[bcgeo]

My wife and I are in the process of looking for a house and we'd like to get one with a pool for the kids.

Keep in mind that we are pool novices....

We've been looking at a house with the following pool (see pics).

Honestly, the pool scares us because it's so intimidating. The pictures don't really do it justice; it actually feels bigger in person, partially because it is drained. The house is a short sale and the owner was one of the owners of SmartPools before it went under. I've tried to calculate how many gallons it is (again, I don't know much about pools) and I estimate about 32k gallons. The spa is about 10' x 10'.

My question is....how much do you think this would cost to maintain each month? It has a slide and a grotto, but I suppose you don't necessarily have to have those running, right? I also am pretty sure the heater is gas, but we've only viewed the house once and I didn't pay attention. I noticed were lots of electrical and a diatomaceous earth filter. One of the devices also said "No chlorine" so maybe it's a saltwater pool??? Also, there are these well-like things with lids on them nearby.

Anyway, any help would be appreciated....

[bledsoe3]

I don't know anything about pool maintenence, but that is a nice looking pool.

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by bledsoe3

I don't know anything about pool maintenence, but that is a nice looking pool.

Be nicer with a half a dozen bikini clad beauties

[bledsoe3]

Originally Posted by dynimagelv

Be nicer with a half a dozen bikini clad beauties

Why stop at 6?

[dynimagelv]

Cause Im gettin older...I know my limits

[yellowsnow]

That's a beautiful pool.

I would have the pool inspected and write that into my offer. Just for your own peace of mind, you need to know more about the pool and understand how it works. And BTW, I bet there is a solar heater somewhere too. Look up on the roof.

I wish I had known everything wrong with my pool before I bought my house. I knew it needed work but I didn't know how MUCH work it was going to be and I might have budgeted differently.

[macgeek]

The rule of thumb with a pool is $25 a week ($100 a month) it varies a bit with if its a salt water, and how often you need to keep the pumps running.

Ask Steve (AA072) he is the pool expert here, and a really decent guy

Jonathan

[airics]

and make sure that 25 a week includes all the chemicals and filter cleanings also.

[WestieJeff]

That does look like a very beautiful pool! A 32k pool is a large pool. I would guess most pools in Vegas are 12-20k gallons. Looking at cost of the the pool, I would guess it has a salt chlorinator on it.

Monthly cost to run is basically going to consist of:
1) Electricity - Depends if you have a single or variable speed pump and the horsepower. If it's a good variable speed pump (these are not common on pools I've seen yet, but that looks higher end, so it may have one) if it is setup right could cost $20-$40 a month to run. A single speed pump would likely cost $60-$80 a month to run. Also, if you have solar heating on the roof then you won't be able to get much cost savings in the electricity using a variable speed pump since the pump has to move water all the way onto the roof the house. If that's the case, plan on electricity costs closer to the single speed pump amounts.

I have a single speed 1.5hp pump on my 15k pool and it costs around $55 a month in electricity to run it. It can be less in the off season if you turn down the hours the pump runs.

2) Acid - You need to add acid to keep the PH in check. Pretty much everyone needs to do that here in the valley since we have hard water. It's pretty cheap at around $6/gallon. I use about 1/2 gallon of acid a week during on the pool season. None in the off season (probably should, but don't).

3) Chlorine - You need to keep chlorine up in some way. If you're on a salt system, this cost will be only a small amount of electricity used creating chlorine from the salt. Additionally, the salt cell will eventually fail. If you keep your PH in check and clean the cell regularly, 4-5 years is a common lifespan for a salt cell. They cost anywhere from $500-$1200 to replace the cell depending on brand and if you do it yourself or not.

That's most of your monthly costs. Other costs will be gas to heat the spa and additional electricity to run the spa, when you're using it.

Other costs that you will have over time is replacing the pump, filter, salt cell, re-surfacing the pool, kooldecking, replacing pool vacs, etc. That shouldn't be an issue for quite awhile since the pool looks pretty new, but those costs really start to add up after awhile. Just to give you an idea, my 15 year old pool needed to be replastered (I used pebble tech), retiled, re-kooldecked, and the filter needed to be replaced. It was a bit over 13k to do all these items.

I can't wait to get rid of my pool, but we use it maybe twice a season.

This is the best site for pool info that I've found in terms of how to maintain the pool, chemicals, etc: Pool School • Trouble Free Pool . There is a LOT of misinformation out there, especially if you walk in the local pool store and ask them what you should be doing. They'll sell you every specialty chemical in the store if you let em.

[bcgeo]

Thanks for all of the info! Actually, I'm relieved because I thought it would cost more. Sounds like a lot of maintenance, though. The only reason we're thinking about it is because of the kids.....

How much do you think the gas would cost to heat that much water?