How expensive is it to maintain your own pool?

[dalehileman]

It isn't higher chlorine levels alone that caused these problems as much as it was the very low acidity specifically from Trichlor tabs, perhaps in combination with concentrated chlorine but not the chlorine alone.

Geek that's a very good question. At the time I was getting modest Cl levels, 0.5 to 3.0 though taken when the pump was running so I can't vouch for the initial burst of concentration in the tubing leading from the skimmer. However,

.....the very low acidity......

Seems at odds with the former

......when the pump turns on the blast of very acidic water.......

And yes I'd probably better comprehend the apparent discrepancy if I were also a chemistry geek and if that's so you must forgive me in that respect. So for my benefit as well as PN's you might enlarge upon these facets

I don't see how a complete pump failure and degradation of your pool cover in the area of the skimmer can be considered to be "minor problems".....

In my case not only is the pumping station situated 30 ft from the skimmer port but it is above it in elevation. So one would expect the Cl-acid rush to be present at the pump only for an instant, thus calling it into question as cause of my pump failure. In any case between my predecessor and I, this brief exposure had been repeated daily for many years before the pump finally capitulated, explaining why I largely discount it as "minor" consideration

Of course in each count you could be right on but if your assertions are so universally accepted by the Pool Community, it's hard to understand why our Friendly Local Bill's Pool and Spa as well as CostCo, both of whom should know better, continue to field the tabs while the former insists the dilatory role of CYA to be "very controversial"

As for Cl's effect upon the shallow end, as even your "experts" agree under the best of conditions the blue-dot solar cover has to be replaced after only one or two seasons anyhow

Again, apologize if I wan't clear, thank you for your participation, and I hope that at least one of us was able to help PN however discouraged he must becoming

[Poolnoob]

Richard,

I am not sure about the divisions of the costs or anything like that. I might end up buying the salt generator, but I would hate to place down so much money. All I know is that currently I am spending around $400 between chlorine, chemicals, and maintenance. Is there another option other than the expensive saltwater generator? If not, which would you recommend?

Thanks again for everything

[chem geek]

$400 is over what period of time? If you were to adjust your CYA and other water parameter levels and then just use chlorinating liquid (or perhaps some Cal-Hypo and occasionally Trichlor as needed), then your chemical cost should be around. Pump electricity costs might be high, especially if you have a solar system mounted on a roof.

You started out posting that you paid $50 per month for the pool plus chemicals twice a year for another $150. So is the $400 a combination of the $150 plus $350 so 7 months? If so, then that is very reasonable and as I noted above you aren't going to get much better doing it yourself -- 7 months would run $350 to $525. You've got a large pool and it costs to maintain it properly. If your costs were instead the $50 per month plus 2*$42 + $174.75 + $65 = $323.75 so total over 7 months of around $675, then that is higher than doing it yourself (though normal for a pool service).

You've got a large pool at 40,000 gallons so the maintenance will be higher than smaller sized pools. As for your chlorine always getting too low, that may be because your CYA got high due to continued use of Trichlor tabs and you may have nascent algae growth using up the chlorine. I linked to this before, but read the Pool School if you want to maintain your own pool.

[Poolnoob]

Richard,

Thanks for your help, this is honestly a bit confusing for me as I am just starting to take control of my pool. In total I spend close to $60 a week between chlorine, maintenance and other pool chemicals. I also have a guy that comes once a week to clean the pool. Any opinions on the best chlorine generator things? how much does it cost? Also i will need some good reliable test strips, which would you recommend haha.

Thanks,
Poolnoob

[chem geek]

OK, that's more clear. $60 per week, or around $250 per month is WAY too high. If you were to use chlorinating liquid (and very little else -- perhaps some acid), then your ongoing chemical costs would be on the order of $35 to $70 or maybe $100 at the most per MONTH. Of course, if you were to brush the pool once a week, clean the skimmer and filter baskets, maybe backwash the filter (if needed and depending on type of filter), then that's labor you'd need to do yourself.

Again, others will have to chime in with good brands for saltwater chlorine generators. I already gave you rough pricing in this post. You would have up-front cost, but very little ongoing chemical costs -- mostly acid to control pH and some salt to replenish what is lost from dilution.

As for test kits, that's easy. Get either the Taylor K-2006 or the TFTestkits TF-100 where you can compare these fairly similar kits here. Test strips are next to useless, especially for some of the tests. You can compare the best, though still inaccurate, imprecise, and inadequate, test strips vs. the excellent drop-based test kits I mentioned here.

[Poolnoob]

Thanks Richard, I was looking for a way for my pool to become more sustainable, and to use less chemicals like chlorine and stuff and I found this thing greenerpool.com. It mentions that nothing goes in or comes out of the tube. AND it saves 70% on chlorine. so that means that my family can be healthier!!! I'm very amazed by this and seriously thinking about buying one for my pool. I even asked the e-mail on the website if it uses copper and they said no, so it wont stain my pool. I'm glad I found it so that I can only spend 25% on the amount of chlorine. This sounds pretty good, let me know what you think...

Thanks,
PN

[chem geek]

For a typical residential pool, such supplemental oxidation systems won't reduce the amount of chlorine you need because the bather load is so low that most of the chlorine isn't consumed by oxidizing bather waste. Most chlorine in an outdoor residential pool is lost from breakdown from sunlight. Your choices to prevent that are having a higher Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level or using a mostly opaque pool cover.

Another possible choice, in addition to using a higher CYA level, is to supplement algae prevention so that you can target a lower Free Chlorine (FC) level. There is no perfect solution here, but using 50 ppm Borates can substantially take the edge off of algae growth, though it's a larger one-time cost for a pool your size. It would take around 95 pounds of Boric Acid to get to 50 ppm in a 40,000 gallon pool. At $81 for a 50 pound bag that's around $160 (plus shipping). Another option would be the weekly use of PolyQuat 60 algicide at around $16 per quart, but requires 2-4 ounces per 10,000 gallons so for a 40,000 gallon pool that's 8-16 ounces or $4-$8 per week for your pool. Another option would be the use of a phosphate remover, but that can also be pricey if your phosphate level is high. And then, of course, there's copper ions, but that has to be carefully managed to prevent staining (and can give blond hair a greenish tint). These options may let you cut your chlorine target level in half or to one-third at most -- other than the copper ions, probably the Borates have the lowest maintenance cost once you pay the startup price for them since you only need to replenish from dilution. So you could probably have around 3 ppm FC with 80-100 ppm CYA in these pools and have a chlorine demand that is less than 1 ppm FC per day so less than $25 per month in chlorine cost.

The place where supplemental oxidation makes some sense is in high bather-load situations such as in residential spas that are used every day (or in most commercial and public pools). In that case, an ozonator usually cuts chlorine usage in half, but if you don't use the spa a lot (say, only once a week instead), then the ozonator can double the chlorine usage since it can oxidize chlorine to chlorate and also increase the amount of outgassing.

By the way, don't be fooled into thinking that a high Free Chlorine (FC) level means there is a lot of active chlorine in the water. The active chlorine level that does the disinfection, most of the oxidation, prevents algae growth and is what creates disinfection by-products is hypochlorous acid; its amount is proportional to the FC/CYA ratio. If you have 3 ppm FC with 100 ppm CYA, then that's equivalent in active chlorine concentration to a pool with 0.03 ppm FC and no CYA. The FC level itself is only relevant when you look at chlorine capacity so for things like drinking the pool water which is not something you normally do (at least in quantity).

You are going to find all kinds of devices and systems on websites claiming to reduce chlorine usage or be chlorine-free, but don't be misled by them.

[Poolnoob]

Alright, thanks for the help, ill do some more research and see what ill do!

Thanks again!

[fahavi]

As I always said I don't own a pool. But I have my friend who own it. i don't know the exact expenses that they use for maintaining their pool. He just mentioned before that the maintenance is very high which makes me discouraged to put a pool for my own.

[Poolnoob]

Yea, I agree, my expenses were really high too but I bought this thing that makes my chlorine and stuff last 70% longer, its pretty cool, it also kills the algae and stuff like that.

[dalehileman]

Fah and PN: Indeed in this country if you choose to posses a pool, judging from the price of upkeep the rest of its inhabitants apparently consider you wealthy or at least a spendthrift

[chem geek]

Let's see here...

You wrote the following on December 2nd:

Thanks Richard, I was looking for a way for my pool to become more sustainable, and to use less chemicals like chlorine and stuff and I found this thing greenerpool.com. It mentions that nothing goes in or comes out of the tube. AND it saves 70% on chlorine. so that means that my family can be healthier!!! I'm very amazed by this and seriously thinking about buying one for my pool. I even asked the e-mail on the website if it uses copper and they said no, so it wont stain my pool. I'm glad I found it so that I can only spend 25% on the amount of chlorine. This sounds pretty good, let me know what you think...

and then you wrote the following on December 6th:

Yea, I agree, my expenses were really high too but I bought this thing that makes my chlorine and stuff last 70% longer, its pretty cool, it also kills the algae and stuff like that.

So in those intervening 4 days you bought the GreenerPool product (at $249 for inline; $165 for floater), had it installed inline in your PVC plumbing (or did you get the version similar to a floating dispenser?), and have already measured a change in daily chlorine usage? Did you lower your target Free Chlorine (FC) level at all? Where do you live? In many areas of the country, the weather has changed and the days are no longer sunny and the temperature is cooler such that chlorine demand drops rapidly anyway. I'm beginning to smell something very fishy here...

[Common Sense Is An Uncommon Virtue]

I bet that if you stop letting the dog swim in the pool, your chlorine levels will not drop so drastically. Dogs carry loads of dirt and dander, in addition to the hair they shed, which drastically alters the water chemistry. It also clogs the filter and pump baskets much faster. I know it's fun to let the family dog join in on the fun, but you are paying a hefty price for it. Take him to the beach or lake instead.

Also...direct sunslight burns chlorine fast. Use a cover on the pool when it's not in use....and tell the kids to pee in the house...not in the pool...Lol!!

[opensky]

One way to reduce chlorine usage is to shower before entering the pool. The less organic and nitrogen-rich dirt and chemicals (make up, etc.) you bring into the pool, the less chlorine you use. You can save up to 30% chlorine usage by showering before getting in the pool. At Open Sky , we have some examples of inexpensive outdoor showers that can be installed by the pool.

[czechmate]

One way to reduce chlorine usage is to shower before entering the pool. The less organic and nitrogen-rich dirt and chemicals (make up, etc.) you bring into the pool, the less chlorine you use. You can save up to 30% chlorine usage by showering before getting in the pool.

Save 30% of chlorine? Hardly.
Not even if you did not shower in the morning already.
Besides, it is relative to number of people using the pool.
So for a couple with 2 kids it hardly has a merit.
Remember, that there is a slue of other elements demanding keeping chlorination relative to CYA to prevent algae start. (Human body sweat and skin peel is only one small part).