Pool maintenance costs (Las Vegas: RV park, new house, to buy)

winterer · 04-22-2009, 07:24 PM

What is the yearly cost to maintain a good sized pool in Las Vegas.

Thanks

photobuff42 · 04-22-2009, 08:06 PM

It cost me 110 for monthly pool service. Doesn't include any costs for equipment break down.

BUGBULLY · 04-22-2009, 10:03 PM

$50 a month for chemical service only, we have pop-ups and skim it ourselves. We have two pumps and was told that it would be about $3.00 a day in electric to run them. We have not received our first electric bill in our new house, so we will see. We did take out about half the water and refilled it. Rented to pump from Home Depot for $50.00 for the day. And have not got the water bill, but was told about $60.00 for the water. We have a home warranty that covers the pool, so I believe most of the equipment will be covered.

olecapt · 04-22-2009, 10:37 PM

Drop a DM to AA702. He is a very good pool guy and can give you a good idea of the costs.

It is against the rules to recommend services on the open side of the list but if I could do it I would.

BUGBULLY · 04-22-2009, 10:51 PM

AA702 is our pool guy, he will be able to answer you questions.

RedRockAAAA · 04-22-2009, 11:55 PM

A. Yes, Bugbully, home warranty does cover pool equipment. Now we wanna see your string bikini shot by the pool. I know you're enjoying it, wtg.

B. olecapt, lol, you have been skirting or skating or chancing all day. You know what I mean. But, oh yes we can give recommendations on public side, just not for a realtor. I think. Maybe. Am I sure? One more demerit and they'll probably send me to remedial CD.

C. winterer ... $750 to $1800 depending on the size of the pool, what services you want performed and how often you want service. All equipment change outs are extra. BugBully's autographed photos are extra too, but well worth it. Nothing like a great lady with great tats. Reread I said tats.

BUGBULLY · 04-23-2009, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedRockAAAA

A. Yes, Bugbully, home warranty does cover pool equipment. Now we wanna see your string bikini shot by the pool. I know you're enjoying it, wtg.

B. olecapt, lol, you have been skirting or skating or chancing all day. You know what I mean. But, oh yes we can give recommendations on public side, just not for a realtor. I think. Maybe. Am I sure? One more demerit and they'll probably send me to remedial CD.

C. winterer ... $750 to $1800 depending on the size of the pool, what services you want performed and how often you want service. All equipment change outs are extra. BugBully's autographed photos are extra too, but well worth it. Nothing like a great lady with great tats. Reread I said tats.

LMAO, Sorry No string bikini for me!

WestieJeff · 04-23-2009, 10:15 AM

Obviously it depends on if you're doing it yourself or hiring someone.

If you're hiring someone, get a reference and make sure they know what they are doing. I handle my pool myself, but have heard it is usually around $110/month to have them come out and do chemicals, skim the pool, etc. There is a service I've heard of called Pool Chlor and supposedly they charge around $65/month. Supposedly they are able to charge less since they chlorinate the pool using chlorine gas rather than liquid chlorine. I've read about their methods and it seems solid to me, I'd probably use them if I didn't do it myself.

Now, if you're doing it yourself, step one, don't dare listen to the idiots at Leslies or any other pool store. Most likely they will sell you a ton of chlorine pucks (the kind that sit in the floater) and also granular chlorine. What they won't tell you is that the granular chlorine and chlorine pucks all add stabilizer (CYA) to the water. Having stabilizer in the water is good, but having too much is bad. Stabilizer binds up with the chlorine in the water and prevents it from being used up by the sun, which is good since we get a lot of sun here. The problem is that the chlorine that is bound up with stabilizer is not available to kill bad stuff in the water, so what that means is the more stabilizer you have in the water, the higher the amount of chlorine you need in the water to still have the chlorine doing it's job. The problem with using granular chlorine and chlorine pucks is that they continually add stabilizer (CYA) to the water (therefore continually increasing the amount of chlorine you need to add to the water) and the only way to ever remove stabilizer is to physically dump the pool water out, there is no way to chemically (at least no affordable way) remove CYA nor does CYA break down on it's own in any kind of reasonable timeframe.

I used to maintain my pool using the crap from Leslies before I knew all this and would always have algae problems by the end of the season (since I was not increasing the amount of chlorine I was using even though my stabilizer level was increasing over the course of the season).

I now use only liquid chlorine (plain ol unscented clorox bleach) which does not have any stabilizer or CYA in it. I test for stabilizer (you have to order a test kit for that online, they don't sell it locally in any of the pool stores) at the beginning and end of the pool season and adjust it using usually just enough granular chlorine to bring the CYA level up to where I want it.

I should add that the above information doesn't apply if you are using a salt water chlorine generator (you shouldn't be using any type of pucks or granular chlorine in that case). You still need CYA in a salt water pool, but at lower levels than a regular non-salt water pool.

If you're interested in self maintaining a pool, a great tutorial that is full of correct information (they explain it too) is at Pool School • Trouble Free Pool

Anyways, back to the original question. I have a 15,000 gallon non-saltwater pool that I self maintain and I budget as follows for the year:

110 1.5 gallon bottles of clorox (from costco) - $2.30/ea - $253
12 gallons muratic acid - $6.50/ea - $78
Testing supplies - $40
Misc (stabilizer, etc.) - $50
Pool Cartridges Filters (total cost $330 and replace every 3 years) - $110/yr.

Total Cost/yr: $531

That doesn't include replacement hardware (pumps, etc) nor electricity. The pool pump easily adds $50/month or more to my electric bill, but I have an inefficent single speed pump. It would be quite a bit less if I had either a two speed pump or a variable speed pump, which is what most newer pools should have.

winterer · 04-23-2009, 01:57 PM

Excellent! Now the only question that remains is whether to buy a house in Las Vegas (with a pool)!

BUGBULLY · 04-23-2009, 05:16 PM

I suggest it. We just got ours for $170,000 it is about 2700 square feet with a 3 car garage. Friends of ours just got their offer accepted for a home that is 1800 square foot, with a 3 car garage, pool, built in bbq, with sink area, and area for a fridge, and RV Parking for $150,000. There are some good deals out there, but you have to be quick. Pools go quick in our heat.