The economics of having a pool
If you own a house with a swimming pool you know what it requires. So if you live in a largish home and are thinking of adding a swimming pool to your home you should know what it requires, the amount of time and money your need to spend on maintaining it etc. Maintaining a swimming pool takes a lot of time and money including maintaining the pumps, the valves, the electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems. This is what you have to consider:
If a pool is made well and maintained well it will probably serve you for a long time. One of the biggest concerns with a pool is algae. The amount of water a pool can hold etc can also vary the amount you will spend on your pool.
Maintaining the chemical balance of the water is very important and the more often a pool is used the more chemicals you will need to use. If you have a chlorinating system you don’t need to buy chemicals but if you don’t you will need to stock up on chlorine, acid and a few more.
Then your pool needs to have filters and the cost of these will vary from type to type. The different types are:
Cartridges: These are very convenient and require minimal input on your part but cost a lot more.
Sand Filter: These are cheap but you need to keep replacing the sand, which is a bother.
DE: There are filters which use diatomaceous earth and this has to be replaced each time the pool is backwashed.
Then obviously there is the added cost of utilities. With a pool your water bill will obviously be more expensive and since you’ll be using a pump quite frequently your electricity bill is also going to be quite high.
Other than this you will incur costs on the pump and heaters from time to time as the cleaning system might need to be replaced or repaired and there is also the time that you invest that is to be considered.
