and used glued them in with liquid nails. Depth of the slab starts at 3 1/2 inches and drops down to 9 inches deep. Instead of trying to build up the dirt and compact it, I just mixed more concrete. I had 66 sacks and I used every one of them. I didn't have enough concrete left over to fill a coffee can!!!! I can't remember when I was so close on materials and actually had enough to finish it.

The weather changed today. It's less humid out and morning temps are in the 70's with a forecast to get down into the 60's later this week. My days of swimming are coming to an end and I'm expecting to drain it in a couple of weeks. Pretty soon we will be enjoying a fire on the porch!!!

 

[dodge man]

Looks like the Akita’s approve.

 

[bindian]

Eddie,
Isn't it fun putting all those sacks of concrete into that mixer!
hugs, Brandi

 

[EddieWalker]

Picking them up is the worse part about concrete work. The 80 pound sacks where horrible. The 60 pound sacks are doable, but I'm probably going to need to find something smaller pretty soon. Or just quit mixing concrete!!!

 

[bindian]

Picking them up is the worse part about concrete work. The 80 pound sacks where horrible. The 60 pound sacks are doable, but I'm probably going to need to find something smaller pretty soon. Or just quit mixing concrete!!!

I used to do 80s. Now 60s. Next time might be 40s. I think Home Depot has 40 pound sacks. My mixer opening is above belt height.
hugs, Brandi