Since I can’t save at the gas pump ($51 yesterday for a Costco fill-up that recently cost $38!), maybe I can retrieve a few bucks from the swimming pool pump.
The Feds say you can save as much as 60% on your pool’s electric bill simply by cutting back the number of hours you run the pump. Well, I’ll believe that when I see the statement (and don’t see sheets of algae growing on the walls)…but I’m willing to give it a try. It sez here:
Pool pumps often run much longer than necessary. Circulating your pool’s water keeps the chemicals mixed and removes debris. However, as long the water circulates while chemicals are added, they should remain mixed. It’s not necessary to recirculate the water everyday to remove debris, and most debris can be removed using a skimmer or vacuum. Furthermore, longer circulation doesn’t necessarily reduce the growth of algae. Instead, using chemicals in the water and scrubbing the walls are the best methods.
Reduce your filtration time to 6 hours per day. If the water doesn’t appear clean, increase the time in half-hour increments until it does. In the Florida study, most people who reduced pumping to less than 3 hours per day were still happy with the water’s quality. On average, this saved them 60% of their electricity bill for pumping.
Hmm. I’ve always gone by the advice that six hours a day is the least you can run a pool pump without getting green water, and you need to run it longer in 100-degree heat, when the pool water turns bathtub-warm. It’s hard to believe that you could get away with three hours in Florida—though maybe so, in the winter.
I do cut back the hours to six in the wintertime, to no ill effect. Right now it’s set to run about seven hours. Let’s try shifting it back down to six for a week; then try five. It may mean you’d have to keep the chlorine level too high to swim safely, which is no trade-off. But if the system will stay stable with normal chemical levels and fewer pumping hours, bully!
Good luck with that. My dad co-owned a house with a pool before he got married and he told us it was just too expensive to consider.
Saturday, April 26, 2008 – 12:26 PM
Thanks to my rabid neighbor, costs of running the pool have been well within reason. Because he destroyed the entire system, my homeowner’s insurance paid to replaster the pool and install a new filter and pool cleaner, saving me about $10,000. It will be many years before any of that work has to be redone.
Meanwhile, I do the routine maintenance myself–it’s really easy. Costs of pool chemicals are modest, especially if you buy in bulk, and a comparison of power bills between this house and my last house, which was the same size but didn’t have a pool, suggests the cost of running the pump is about $15 a month. I’ve never paid more than $150 for a pool technician’s visit; most of the time a service call is $80.
None of this (so far) has been unaffordable. And I enjoy the pool so much, the costs to date have been worth it.
Sunday, April 27, 2008 – 08:08 AM