If you are thinking about installing a swimming pool in your yard, you may be wondering about the cost of maintaining a pool. Although costs can vary depending upon a variety of factors including your area and the size of your pool, you can get a rough estimate of costs by reading this article.
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Properly Maintaining Your Pool
In order to properly maintain your pool, you will need to run the filter, use chemicals to open and close the pool at the start and close of the season, and use chemicals to maintain your pool during the season. In some areas, you may not have to open and close your pool because you can swim year round. However, most pool owners in the United States will need to figure in opening and closing costs when looking at how much it costs to maintain a swimming pool.
Total cost Per Season
It costs about $200 per season. Running your filter will cost a little bit more money. Depending upon the cost of electricity in your area, you can expect to pay about $20 per month to run your filter 24 hours a day. You can add the cost of electricity to the $200 per season cost.
The pool experts point out that your costs can be increased if you have a large pool or if you do a lot of swimming during the season. However, the above costs are a good place to start with an estimate of your costs.
Hiring an Expert
Some people prefer to leave the pool maintenance to an expert. If you want to hire a pool maintenance service to come in on a regular basis and take care of your pool, this will cost you more money per season. Some people only hire a pool maintenance service to take care of opening and closing their pool however. This will cost significantly less than hiring a service to maintain your pool for the entire season.
Getting Your Water Tested
You should regularly test your pool water in order to determine what kinds of chemicals are needed. A pool test kit in somewhat inexpensive and can cost about $10. You will need to purchase a new kit every year. Some people do not like to test their own pool water. If this is the case, you can find many places that will test your pool water for free. Hardware stores and pool stores all will test your water for free and make recommendations about the types of chemicals that are needed to maintain or treat your pool water. For example, if the ph levels are too high in your pool, the staff at the store can recommend the types of products that will help you to decrease the ph levels.
Opening and Closing Your Pool
At the start of pool season, most likely your pool water will be green. In order to get sparkling clear water, you will need to put chemicals into the water. These include chemicals to balance the ph as well as chemicals to kill the algae in the water. Likewise, at the end of the year, you will need to close the pool by adding different chemicals in order for your pool to over-winter. Pool opening and closing can cost abut $35. While you may not want to spend the money in order to properly close or open your pool, not spending that money will cost you quite a bit more money in the long run.
Maintenance
Of course, you need to set aside money for a rainy day too. Eventually, you will have to replace your liner or put in new sand in the sand filter. You may even need to replace your filter or filter motor. You will most likely have to replace your pool cleaning net and brush on a regular basis. A pool cleaning net can cost about $10 and a brush may cost around $7 depending upon where you live. A new filter can cost several hundred dollars depending upon the size of your pool. A new motor for your pool can cost about $200 but the price depends on the size of your pool also. New sand for your filter will probably cost about $25. A new liner for your pool can cost several hundred dollars depending upon if you want a plain liner or a liner with a special design. If you have a pool that is a smaller size or is round, you can probably purchase a liner much more inexpensively than if you had a larger pool or an oval shaped pool.
While properly maintaining a pool during pool season will cost you several hundred dollars, many people feel that having a pool to enjoy is well worth the cost.
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