Costs of operating a pool in terms of electricity

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T

tsar

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2022
160
Westchester County, New York
Hi Folks,

I am a newbie and I wanted to understand the operating cost of running my pool in terms of $$$ for electricity. I have a separate heater as well, but just in general -

Here are the specifics of the pool
- 16k gallons pool, 15x33feet gunite pool, 3M dark finish
- salt water pool
- hayward + pentair fns plus fiberglass DE filter
- hayward super II NSE-50 pump
- Intellichlor SWCG
- pb4-60 booster pump
- heater (let's ignore the gas based heating cost - still need to figure out how that runs)

Now I assume the main power usage comes from two things

Electricity cost - 15c/kwh
Season - 6/7 months - 200 days

- Hayward Super II NSE-50 Pump - HP 3/4, 0.55 KW, 115/230V, AMPS - 11.0/5.5 - this is 1.26KWH * 8 hr/day (80F temprature) * 200* 0.15 = 302$ (approx)
- Pb4-60 booster pump - HP 3/4 so assuming its also 1.26Kwh * 3hr/day * 200 * 0.15 = 113$

Does this sound correct?
 
tsar said:
- Hayward Super II NSE-50 Pump - HP 3/4, 0.55 KW, 115/230V, AMPS - 11.0/5.5 - this is 1.26KWH * 8 hr/day (80F temprature) * 200* 0.15 = 302$ (approx)
- Pb4-60 booster pump - HP 3/4 so assuming its also 1.26Kwh * 3hr/day * 200 * 0.15 = 113$

Does this sound correct?
Click to expand...

Yup, about $1.50/day to run your filter pump.
 
Last edited:
What does this mean?

hayward + pentair fns plus fiberglass DE filter
Click to expand...

Do you have a Hayward filter or a Pentair filter?

In general, having a saltwater chlorine generator on a pool with a single speed pump is a bad idea. You are running a water pump at its full energy usage even though the SWG doesn’t need that high of a flow rate to activate it and turnovers in a pool are unimportant. Most pools only need around 2 hours of skimming to keep the water clean and circulated. Your pressure cleaner is also using a ton of energy.

You could lower your energy usage substantially by simply switching to a variable speed pump and then scheduling the pressure cleaner to run less frequently. You could switch to a robot cleaner but they are costly upfront and do not typically last more than 5 years before significant and expensive failures crop up. Even so, if they are handled with good care practices, you could easily get your cleaner costs below $200/season (their power usage is minimal … around 150W and they usually only need a 2 hour cleaning cycle)
 
@JoyfulNoise/@JamesW - Went out, and had a look again - I have a pentair filter, and hayward de separator. (new owner figuring it out, pool came with the house)

> Most pools only need around 2 hours of skimming to keep the water clean and circulated. Your pressure cleaner is also using a ton of energy.
> You could lower your energy usage substantially by simply switching to a variable speed pump and then scheduling the pressure cleaner to run less frequently.

Hmm.. need to read up more on this. Also what variable speed pump would you suggest, and how do I find out if I have a single speed or a variable speed?

This is a picture of the specs on the filter pump. Let me know how long I should run it.

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It's NSF - 50.

The purpose of NSF/ANSI Standard 50 (NSF 50) is to establish minimum requirements for materials, design, construction and performance of products integral to the water circulation systems of residential and public bodies of recreational water.

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NSF/ANSI Standard 61 is a standard defining the requirements for products that are destined for use in drinking water systems. In summary, the standard requires immersion testing of all products that will come into contact with drinking water for any elements (i.e., lead, mercury, cadmium, etc.) that may leach into the water that passes through the product.

NSF/ANSI Standard 50 provides a comprehensive product evaluation for health effects safety, performance validation and safety for factors such as burst, sustained pressure, cyclic pressure, head loss, UV resistance, tensile strength, impact and load testing, turbidity reduction, filtration efficacy, bacterial disinfection efficacy, cyst inactivation, durability or life testing, chemical resistance, corrosion resistance and electrical safety.

This applies to various filter media diatomite and other pre-coat media filters, granular media filters, cartridge filters, skimmers, pumps, valves, suction fittings or other equipment that may be used in pools, spas and other recreational water facilities.
 

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I agree with @JamesW . There's no reason not to go with the vsp which allows for longer and more efficient pump time when it should creep up on you for instance after the occasional monsoon rain that will cloud up the water or a heavy pollen season. Also robotic cleaners, expensive they are but since the pool is a luxury item so will the robot be too. It doesn't have to be the all fancy wifi wireless...... get the simple stuff that albeit isn't free but still less then the top models that have bells and whistles that most people could care less.
 
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