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A swimming pool can be a wonderful asset to your home, helping to keep you comfortable during our long, hot summer. However, running your own pool can be a significant cost not just in chemicals, but in electricity and water bills as well. How you manage your pool can have a big bearing on your total annual costs, and we've got plenty of tips to help you do that.
Pool pump energy costs can make up 30% of a household’s energy bills and with the prospect of rising power prices, there’s never been a better time to look at ways to make your pool more efficient.
Trim the pool pump running time – pool pumps consume large amounts of energy and many are run longer than they need to be to maintain a healthy pool. By reducing the running time by just 1 hour / day, you can save at least $60/year. Fit a timer switch if you don’t already have one – this will ensure consistency and keep your pool to stay clean even if you are away.
Want to know how long to run your pool pump for, how much your current regime is costing you, and how much you can save? Check out our handy pool pump calculator here.
Be aware that if you have a salt pool chlorinator and you reduce your pumping times, you may have to increase the chlorination rate to compensate. Do regular water checks if you are altering your pumping regime to ensure the quality of the pool water is not compromised.
Your pool pump is a heavy consumer of electricity, and for a typical domestic pool this can cost from $380 to $800 per annum. Ideally, the pool pump needs to run long enough for all the pool water to pass through the filter at least once a day and, for a salt chlorinated pool, long enough to generate sufficient chlorine for effective sanitisation.
A pool pump motor is typically sized to provide sufficient power for tough tasks like priming, backwashing and vacuuming. The power required to move water around for day to day filtration is typically quite a bit less, but the typical pump doesn’t provide the ability to reduce speed – it’s flat out or nothing! This results in energy being wasted forcing water through your system at higher than necessary pressures.
With a variable speed pool pump, you can select different speeds depending on the work that needs to be done. This can result in savings of around $350 to $500 a year on your pool running costs.
It’s important to note that the savings of such a pump can only be realised through correct use, in conjunction with good pool maintenance. A variable speed pump could actually increase your running costs if you leave it on the highest speed setting.
You can read more about the variable speed pool pump in our pool fact sheet.
Want to know how much your pool pump is costing you, and what you could save? You can use our pool pump calculator to work out how much your current pool pump is costing you to run.
