Pool maintenance costs: what annual budget should you allow for?
Proper pool maintenance is essential to keep the water clean and to continue to use it trouble-free over the years. The only problem: this maintenance necessarily has a certain cost. Before installing a pool, it is therefore necessary to be aware of the annual costs.
What should you take into account in the pool maintenance cost?
Water, electricity, maintenance products, etc. How much will your pool cost you every year?
The water budget
Water obviously plays an important part in the expenses of a pool, especially when it is first commissioned. But the good news is that it is not necessary to completely fill your pool every year. It is even recommended to avoid entirely emptying the pool.
So, how much water does a full pool consume? The water level in your pool will regularly need to be lowered and then raised again. For a 48 m³ pool, you should count on a volume of around 12 m³ per year, i.e. 12,000 litres. Based on the average water price in France in 2020 (€4.08/m³), one can estimate a water budget of just under €50.
Electricity
Electricity is essential to operate the filtration of your pool. The duration of daily filtration depends on the water temperature: divide the temperature by 2 to obtain the required period of filtration. For example, water at 20 °C must be filtered for 10 hours. By estimating the filtration time over the year, you can calculate the electricity bill for your pool.
The electricity cost for a pool is generally around €250. For a more precise estimate, take into account the price of electricity for your home, then estimate the required filtration time for your pool over the year and the consumption of your pump.
Insurance
The addition of a pool to your home will have an impact on your insurance. Depending on the contract, residential insurance can be extended to cover a pool, but you may need to take out an additional insurance policy.
Obligatory coverage for pool owners includes third-party liability and property damage. If your pool was built by professionals, you will have to take out structural damage insurance, which generally costs €80.
Taxes
As your pool is an extension to your house, it will affect the amount of your council and property taxes. These taxes vary according to the municipality. Your tax office will be able to inform you of the exact amount, but you should generally count on an increase of around €80 per year.
Good to know: above-ground and removable pools are not concerned by this tax.
Maintenance equipment
For proper pool maintenance, you will also have to purchase certain special equipment: a pool net, a robot or manual pool cleaner, test strips or an electronic tester, etc. Not all this equipment needs to be replaced every year, but it will generate expenses when you commission a new pool and from time to time when you need to replace certain elements.
Maintenance products
The use of maintenance products in your pool water will enable you to keep your bathing water clean. These products include:
– the disinfectant chosen for your pool (chlorine, bromine, salt, etc.);
– pH correctors;
– additional products like flocculant or algaecide.
Maintenance products can be quite expensive and it is important to always have them in store at home to enable you to immediately rebalance the water when the need arises. They will account for a significant part of your expenses.
Pool maintenance products
Your pool water needs treatment to remain clean. Several choices of treatment are available to you. Of course, each of these solutions will not generate the same expenses. So, how much does it cost to run a chlorine, bromine or salt treatment system?
Chlorine
You should count around €230 per year for chlorine treatment, which includes all the necessary treatment products: anti-limescale, chlorine, pH rebalancing and flocculant.
Bromine
With a bromine pool, water treatment is hardly any more expensive, i.e. around €260. Here too, the price includes bromine, anti-limescale and pH corrector.
On the other hand, a bromine pool also requires the installation of a brominator, which will cost around €150 for a device that will last around ten years. However, this expense need only be taken into account at the time of installation and will not change the subsequent yearly cost of pool maintenance.
Salt
The products necessary for a salt pool are the least expensive on a yearly basis, because you can get by on an annual budget of around €150, including the purchase of salt, flocculant, anti-limescale and pH correctors.
But like bromine, a salt pool system requires a specific piece of equipment — an electrolyser. This device will require an investment of around €1,500 for installation and then €500 every 4 years to change the electrodes. These additional costs mean that, in the end, salt treatment can be more expensive than chlorine or bromine treatment.
Estimate the annual maintenance costs for a pool
Let's recapitulate all the elements detailed above to estimate the maintenance cost for a chlorine pool, because it is the most common and least expensive configuration. The maintenance of your pool will cost, on average:
– €50 for water;
– €250 electricity;
– €80 for taxes;
– €230 for maintenance products;
– €80 for insurance;
The total yearly maintenance budget for a chlorine pool is therefore around €690.
The maintenance cost for a heated pool
If your pool is heated, your costs will obviously be higher and will depend on the method you choose to heat the pool. Thus:
– A heat pump requires about €200 of electricityto heat a pool for 5 months.
– An electric heater is the most costly solution, around €700 for electricity.
– A heat exchanger represents €400 for electricity.
– Finally, solar heating is the most economical solution, excluding the installation of equipment, because it does not require any electricity and depends entirely on solar energy, which is free!
Pool maintenance costs: each case is unique
To properly estimate the necessary budget for the upkeep of your pool, you should adapt the above information to your particular case.
The first thing to take into account is the chosen water disinfection method, but you will also have to calculate the costs based on the current rates in your municipality. The price of water and electricity can vary from one region to another, and so can local taxes. Of course, the size and depth of your pool will also serve as the basis for precise calculation.
For a more specific idea of the operating cost of your pool, and to decide whether you can assume this expense, divide it by the average number of days that your pool will be used during the year. Thus, based on the example given above, if you swim around 150 days per year (every day for 5 months), your pool will cost you around €4.60 per day of use.
A few tips to reduce your pool budget
Adopting good habits will help you reduce pool costs and facilitate maintenance. Here are three tips you can apply.
Install a pool cover
Covering your pool will greatly facilitate its maintenance. A cover limits the quantity of dirt, dust and dead leaves that fall into the water, as well as the risk of the pool coming into contact with rainwater. This will enable you to spend less time cleaning your pool and to use fewer products to rebalance the pH.
If you have a heated pool, covering it will also reduce heat loss, so the pool will require less heating and your electricity bill will be lower.
Finally, a pool cover also provides greater bathing comfort, with water that will stay warmer for a longer part of the year. It is also an important element for pool safety, especially if you have children.
Perform regular maintenance
Correct pool maintenance will help you avoid incidents with costly consequences. You should check the pH level at least once a week and rebalance it if necessary. You should also regularly clean your pool and maintenance equipment.
By keeping your pool clean, with well-balanced water, you will limit the risks of the development of algae or bacteria in the water, and the need to apply specific and costly treatment to solve the problem.
Winterise your pool
Preparing your pool for the winter is an important task that can help you save money. Indeed, correct winterising will help you preserve good water quality and rapidly recommission the pool in the spring. You will thus reduce the quantity of products necessary and cut down on filtration time when you want to use the pool again.
