Water bills for homes with pools (water heater, costs, pool)

[gtbguy]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Around $100 for my electric in the winter months.

So you want a pool to use in the non pool season? You'll need a pool heater then and that will drastically raise your electric/gas bill in the winter months if you're trying to heat a pool. DON'T GET A POOL if you're only going to be here in the non-swimming season. You'll quickly tire of swimming in the cold and having to take care of it all year even when you're not in the area. Get a hot tub.

Point well taken. My wife is not so excited about dealing with a pool, its more of the "husband's idea". She for one is worried about the liability, maintenance, and as you mentioned probably wouldn't use it much. I personally see using it occasionally but not often. I did previously mention in the summer months I probably wouldn't be there much but since I do have rentals in the area, I do need to be there on and off year round. Therefore, I could easily be there in the summer (when I have too) but I have no plans on living there full time in the summer. We live in New Mexico so the drive to the Phoenix area is not to bad and we could pick up and leave on a moment's notice so the pool is more of a nice thing than anything else. Either way, its nice to have an idea of the costs to run the thing.

[gtbguy]

Originally Posted by sandy6879

Heating a pool in the winter months can be extraordinarily high. My husband's boss told us he heated his over Thanksgiving and his gas bill was over $500 for 2 days of having the heat on. Not worth it.

Oookay, now we're talking real money. I"m not about to pay that kind of money to heat a pool for two days. If there is a heater it will obviously be turned off (or not added if there is not one with the pool).

Thanks for this information!

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by gtbguy

Oookay, now we're talking real money. I"m not about to pay that kind of money to heat a pool for two days. If there is a heater it will obviously be turned off (or not added if there is not one with the pool).

Thanks for this information!

Most pools here don't have heaters as they are cost prohibitive to use.

[sandy6879]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Most pools here don't have heaters as they are cost prohibitive to use.

We plumbed ours for one since we plan on selling the house at some point and having the ability to put one in may be attractive for someone. I just can't justify the cost of actually purchasing the heater and then running one. A hot tub is probably a better choice.

[steam109]

I live in a apt complex and my water trash and sewer fees are almost $45. I dont trust the apt complex people...

[antispam]

We have a heat pump that keeps our pool heated at 89F throughout the winter months. We also have an autocover on the pool to minimize heat loss.
It costs an average of $100 per month extra to keep the pool heated. Heat pumps are very efficient and are cheap to operate. I am guessing the ones with higher bills have some other type of heater, instead of a heat pump?

[ajonesaz]

Originally Posted by gtbguy

Oookay, now we're talking real money. I"m not about to pay that kind of money to heat a pool for two days. If there is a heater it will obviously be turned off (or not added if there is not one with the pool).

Thanks for this information!

Solar pool heaters are the way to go, natural gas just isn't worth it. Also don't forget a weekly pool service, especially in the summer. I have been quoted $20 a week but do all the service myself. Even so I spend $40 on chlorine and chemicals in the summer.

[KurtAZ]

Chandler: City utility (water/trash) is $78 most months. I did have to drain and re-fill the pool last year...I think my bill went up $30.

[locolife]

We've had a pool for a year now, other than the month we had to drain it for resurfacing our water bill has never been over $40 in a month. I am however looking into adding a system that automatically adds a liquid pool cover each day/week to prevent evaporation, not because the city is charging me a lot, but because I feel like it's the right thing to do when I'm storing 20,000 gallons of water in the backyard in the middle of the driest metro in the U.S.

I'm sure your thoughts are more focused on personal financial impact, but this seems very wasteful. An entire pool for a few days of use a year... I would highly suggest looking for a neighborhood with a community pool. As a first time pool owner myself I would never want to deal with this much upkeep, cost and commitment in a second residence.

[sunluv]

Looking at the posts here, there are a few unanswered questions:

-I suspect that much of the summer electrical bills are due to AC. To anyone who has taken the time to determine it, how much of each bills is due to pool related power consumption?

-Anyone who has heated a pool for a period of time during the winter? How much was it on a monthly basis, and how large was the pool? Was it heated continually, or would it make sense to heat it up as needed?

-Solar water heaters...initial cost, effectiveness and monthly costs afterwards?

-Based on this, when I'm ready to have something built, I might stick with a nice jacuzzi.