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A swimming pool might increase the aesthetic appeal of your house; however if not well maintained, it can turn into a clumsy investment and a breeding ground of disease-causing germs.
Learn how to calculate your pool maintenance cost and all things you should consider before planning a swimming pool in your backyard.
Pool Maintenance Cost: Plumbing, Electrical & Mechanical Costs of Owning a Pool
Making a swimming pool is one thing and maintaining it is a totally different thing. An efficiently maintained pool not only prevents overhead costs but also the spreading of diseases.
Read on to find out some basics of pool maintenance costs and how one should calculate them.
Introduction
Though your private pool offers a soothing reprieve in your backyard on a hot summer day, it comes with the taxing upshot of having to pay pricey maintenance bills every month, which reach your doorstep as a reminder of its dear existence.
Slacking on pool maintenance is not a wise option as you could risk skin diseases, bacteria buildup, green hair and not to mention, and plumbing problems.
Smart spending for maintenance and educating yourself on the amount of money that goes into fixing, along with the utility of different pool equipment and the frequency of care required, can cut your pool maintenance costs up to half.
Pool Maintenance Cost
Maintenance of your pool means keeping its plumbing, electric and mechanical gears in perfect condition and then striking that ideal balance between all three.
Estimating the cost of these depends essentially on the size of your pool in terms of gallons of water required to fill it. To do this, multiply the length, width, and average depth (add the measurement on the deep end and the shallow end, and divide it by two to arrive at the average depth).
An average-sized pool requires 50,000 gallons of water to be completely filled. Apart from filling up the swimming pool entirely every time it is drained, you’ll have to occasionally raise the level of the water a couple of inches, to keep the filtering-process efficient.
Every such occasion will cost you about $12. A higher bill probably means a leak in your pipes. Looking into such seepages early on could save you some big bucks when it comes to water bills.
The next important structure in the pool is its circulation system.
The pool’s circulation system includes:
- The skimmer that clears the surface of any foreign solid elements;
- The main drain and deep water outlet, play an important role in top-to-bottom water circulation to keep the water in good health for use and to lower the water level;
- The filter and chemical feeders for sanitation; and the circulation pump that aids all the plumbing paraphernalia in helping the movement of water.
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Each of these parts of the pool mechanism requires certain spending. On the whole, running the pool’s circulation system for about 10 hours a day can cost about $50 as electric bills.
This is not inclusive of heating charges that are to be paid to the gas company, which generally demands a monthly rent of about $10 for a separate gas meter on the pool and a bill of around $80 for every time you raise the pool’s temperature by 10 degrees.
Using test kits to check the pool water chemistry for its total alkalinity, pH levels, and calcium hardness must be made a weekly routine to determine what chemicals are needed and in what quantities.
Total alkalinity should be preserved within the range of 160-180 particles per meter.
While there are many expensive chemicals available to do so, you could inexpensively substitute those with a pound of baking soda for every 10000 gallons of water in your swimming pool.
Adding chlorine tablets at a lower pH level of about 7.2 is optimum and makes it multiple times more effective in sanitizing your pool.
Also, retaining a calcium intensity between 200 and 400 rpm by increasing levels by adding calcium chloride or lowering it by replacing a couple of inches of water at a time with lower calcium content water keeps the hardness of water under control.
Periodically brushing your pool tiles on the wall, floor, and water line with suitable detergent and algaecide clarifier helps remove tiny debris, algae, and body oils from settling on its surface causing discoloration and grime.
If this practice is followed then the maintenance of an average-sized pool can be kept well under $2000 annually.
References
- How Much Does It Cost To Own & Maintain A Swimming Pool? – https://homeguide.com/costs/pool-maintenance-cost
- Swimming Pool Maintenance Mistakes – https://www.commonfloor.com/guide/swimming-pool-maintenance-mistakes-1363.html
