Really? Lots? In-ground? I’m not sure what you mean by “lots”, but I don’t know anybody who has one. A cursory look at the satellite imagery in Google Maps shows a few in the fancy river valley neighbourhoods, but nothing like this random Las Vegas suburb.
I’m sure you didn’t mean to suggest that there are as many backyard pools in Edmonton as there are in Las Vegas, so I just wanted to point out that “lots” is definitely a relative term. I would say that relatively, there very few backyard in-ground pools in Edmonton. And, as per the OP, it probably is due to the fact that it is expensive to maintain, considering you’d generally only use it much in July and August.
I saw an outdoor public pool when I was in Fairbanks, Alaska. When I was there, it was around the first day of summer and 24 hours of sunlight, the pool was open all night.
Can outdoor in-ground pools in far northern climes serve as skating rinks in the winter? For outdoor public facilities, is it ever set up like this – swim in the summer, skate in the winter?
Short answer - no. You skate on ponds, flooded gardens or patches in local parks, or skating rinks (which almost universally have one ice for skating, and one ice for curling). Pools are drained in fall and left empty until summer. I haven’t seen all of Canada, but I’ve never seen an outdoor pool used for skating.
Uh, no. I drain 8 inches of water out of my pool, and then it freezes like a giant ice cube. No skating though, a blade hitting your liner would certainly ruin your summer splashing. As well, if you dain a pool with a liner, the liner will shrink in the sunlight and possibly rip as you’re filling it. I’ve had my pool for 3 years now and have not had to drain it empty yet.
Water should not be kept in swimming pools in freezing weather. The expansion of water when frozen would cause cracks in the concrete, and expand any fissures that already existed.
So few? In my parents’ suburban neighbourhood in Gatineau, there are quite a few private swimming pools. We used to have one, but we threw it away (or gave it to someone, I don’t remember) when it became old and damaged. And we’re middle class, no more, no less. I certainly enjoyed it during the hot summers.
Oh yes, I hear what you are saying. My MIL went out and bought my kids a pool today and it is very nice. It has a ten foot diameter and is 32 inches deep and even has its own filtration system. I am filling it up now but it took me forever to blow up the entire rim. I am not sure how it will be noted on the census but the neighbors can’t be anything but happy.
Agreed. We’ve had a concrete inground pool since 1994. Draining the pool in freeze/thaw conditions is actually far worse than draining off the top 18". The water left in the pool will freeze freeze on the top and the weight counteracts the hydrostatic pressure in the ground. If the water was completely drained, the concrete “hull” would be forced out of the ground by the natural water pressure in the ground.
Very few totally private in-ground outdoors swimming pools in Montreal, but I know of several public or semi-private ones. They are common in public parks, and our condo complex also had one. Many apartment buildings also have them.
Take a look at this neighbourhood. I think swimming pools, in or above ground are rather if not very common in the Montreal suburbs. Here’s another neighbourhood:
Just a little north, in Laval:
In Blainville (still slightly futher north), over ground pools rule, but in-ground ones aren’t rare either:
Even in Quebec City, you find a good mix of over and in-ground pools:
When you fly in Dorval airport, you fly over most of Montreal island. On time, there was a small kid in the row in front of me, glued to the window. I heard him say: “mom, why are there so many pool?” “Because the good people of Quebec love to waste their money on things they only get to use two months in a year” is what I wanted to tell him.
Well, the OP asked about private, in-ground swimming pools. Of course there are neighborhood pools, and more above-ground pools than in-ground pools.
Maybe my perspective is skewed because no one has room for a pool in downtown Montreal, but I’ve never met anyone with an in-ground pool on the island.
You’re right: In Montreal’s suburbs, in-ground outdoor pools are common even in private backyards. We lived closer to the center of the city, which is where my experience comes from. Even there, as I said, there are many outdoor swimming pools – just few totally private ones.
I guess it depends what you mean by “few,” but I used Google Maps to swing around the island a bit and saw one hell of a lot of backyard swimming pools in every subdivision I looked at. They may be more common than you realize. After all, you don’t see people’s back yards from the street. Here’s some links to areas on the island:
I don’t know nuthin’ 'bout no private pools; I just know that they drain the public ones in winter. I assumed that you would drain your private one, too, but since I’ve never had one, I was extrapolating from a known to an unknown. You have my permission to do whatever it takes to keep your private pool intact. (But I’m guessing you still don’t skate on them in winter.)
Google maps is a great idea - I looked at one of the richest neighbourhoods in Calgary (the Mount Royal area), and saw one in-ground private pool. We just don’t have the persistent heat here to make them feasible (which makes Calgary, in my opinion, one of the best cities in the world for summer weather. Not too hot, cool evenings, and few bugs.)
(But I’m guessing you still don’t skate on them in winter.)