Anyone debate pool vs spa purchase?

[Cajun_Mike]

Anyone here have a debate over which to buy... a pool or a spa?   If you have both which do you get more use out of?  

The only thing I wonder is if I will not want to get in the spa during the extremely brutal summer months because it is so hot and humid here in south Louisiana.  

[doodoo]

We have both. Our pool is heated (86) and is intended mainly for the kids and is used by them the most. Adults do go in but to frolic about and generally splash that environment is meant for the kids.

The spa is an adult thing. Although the kids do use it and can have a tendency to go in and out of the pool and hot tub, the adults use the hot tub more frenquently.

If you have the space and the $$ we find that that works very well for us.  Our kids are still young and that means friends and play dates. If you can only afford the one then I would say that you need to think about who, when, and to what nth degree will it be used by.  If you have seasonal weather like here in Ottawa, The pool is a 5 month thing with the hot tub year round. If you are more south than us and the pool can be a year roun thing that may also be a good answer.

[Cajun_Mike]

Well, I am 37 and divorced with no kids... so my spa is strictly an adult thing...    hopefully very adult if you get my drift..  

[autoplay]

My wife and I have both.  As far as purchasing,a pool here in FL....will cost ya anywhere from 25,000 on up......dependant of size and style of pool etc. A pool will also take up some space. A pool is easier to maintain,and is refreshing as far as cooling off.

As doodoo said,the kids use the pool moreso than my wife and I.

My thoughts....you have to consider space,money,and warm water verses hot water....if you are making a choice between the 2.

[Brewman]

We went thru this very debate last year.  We live in a place where outdoor pools are closed much of the year.
The cost of installing an in ground pool was just too much dollar wise, and giving up too much yard wise.  Also, built in pools in this area can hamper the sale of the property.  I don't like the look of above ground pools, so that was eliminated.

If I lived in a climate where it was warm year around, I'd give a pool more consideration, assuming cost was no object.

Brewman  

[Drifter]

Ummm 35k for something you use maybe 4 months a year vs. 9k for something you can use all year round? If you live in the Northeast, doesn' t make sense unless you have money to burn! Besides, We have many community pools in the area that provide a good place for my kids to have safe fun with their friends and compete in swiming! All for around $450.00 dollars a year!

[r100rs]

Another thing to consider is your insurance.  How much will it go up with a pool vs a spa?  Also with a pool,  you'll  most likely need a fence or someway to keep others out.  I have heard that if it contains less than 2000 gal of water, it is considered a spa.  I have not found that in writing anywhere yet.  Also I don't know if that applies to inground swimspas. Maybe someone else has more info on that

[Pooldevil]

I have been in the pool industry for over 30 years and I can tell you that most of them get very little use ... but the it does rain a lot here in the UK !
Go for the best spa (Obviously a Marquis) and follow that up with a low cost 12 or 15 ft inflatable pool just for the summer ...
If the pool gets used a lot over the next couple of years , maby you can get an in ground one !
Enjoy - it your choice
Curt

[wmccall]

Being in Ohio, aq pool can be used for maybe 30 days each year and a snowmobile can be used maybe 3, I'll be in my hot tub 345 days.

[fritz]

Consider this: Do you want to swimm? This is only possible in a pool whith watertemperatures +- 75° .
(A swimmspa mostly is to warm for sportive swimming.)
Do you want to whirl? This is possible in a hottub or in a
swimmspa with temperatures around 95°.
I sell pools and hottubs in Switzerland. This Year I have sold Jet-Streams (for endless swimming) in almost every
swimming pool and also massage-Jets in the stairs. Those allow a 5 to 10 Minute whirl-massage until one gets cool.
All new pools here will be covered with a thermocover, which is also good for safety. The weather here is very seasonal but we use our outdoor pools from April until October.  Hope you find the right decision.
Fritz.

[Cajun_Mike]

Well, I can tell you that right now the temperature is 95 degrees with about 60% humidity.  In the coming weeks the humidity will go higher as will the temperature.  

When I wet tested the Bahia and the Optima yesterday it was on the showroom of a dealer who's inside temperature was somewhere around 78 degrees.  She said it is very difficult for her to keep he showroom any cooler than that with several tubs being shown with the cover off...    

I sure would like to know how many folks on this forum live in the Sun Belt to get an accurate measure of how much use they get out of their spas...  Obviously with today's temperature you walk outside to your mailbox and back and you are miserable... I surely cant imagine getting in a tub where the minimum water setting is 95 degrees.   Now, at night with maybe a huge box fan so many feet away and maybe one of those cool misting contraptions that someone linked too the other day

[Bill_Stevenson]

I live in South Florida.  We have both and use both year round.  The spa gets more use than the pool on average, but that might change with age as adults seem to go for the spa, the kids like the pool a wee bit more.  Most people down here tend to use their pools a lot when they first arrive, then after a few years the pool is a money drainer that does not get much use.  All spas get used.  One compromise is to move into a community that offers a pool for the community, then get a personal spa for the house.

My wife, who lives in the Northeast most of the year and comes down on breaks (our jobs mandate this crazy state of affairs) tends to not like the spa in the summer months.  I like the spa just fine summer and winter.  This is probably an acclimatization issue.

Regards,

Bill

[Perk1]

We owned a pool in our first house and when we moved I had to convince my wife to get a hot tub instead of another pool.  I live in the North east and you might get 3 good months of pool weather if you are lucky. I am into my second year with my spa and we use it just as much in the summer as in the winter.  I have a retractable awning over my spa to keep the beating sun off of it during the day if we decide to jump in.  I keep the temp down around 94 -95 during the summer months.  believe it or not it is still refreshing on a hot day to go into the hot tub. You feel a lot cooler when you get out.  

The other big issue was the space a pool takes up in your yard.  If it is open 4 or 5 months out of the year you still have 7 or 8 months were it is closed with a cover on top just taking up yard space.  

It was a hard sell to get my wife to agree on a hot tub instead of a pool but we are both happy we did.  I just made sure I invited all my neighbors with swimming pools over for some hot tubs soaks in the winter and now I have unlimited use of their pools in the summer.

[tony]

I've got a small pool for cooling off and my spa built into a raised deck.  I have a hard time keeping the temp in the spa down during the summer, so the pool is refreshing.  But...even in summer the spa gets more use than the pool.