Have been thinking of purchasing a house with an in-ground pool.
I'm curious as to the running costs per year for having one.
Any ozbargainitzens here have a pool and would like to give some advice on whether or not it's a worthwhile investment.
How Much Does It Cost to Maintain an Average Family Pool?
myusername on 20/05/2018 - 09:44
Last edited 20/05/2018 - 09:49
Last edited 20/05/2018 - 09:49
Comments
cheers coffee time lol
As a pool owner. Don’t do it! Electricity also has to be factored in, along with chemicals, replacement/repair of pool equipment. If you get a leak it can be quite an expensive exercise.
this is exactly the type of advice i'm after.
cheers
Go to local pool shop and ask how much they charge to maintain a pool of that size and type and there is a rough estimate.
Pools can be made concrete, fibreglass, salt, mineral salt or freshwater for some of the important variables.
Otherwise factor in the cost of filling it in with your best offer.
You would need to swim in it everyday to get your moneys worth
Worthwhile investment or not is a subjective assessment and depends on your personal circumstances.
Running costs:
the filter pump will run about 8 hours a day in summer, and 4 hours a day in winter. Pump will probably be around .75hp and use about .5kw per hour, so at (say) 20c p/kw that would be $0.80c per day in summer and $0.40c per day in winter.If you have solar heating (which is a worthwhile addition) the pump will be the same size and run maybe 4 hours a day in summer. Use a pool blanket and it will be less.
Chemicals are very little. We have a magnesium salt pool and we thrown in around 3 bags, at $20 each, a year. Pool acid runs at about $30 a year.
You can set it up to not use too many chemicals with a salt water chlorinator but you will always need electricity! Guaranteed hours of fun if you have little kids, less as they become teenagers and prefer to hang out with their friends at the local pool. But it's the time spend cleaning, balancing, checking chlorine etc that you really need to factor in :)
consider how much it is to use the local pool (costs us $4 each every time we go) and how much more you would utilise a home pool.
Electricity is only about $700 a year and salt ~$60 not much else used just a few hours a month cleaning in summer. we put a cover over in winter and just turn the filter off.If you are paying "about" $700 a year for electricity then I would get the system checked. We pay less that 1/3 of that for an 9m x 4.5m pool in electricity costs per year.
Thanks, Will do.
What do you think is the most likely problem - the heating system, pump, (underwater lights - but they are only on if swimming at night), I can't think what else could be using power - the kreepy crawly only goes for a couple of hours each night.If you are using electric heating then look no further!! Modern underwater lights are LED and use minimal electricity, even the older ones are only 150w. The kreepy crawly will be using the pool filter pump so that is about $0.10c per hour to run.
I’d recommend living next door to someone with a pool. Much cheaper
I haven’t really check our electricity usage accurately because we moved to a larger house with pool and then put solar on. Maybe $50-$100 per qtr. Then chemicals maybe $200 per year.
If you will use it a lot then it’s worth the costs IMO. We’ve had it for two summers and got a lot of use out of it. Well worth it, for younger kids, old enough to swim but young enough to not want to nick off with their mates.
I have a fiberglass salt pool in Perth, It was installed on 2000 by the previous owner.
Something (pump/filter/ kreepy krawly, salt cell) goes wrong every year and I would estimate maintence on the plant and equipment at $1000/year. I think chemicals are about $500/year. There is not just salt, but buffer, stabilizer and others.We had a leak a couple of years ago and that was $4500 to fix.
I don't like it, and I would not move into a house with one. I will probably change my mind in a couple of years when my baby is older and uses it a lot more. It has a pool blanket, but we still only use it about 4 months a year. I find the ideal water swimming temp is 28 - 32. (My temp sensor is not calibrated so might be off a degree or 2). I find We don't use it unless forecast temp is over 33.
Feel free to ask me any more questions.
You’ll use it a lot more when your kids can confidently swim by themselves (still supervised of course).
thank you everyone for your input, you've helped me make up my mind not to get a house with a pool
I have a guy that maintains it. Costs $68 a month.
Not sure what the electricity adds up to but I'm getting solar panels soon so it won't really matter.
an.