Cutting pool costs

19 years ago

Pools are an expense, no question. The previous owner's annual operating costs were about $600. We got ours down to about $150 or less.

- By balancing the chemical makeup at the beginning of the year, we save money throughout the year because the chlorine hangs around and the pH does not bounce. We got a complete chemical measuring kit that allows us to measure hardness, alkalinity, and cyanuric acid (stabilizer) as well as pH and chlorine.

- We run the pool pump on a timer instead of all the time. This cuts our electric cost in half or third.

We get many chemicals from the grocery store instead of the pool store. Same chemicals.

- Chlorine bleach. 1 gallon (standard 5%) replaces about 1 lb of "shock". If you get the "Ultra" bleach in the smaller container, you are paying more for the chlorine but it is close enough.

- Sodium carbonate is baking soda. Same stuff as the pool store.

- Calcium chloride is used to increase pool hardness in the summer and is packaged as ice melter in the winter.

- 20-mule team Borax is cheaper at the grocery store and is the same borax as in the pool store.

For more info, I use this site for reference to maintain my pool:

PoolSolutions.com

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Comments (11)

lynne_melb
18 years ago
Measure, thanks. How many hours a day do you run the pool pump?
tynwaldmills_hotmail_com
16 years ago
run 2 periods a day so the pool doesn't get too stagnant in the off pump period. For example 11am to 7pm and 12 midnight to 6am. You can alter these to suit your schedule. You need 4 notches on the timer. 2 ons and 2 offs. Use skimmer socks and flush them out every day with hose to cut down debris reaching filter.
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Keep in mind that there is more to a pool then just the pool. Most people say overall everything is going to cost 2x the (contracted) pool price. We will be lucky to only end up there. Note: Our pool contract was only for the pool, not the decking, although the excavation included excavation for the retaining wall we needed and excavation. That being said, I am trying to make sure everything is done top notch the first time, so I am probably spending more on different parts then I would for smaller jobs around the house. Some extras I didn't know of/think of: 1) Grading material Our pool contract included grading TIME only, not material. The pool company charges $675 a truck load, we are on our 15th load (ok, maybe 4 was used for backfilling, the rest for under the decking)! Luckily we had the decking company do most of it (for $300 a load). Still, an expense we didn't fully understand. Our yard has a slight slope (2 ft difference between our house and the end of the pool furthest from our house). The material from digging up the pool was not adequate. 2) Extra excavation We hit some ledge (very little, actually). To take care of this, they had to bring in a drill and spreader thing. That cost $2650 for the day. Because the pool companies excavation crew couldn't finish until they were done, we had to pay for them (the pool company includes 2 days of excavation in the contract) and their equipment for the day (and extra $1800). Of course, this all depends on yard condition and location. We didn't know what we would hit in the backyard, we were lucky to hit very little ledge, but it was a bummer that a little or a lot (relatively speaking) would have cost us the same...It cost us 4450 for about 3 hours of work! 3) Other Hardscaping Our retaining wall is costing about 2X what we budgeted (this wasn't in pool contract) 4) Our pool contract did not include decking (on purpose, we hadn't decided), but in the end, we are ending up with 1400sqft of decking (1000 in the pool area, 400 outside). 5) You need a fence (if you don't already have one). Our fence only encloses our pool (not the whole house), due to worries about our children (and others) drowning. 6) Even if electrical is included in your pool contract (it was in ours, it wasn't in some of the bids we got), you will likely want/need to do some sort of landscape lighting so you can see out by your pool. 7) We had a sprinkler system. 4 zones had to be ripped up. We will probably put 2 of them back....I am likely to do this myself to save on costs 8) Your yard is going to get destroyed (ours wasn't that bad, until we had rain, then the trucks reacked havoc on it). I am not trying to scare you and maybe other people have different experiences (and clearly there are cheaper places to build pools then the north east), but we have spent way more then we wanted (and aren't done yet), luckily it isn't going to bankrupt us, but both my wife and I are done with everything costing more and more. Don't get me wrong, we budgeted out everything in the beginning, but we had no idea all the things that popped up and became way more expensive then we thought and then the pb estimated (pb was just trying to give us an idea of the cost of certain extras, so I don't blame them).
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joyfulguy
16 years ago
A local guy was in the Rockies and saw the sparkling clean lakes, learned what chemicals keep them that way, and makes a bucket that he calls "C-Pool" that reduces by a great amount the amount of (other) chemicals, especially chlorine, that one needs.

Some who use it like it.

When I sold it, a few years back, I bought (not edible quality) baking soda at the feed store - for about $10.00 for a (40 lb.?) bag, to go along with it.

As you say ... it doesn't need to cost a mint to operate a pool.

And, of course, as I live on a farm, if I choose to travel to a municipal pool, often there's a fee ...

... but there's also the problem of using more precious (and expensive ... but about to get more so) energy to get there ... plus adding to not only global warming, but pollution.

My landlord is pleased that Uncle's farm that he bought over two years ago has two ponds, as he wants to irrigate his sod.

And he's paying $90. per hour for the last couple of days to have a guy with a shovel dig one of them (which is dry now, as it's been dry this summer) a whole lot deeper.

The shovel was down so far yesterday after noon that one could scarcely see the boom from the house.

I hope that he doesn't dig it so deep that he can't get out.

Maybe I can go for a swim in one of them (the shallower one).

ole joyful
honest_me
16 years ago
Thanx for the gving me the information about the measurement of the how we save money in pool..so i use this prevention measures..:)
cynic
16 years ago
Good example that being frugal doesn't mean you have to save every penny all the time. As long as you can afford it, there's nothing wrong with splurging on a luxury or two for yourself! And I also like the common sense approach you're using. Borax is Borax, Soda is Soda, etc. Kind of like the much more expensive "100% Cornstarch" body powders being far more expensive than the others... and of course much, much more expensive than just buying a box of cornstarch!
spacklefiend
16 years ago
We bought a salt-water chlorine generator with our pool, and it's amazing! We've not had to add ANYTHING to it except salt, which we purchase for a few dollars per bag at Lowe's. The water is more clear than I've ever seen a chlorine pool, it never turns green or brown or cloudy, it FEELS wonderful and doesn't sting your eyes or ruin your hair, and we've already made back our money many times over for the generator. Highly recommended! (We have our pump on a timer too, turned on during daylight hours.)
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
16 years ago
"run 2 periods a day so the pool doesn't get too stagnant in the off pump period. For example 11am to 7pm and 12 midnight to 6am. "

That's still 14 hours a day, and very long IME.
We run around 10 hours a day in the summer and 8 hours a day in the winter South Florida. I suppose if you have a smaller pump you might need to run it a longer time, but honestly 14 hours is a lot. It doesn't need to be running in the dark anyway, does it?

The best way we found to keep expenses down was to keep a very close eye on things to begin with so we hardly ever needed to shock, add soda, or buffer.
joyfulguy
16 years ago
Hi see Arby's hail,

If you lived around here, you'd better get the water out of your pump before about October ... or you'd have water gushing out of the pump body, come spring.

It seems that ice and metal pumps don't get along very well.

Engine blocks of cars, either.

Have yourself a great summer ...

... what's left of it.

Slept in the car last night.

Needed to start the engine to use the heater, before sun-up.

Me being someting of a chicken, that is. Or, should I say, that I like my comfort ... though I do keep my house rather chilly in winter. But my short-sleeved shirted arms told me last night that it just ain't winter, yet.

They must have gotten spoiled, over summer. Too used to the good life, maybe.

ole joyful
feedingfrenzy
16 years ago
Sodium carbonate is NOT baking soda. Bading soda is sodium bicarbonate, and there is a huge difference.

The bicarb is used in baking to make cakes, cookies, etc rise. It's also used to relive acid indigestion. Sodium carbonate, called "washing soda," is used as a laundry adjunct. It is extremely caustic and is a deadly toxin when ingested..

People have lost their lives because they've mistakenly used toxic sodium carbonate, instead of edible sodium bicarbonate, to relieve acid indigestion.
lovinthepool
13 years ago
That salt generator sounds really good. where did you get one? how much did it cost?
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
13 years ago
lovinthepool,

This is a 3 year old thread and the OP is not getting follow-up replies emailed to them. You might want to start a new thread or do a search over at The Pool Forum.

Cutting pool costs

Comments (11)

lynne_melb

tynwaldmills_hotmail_com

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joyfulguy

honest_me

cynic

spacklefiend

cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)

joyfulguy

feedingfrenzy

lovinthepool

Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana

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