How much does a pool raise your energy bills?
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Beford
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chem geek
- Pool Industry Leader
- Posts: 2381
- Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
- Location: San Rafael, California
How much does a pool raise your energy bills?
It really depends a lot on your specific situation. The amount of water usage depends on several factors.
First, is whether you use a pool cover. If you don't, then water will evaporate. You can get a rough idea for how much that will be by looking at this map to find the annual amount of evaporation in inches. Multiply that by your width and length of your pool in feet (i.e. it's surface area) to get a volume (cubic feet, if you divide the inches by 12) you can convert into gallons.
Second, is whether you have a filter, such as a sand filter, that requires regular backwashing. Third will be splash-out and carry-out, though that is normally not a lot of water unless your bather load (number of people using the pool) is high.
As for electricity costs, this depends a lot on the size of your pool, the length of your pipes, the diameter of your pipes, the flow rate (and if there are special features needing high flow rates), and type of pump. In general, you should get larger diameter pipes -- usually 2" instead of 1.5" unless these are separate split pipes (such as one to floor drains and another to skimmer or separate lines to each of multiple returns). Spending more money up-front for a variable speed or flow pump such as the Pentair Intelliflo will usually save money in the long-run.
If you have a solar system, then that can take a lot more energy, especially if you have a large number of solar panels. More panels require more total flow rate and that requires higher pump speeds and electricity usage.
Obviously, electric costs depend on where you live as killowatt-hour rates vary a lot across the country. Where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the PG&E marginal rate is as high as 32 cents per kilowatt-hour. I used to spend $1200 per year on pump electricity costs, but replaced my main 1 HP pump and a 3/4 HP booster pump for a pool cleaner with a single Pentair Intelliflo VF pump and cut my electricity costs to $600 per year. It would be even lower than that except that I have a solar system that runs a lot since we keep the pool warm at around 88F.
Richard
First, is whether you use a pool cover. If you don't, then water will evaporate. You can get a rough idea for how much that will be by looking at this map to find the annual amount of evaporation in inches. Multiply that by your width and length of your pool in feet (i.e. it's surface area) to get a volume (cubic feet, if you divide the inches by 12) you can convert into gallons.
Second, is whether you have a filter, such as a sand filter, that requires regular backwashing. Third will be splash-out and carry-out, though that is normally not a lot of water unless your bather load (number of people using the pool) is high.
As for electricity costs, this depends a lot on the size of your pool, the length of your pipes, the diameter of your pipes, the flow rate (and if there are special features needing high flow rates), and type of pump. In general, you should get larger diameter pipes -- usually 2" instead of 1.5" unless these are separate split pipes (such as one to floor drains and another to skimmer or separate lines to each of multiple returns). Spending more money up-front for a variable speed or flow pump such as the Pentair Intelliflo will usually save money in the long-run.
If you have a solar system, then that can take a lot more energy, especially if you have a large number of solar panels. More panels require more total flow rate and that requires higher pump speeds and electricity usage.
Obviously, electric costs depend on where you live as killowatt-hour rates vary a lot across the country. Where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the PG&E marginal rate is as high as 32 cents per kilowatt-hour. I used to spend $1200 per year on pump electricity costs, but replaced my main 1 HP pump and a 3/4 HP booster pump for a pool cleaner with a single Pentair Intelliflo VF pump and cut my electricity costs to $600 per year. It would be even lower than that except that I have a solar system that runs a lot since we keep the pool warm at around 88F.
Richard
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