Do you take care of your own pool? (how much, home)

[rbe2008]

Rather than pay a service we're wondering approximately how much it costs to maintain a small pool. I guess you need a creepy crawler or a vacuum to clean the bottom. What type of chemicals do you use weekly and how much does it cost? Trying to determine how much it would save us to do it ourselves!

Thanks for any info you can share!!

[LBTRS]

I take care of my own pool. A bottle of Muriatic Acid lasts about a month and that's all I need. I have a Salt Water pool. I would say I spend about 1-2 hours a month and less than $10 in chemicals.

[SpaceNeedle]

We recently decided to save $110/month and started to take care the pool ourselves. We found this forum to be extremely helpful. This forum had all the answers we needed from testing/adjusting pool chemicals to pool equipment maintenance.

We also found this Pool Calculator quite handy for newbies like us.

Good luck .

[joninaz]

Pretty much any pool store in the region will computer test your pool water for free - just take in a water sample... takes 5 minutes. They'll tell you exactly what you need to add... 2 cups of acid, some chlorine, etc. The basic chemicals are relatively inexpensive... $20 a month maybe. You might occasionally need speciality product for algae, phosphates, etc. and those are a tad more ($20 or so for a bottle), but not too bad and only a few times a year.

What is expensive is the equipment. The creepy crawlers and other things are pricey - several hundred dollars. I just bought a leaf basket - an $8 piece of plastic. Turns out I needed the same basket but with a screw hole in the bottom. That was $12. So an extra $4 for a small hole!

The other cost is running the pump... which some people do in the day and others at night "off peak." I'm not sure what this actually costs per month because I run the pump more in the summer but my AC is also cranking all day, so the electirc bills are always elevated in the hot months.

Overall, it's cheaper to do yourself, but so is anything else. But it's not hard to do either.

[YAZ]

Originally Posted by SpaceNeedle

We recently decided to save $110/month and started to take care the pool ourselves. We found this forum to be extremely helpful. This forum had all the answers we needed from testing/adjusting pool chemicals to pool equipment maintenance.

We also found this Pool Calculator quite handy for newbies like us.

Good luck .

I'm a regular there.

Lots of smart, experienced pool owners.

They've helped me out a lot......

[roosevelt]

I took care of my own pool for about 2 years and gave up. I have used a pool service ever since, once a week, currently $80 a month. The guy cleans all the debris from the bottom, vacuums the pool which takes forever, back washes, balances the chemicals, cleans the water line tile and leaves the pool crystal clear. I pay for the chemicals.

[YAZ]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

I took care of my own pool for about 2 years and gave up. I have used a pool service ever since, once a week, currently $80 a month. The guy cleans all the debris from the bottom, vacuums the pool which takes forever, back washes, balances the chemicals, cleans the water line tile and leaves the pool crystal clear. I pay for the chemicals.

Taking care of the pool is my new hobby.

I spend more time doing that than enjoying it.

It's all good though.

[rbe2008]

Thanks for all the info:-)

[F40]

I also take care of my pool . Golden rule, if you do nothing but keep it chlorinated it will nevah go green.

Oh I also do not run my pump every day, about every 4 th or 5 th day for a few hours or just enough to do a quick vac of the bottom if it needs it.

[azriverfan.]

I pay for a service. Honestly, it's not much work but the reason I pay for a service is it brings me peace of mind knowing that if I forget to empty the baskets or check the chemicals, my pool won't suffer. I used to do it on my own but I found it was really easy to miss a week here and there. Nonetheless, if you are home or want to save money, you can save a considerable amount of money buy doing it yourself. If you are always on the go and are away from home, I recommend a pool service but if you know if someone is going to be home, then you could probably do it yourself.

For a reliable pool service which includes chemicals and cleaning, you are talking about $100 a month. I know "We Fix Ugly Pools" charges $95. I have a guy I've been using for a long time but I looked into them. If you can afford it, I definitely recommend hiring a service though