OT: screened porches/pools...

[WarDaddy]

is it really necessary to screen in an area of your yard?

Is it needed all year long or just in the summer?

I really do not want to spend much energy heating a pool when I can get a solar cover to help keep it warm. Would the cover be any good under the screen?

I also hear that airflow through the screen rooms is not good, becases sauna like with no evening cool breeze, is that true?

How effective are bug controls like this?

Malibu Mosquito Sentinel 360 MZ501

Thanks for your help... planning out the next 5 years of yard upgrades and I have not even signed a paper yet

 

[mflamb]

We built a new house 3 years ago with a screened pool. You loose about 50% of the solar capability with a screen. I haven't noticed a "sauna " effect. The screen will keep the mosquitos from carrying you away. We always have a nice breeze. I installed solar heat on my pool, and am able to keep it above 85 degrees for most of the year. We may loose about 3-4 weeks of swim time each year. I use a cover to keep the heat in at night.
Mike

 

[BlueCoast]

I am down in St. Pete, neighborhood is affectionately called "the jungle" even now there are a few mosquito s out... in the summer i do not go in the yard without a good coat of OFF.... A screened patio is VERY VERY nice to have down here. 2 big things are getting a ceiling fan, and not building a cheap aluminum roof( you feel the heat radiate into the room). Some insulation goes a long way. The sun really kicks down here, i have been in many pools, screened and otherwise and not too many are heated or blanketed. An open pool will hit the mid-upper 80's in the summer with no help from you. at that point a chiller would be nice

Those propane bug magnets work very well, but they are not 100%, heck i swear the buggers know where the door to our patio is and occasionally still get inside. I would vote for a nice screened patio, not the whole pool. Best of luck

 

[ReefArtist]

I've had pools for over twenty years and my partner works at a large pool supplier here in Florida - here are a few things I've learned.

1. Screened pools tend to have lower water temperatures - about 5 to 7 degrees.
2. Solar blankets work to retain pool heat and helps prevent evaporation. It really doesn't raise pool temperature (ok - maybe 2 to 3 degrees).
3. Solar blankets will not keep the water here in Florida warm enough to swim all year (IMO - I like my water above 79 degrees) but it does extend the time.
4. Solar panels are the most cost efficient way to heat the pool and you will still need a blanket to retain this heat.
5. If your pool is screened in IMO you would need a solar blanket and some type of heating (Solar panels, Gas heat, heat pump) electric is way to expensive and not efficient. (Heat pumps sell the best - whatever that is worth).
6. If you're a Grizzly Bear and can handle the water cold - put the screen on and forget the rest
7. As far as bugs - stay in the water.
8. I'd like to make mine a 22,000 g reef tank - NICE.

 

[amheck]

local codes state that you must not allow your pool to become an attractive nousance to other people, especially kids, in the neighborhood. So....if you dont screen, don't forget that you'll need to totally fence off the pool area. Just something to consider.

The screen often takes care of that, bugs, leaves and other debries in the pool, etc, all at once.

 

[WarDaddy]

I am leaning to screen the whole thing....

We will make these decisions later... I was hoping for some opinons... so much I do not know about Florida

 

[Sk8r]

Mosquitoes---we had snakes. Ducks. Lots of ducks, occasionally a goose, when I had a pool in Oklahoma. Up there in Spokane there's the annual moose that likes to visit swimming pools. But the real joy is algae, and if you've got sun and fresh water [rain], you've got algae. Get a pool service and get them to come weekly, and get a poolbot. That way you get to spend your pool time actually swimming.

 

[mflamb]

Automatic salt chlorination = no algae!!!

 

[Acolin]

When we first moved “down here,” 16 years ago, we did NOT have a screened pool. It was a major pain to clean the dust and leaves off the surface of the pool each day before swimming. The wife did NOT like the dust.

A screened pool becomes a summer time extension of the house. Well worth the expense. You will live out by the pool for 5 months. Don’t believe me, come to some of our club meetings before you decide.

Heating the pool is expensive, even with a blanket. After five - six months of almost daily use, we stopped using the pool heater. We did NOT need to go in the pool from November to March, plus snowbirds and visitors from up north use the pool whether it is was heated or NOT.

On the other hand, solar hot water heater which can heat up your home water heater and/or the pool is a wonderful idea. And yes, when friends had heated pools, we did tend use them more in the fall.

 

[mflamb]

I purchased my solar pool heat system from a company in Bradenton and 4 of us installed it (8 panel system) in 6 hours.
Total system with cover and cover roller about $2400.

 

[Acolin]

and I like copper method for the alage treatment, more expensive at first, but less in the long run...

 

[Acolin]

Out in an wooded Palm Beach equestrian area, I rescued so many wandering dogs and turtles from the unscreened pool, that I built a wood ramp, with a carpet cover, for footing. A rock at the end angled a board into the pool, another rock on top of the board helped keep it place. Animals would climb out of the pool using the ramp. I woke so many time from frantic splashing in the pool that I eventually just left the ramp in place! Much better than finding dead animals in the pool.