How much does a pool cost to maintain?

I want a pool. So we are looking for a house that already has one or a house with a big enough yard where we can have one installed. But I don't know the cost of maintenance. Assuming in ground pools are more expensive.

Re: How much does a pool cost to maintain?

normal operating costs...

in the summer adds about $100 ish to the electric bill...

Chlorine is about $200 for the season...

so its prob around under $1,000 per year.

that is just NORMAL operating expenses...

Time is another thing.. vacuuming, testing etc...

and this does not include long term maintenance.. if its a pool with a liner that needs to be change every 10-12yrs ($3,000 ish)... any MAJOR system failures can be expensive...

Re: How much does a pool cost to maintain?

If the pool is there, ask how old it is. And if the liner needs to be replaced because that can be costly. Make sure the cover is in good shape too. (We have a loop lock and I think it was 1000.) Also make sure the permits are good and the pool is properly fenced in. This year my pool has cost alot. It's a 16x32 w/roman ends and opening it was 400. chemicals so far has run me another 400. and it's not even July. The kids love it though and it is a nice feature but very time consuming and pricey.

Re: How much does a pool cost to maintain?

We have an in ground pool which is Gunnite. So there are 2 different kinds of pools. One with Liners (vinyl) and ones with Gunite.

A gunite pool has to be re-marble dusted about every 10-15 years at a cost of $7,000 to $10,000. That's to make the sides smooth.

We have pool service. The bill is about $1700 for the season which includes open, close and weekly vacuum.

We have oil for heat (shoot me now). We fill the tank at the beginning of the summer for about $900. I might need one more tank if we heat the pool a lot.

Power? Cant really say. But you have to run the pool.

If you are on city water keep in mind for the water cost. Its not huge (maybe $100) but keep that in mind. We did for our last house and we had a leak. $800 water bill made us die!

Re: How much does a pool cost to maintain?

I bought a home with a 2 year old Inground pool. We used to pay someone to open and close which cost $700 a year. My gas and electric combined is $250 (balanced billing) nd we have a pool heater and central air. My dh runs both like crazy!! Chemicals are annoying. My water isn't ready yet and we have spend about $200 in chemicals so far. You will definitely need a robot To vacuum. We just got a new one because our old one (7 years old) has a broken part. It is a complete pain but I can't wait to take my ds swimming and I look forward to summers in the pool with my kids in a few years.

Re: How much does a pool cost to maintain?

Re: How much does a pool cost to maintain?

a salt generator pool doesn't use chemicals, so there is zero cost for chlorine.

Our biggest expense is running the heater, we like to keep the pool at 85-90 depending on the weather.

How much does a pool cost to maintain?

im not sure of an above ground pool but an in ground pool can get pretty expensive to run.

chemicals - we don't use ph+/- bc its a gunite pool but i know those other chemicals do get expensive.
we use shock, chlorine tablets, stabilizer and muratic acid to regulate the ph (when needed which is pretty rare - its almost july and my ph has been perfect since opening)
any of the warehouse clubs have the chlorine tablet for $100 which usually lasts a season
i buy only liquid shock which bjs sells for $14 per case (4 in a case) i use 2-3 gallons a week depending on the weather so thats about 200 for the season.
stablizier is pretty inexpensive maybe 30 or so.
muratic acid for me - again very inexpensive - i got a case for $25 and haven't even used it yet.
so the cost of chemicals for my pool is about 350 or so for the season.

opening and closing is about 700.
my loop lock cover is old and needs to be replaced - got a quote and its an additional 3000.

but the most expensive thing is per year is electricity!!!! i run my pool 10 hrs a day. i don't know how much i actually pay for the pool to run but I'm on a budget of 350 a month and usually wind up owing another 1000 by the end of the year. (this includes all electricity in the house though)

keep in mind parts do break down. after every thing was said and done my pool cost almost 20k to fix this year. - we had a crack in the coping - so we needed new coping new marble dust and of course the pump and blower to my spa went so that had to be replaced. its alot of maintenance and just like anything else it need to be serviced. i have my heater serviced yearly and its an additional 300. add oil to the tank and depending how often the heater is used its an addition 1000 expense

so for my pool with a heater and spa, opening and closing it costs about
2300 a season without electricity.