Saving money on running a pool

[alexwilson101]

About 6 months ago I received a number of bills regarding the cost of running my pool.

The pool running costs broke down to:

1. The cost of electricity to run the equipment to clean the pool.
2. The cost of gas to heat the pool.
3. The cost of water to keep the pool filled as it evaporated over summer very quickly.
4. The cost of the pool man to come and add chlorine to the pool.

The 4 above costs amounted to over $1500 for a 6 month period, making me realise that the pool was costing over $3000 to run over the course of 12 months.

So I sat down and decided to find a way to cut back the costs of running the pool.

Here is what I did:

1. I switched the timers on the pool to run in the early early morning at around 4am, thus I got the off peak electricity rates and saved myself over $200.
2. I removed any timers or existing functions on the pool heating to ensure that I had to manually turn the gas on for occasions when I wanted to swim. I didn't see the point in keeping the pool warm all year round for the odd swim. This saved me around $250 in gas usage.
3. The cost of water was a hard one. If I don't keep the pool filled up the equipment will break, so I had to keep filling it when it got low. Any suggestions anyone?
4. I no longer have a pool man come out to do the chlorine. I do it myself and buy cheap tubs of 15L chlorine from the local swimart pool shop, saving around $600 a year in fees.

Anyone else got other ways to save on pool maintenance or running of a pool?

[Roscoe]

If you are able and have the available space, install a water tank to provide water for the pool, and elsewhere around the home.
I have recently built a new home and opted not to put in a pool, figuring that I can take my family to the coast a couple of weekends in summer for less money than the installation and maintenance cost of a pool.

[alexwilson101]

I like your logic Roscoe, I would much rather not have a pool anymore and just use the money saved to visit the beach more often.

Only reason we keep the pool is that it will help with resale value when it comes time to sell the house.

Deep down I want to just fill it in with cement thought =)

[carole]

Another way to cut some cost on the pool.
To stop evaporation buy a pool blanket. Sure it will set you back a bit to start with. But it won't take long to pay for itself, you'd be surprised at home much you don't have to top up the water.

Also you mentioned about heating with the gas. In summer by covering the pool with the blanket they say you will get around 4-6 weeks swimming time from the pool. By this they mean No heating at all. It makes sense to me that if you heated the water and then put on the blanket that night, then you should be able to swim in it the next day or two without having to heat it.
Probably worth experimenting to find out. Can't comment on the cost of a blanket and roller unit as it will vary with the size of your pool.

By the way we have an above ground pool. We have always mixed and put our own clorine into it. We don't have a pool blanket yet. The water part is not really an issue with us. The water we use for the pool is bore water. Which is clear, a bit salty. For our household use we have tanks, as we live in a rural area. Also we have the timer going on early hours of the morning.