Pool Heating

I am planning on going to a villa ( for the 1st time) in October, it will be the 1st 2 weeks in Oct but my question is will I need to heat the pool, I have 2 kids (8 & 5)who no doubt will be swimming at all hours of the day, most villa sites list pool heating as recommended Oct - Apr, and If i did take it how does it work , can it be controlled? or is it a case of when its on its and cant be altered?[msncool]

Welcome to the forum.

With kids of those ages in October, I'd say you'd need pool heating to make the pool more comfortable for them (and you!).

Normally when pool heating is put on, it's set at a particular temperature which is recommended for the chemical balance of the water and also from a health viewpoint. If it really is too hot or cold for you, you could always ask the management company to turn it down or up for you. That's certainly no problem for our management company.

We do include jacuzzi/spa heating since it was our most popular option choice. But we don't have pool heating included at any time as we prefer to give our guests a choice of what they want and what they don't want - it's their vacation and not ours.

If you left ordering pool until you arrived, be aware that it takes a while to heat all that water up, particularly with some types of pool heating although other types heat up more quickly - we hsve the heat quickly type. Bear in mind that, with some management companies and/or owners, altering the temperature or having it turned on whilst you're in Florida might incur an additional charge.

Whatever you decide, ask your individual home owner for their policy and provisions for pool heating. That way you'll get exactly what you want for your vacation.

Hi Ian

Everything can be altered! [msnsmile2]

But whether the villa owner allows you to do this or not is only something that they, personally, can tell you.

I can give you an example of how we work, which is probably reasonably representative of how the owners on these sites will look after you. Each one likely will be slightly different in how they work - but you shouldn't expect anything less in terms of service and how they look after you.

We include pool heat year round. Even in the summer we've had feedback that it's really useful as it takes the edge of the water first thing in the morning, so the pool is lovely and warm straight away.

For October I would always recommend it. You're booking a holiday and for that you really want to be able to jump straight in to the pool and enjoy it, not edge in slowly over a period of hours. You know ... we've all done it ... shins in, brrrr, in another step, brrrr, up to my knees now ... doing well, OMG! it's just splashed the top of my thighs ... this is freezing ... I'm outta here!

Different owners will set the temperature differently. We aim for 88 degrees in the winter. We can take it a little cooler if our guests want us to (some do as 88 is pretty warm). We can also go up a smidge if guests want.

Before we switched to year-round pool heat we would always try to be as flexible as possible. If you wanted to wait until you were there before making a decision that would be fine ... with the caveat that the pool is quite a large volume of water and should you decide at 8am on Monday morning that you wnated the pool heat, you shouldn't expect it to be hot enough to cook vegetables by the time you have your elevenses. If the pool was too hot we could turn it down a bit. If it was too cold we could turn it up a bit. And if you didn't want it we could switch it off (but that would incur a management company call-out cost).

Whoops - I think Blottie and I were typing at the same time. But the good news, Ian, is that I think we've given you exactly the same answer. [msnsmile2]

Thanks to all of you for your advice, have looked at both your villas and they are both beautiful, the choice is really bewildering and I am dreading when my "researching" comes to an end and the time comes for me to actually try and book one, Oct 10 seems a long way off but I am sure it will come round soon enough. Thanks again, I look forward to being a regular contributor to the forum[beer]

Hi Ian and welcome to the forum.

When you reach the stage of making an enquiry from one of the sites above do remember that you can ask questions on the enquiry form and can then follow up any queries with individual owners. I'm sure you will enjoy choosing from all the excellent villa and that you will find owners helpful and informative.

Lynne

Ian, now that you have decided on your visit dates, I would suggest you make some enquiries fairly soon as some villas will already be booked for the dates you want. We are already booked for the whole of October, 2010 and have been for some months.

The earlier you ask the greater the choice. Make a list of your wants and go from there.

When you go for pool heat some villa owners have a pool cover make sure you put it on over night and when you are not using it in the day time as it saves the heat escapeing as it goes cool at night .
Have a lovely vacation .
MAUREEN
www.onlinefloridavillas.com/villas/1683.aspx

We wouldnt have pool heat on in the summer as a matter of routine because it's too easy to get overheated. Even in Feb one year we had to turn the heat down (and I am usually a real wimp as I was like a lobster. By October you wil probably appreciate the extra especially if you have a later evening. We, like some but not all , include it in our rates so it's not a case of having to decide if you need to pay extra but if you find that it's too warm then it can always be turned off.

with children of that age I would say they would prefer it, I know when my niece went in Sept she found that without heating it was a bit to cold for her girls who were 4 and 2 at the time and they are both quite water babies generally).
The Mc would be able to alter the heating a little once it was set but not to the extent of daily changes according to the weather. We dont allow guests to override the oontrols to set their own temperature because, without an understanding of how the system works and access to chemicals to balance the water levels, it would be easy for them to notch up the controls to a level that made the chemical go out of balance and allow bacteria to be present in the pool therby giving the potential for them to become ill through swimming in it.

84 degrees seems to be about the recommended temp from what we have seen.

Hi Ian, I would definitely recommend that you have the pool heated in October especially as you have 2 little ones who will be swimming at all hours.