- [Instructor] The worst part about owning a pool
is pouring hundreds and thousands of dollars
into taking care of it.
So if you're looking for ways to save money,
maintaining your pool, here are 12 money saving pool tips
that'll keep that green in your pocket
and out of your water, check it out.
(upbeat music)
(water splash)
Real quick, before we continue.
If you want more help taking care of your pool,
be sure to grab our free pool care cheat sheet
at SwimUniversity.com/CheatSheet.
It's totally free and we'll help you
keep your pool clean and clear all season long.
Tip number one,
use a solar cover to retain pool heat and chemicals.
Solar pool covers AKA solar blankets
are large sheets of insulating plastic
that look like bubble wrap and lie on the top
of your pool water.
They help warm up your water by capturing the sun's energy
and help retain heat by reducing water evaporation,
especially at night.
When water evaporates from your pool,
you'll lose both heat and chemicals in that water.
A solar blanket can help stop this from happening.
Tip number two,
use a solar dome or black irrigation hose to heat your pool.
Gas and electric pool heaters
can quickly run up your utility bill.
If you're looking for a cheaper way to warm up your water,
you may wanna consider a solar dome.
A solar dome collects the sun's rays
and circulates your pool water through warming channels
before returning it to your pool.
If you wanna save even more money,
you can make your own solar heater
with black irrigation hose and a sump pump.
It's the same concept as a solar dome,
you pull water out of your cool through a sump pump
and into a large coil of black irrigation hose.
The water warms up in that black hose
and then returns to your pool.
It's a simple low tech way to harness free energy
from the sun to heat up your water.
Tip number three, use baking soda to raise alkalinity.
Baking soda is a cheaper alternative
to alkalinity increaser.
In fact, some brands of alkalinity increaser
have just one active ingredient, sodium bicarbonate.
Well guess what?
That's just baking soda.
Just be aware that baking soda is a little more powdery
than standard alkalinity increaser.
This may cause your pool to cloud up
so add small amounts at a time to avoid cloudiness.
Tip number four, learn how to close your pool yourself.
It can cost hundreds of dollars
to hire someone to close your pool.
So one of the best ways you can save a ton of money
each year is to learn how to winterize your pool yourself.
If you want a step-by-step walkthrough
on how to close your pool,
be sure to check out our other pool closing tutorial videos.
Tip number five,
keep your pool cover clean during the winter.
If you keep your pool cover clean during the winter,
you can save yourself from having to use a ton of chemicals
to clear up swamp like water in the spring.
Throughout the winter, use a pool cover pump
to get any water off the top of your cover.
And when the cover is dry,
use a soft broom to remove leaves and debris.
Tip number six, run your pump less.
You want all of your pool water to circulate
through your filter system once per day.
This is called your turnover rate.
Once you have this number,
you can run your system
for the exact amount of time you need
versus the standard rule of thumb,
which is eight to 12 hours a day.
If you end up needing to run your pump
for four to six hours a day,
this will save you a lot of money on your electric bill.
For help calculating your turnover rate,
check out our article on SwimUniversity.com.
Now, if you live in a milder climate
or it's not as warm out,
you may be able to run your pump even less.
That's because algae thrives in warmer temperatures.
And if you keep your pool open during the winter
and the colder months,
you can run your pool even less
around two to three hours a day.
Finally, you may also wanna consider
investing in a variable speed pump
that uses even less energy.
Tip number seven, run your pool pump at night.
The peak hours for most electric companies are from 7:00 AM
to 7:00 PM during the week.
This is when it costs the most money to use electricity.
So run your pump during off peak hours
to take advantage of a lower electricity rate.
Tip number eight,
buy pool chemicals in the off season and in bulk.
Pools stores like to run spring sales on leftover chemicals
so they can make room for new shipments.
If you buy pool chemicals early in the season,
you not only can save money,
but you can avoid shortages during peak pool time
and buying in bulk can save you money as well
especially if there's a chemical like chlorine or shock
that you use frequently throughout the year.
Tip number nine, test your water every week.
Let's say it's the middle of the summer
and your pool turns green or cloudy.
Now you have to spend tons of time and money
adding extra shock to your water
or running your filter longer.
This could have been prevented by just testing
and balancing your water once a week.
Test strips are a relatively inexpensive way
to avoid bigger and more expensive pool problems
down the line.
Tip number 10, use of robotic pool cleaner.
Buying everybody pool cleaner costs more money up front,
but this kind of investment will save you time and money
in the long run.
Robotic pool cleaners consistently keep your pool clean
and free of contaminants.
That means you'll need less chemicals to sanitize
or rebalance your water.
And it costs much less to run a small robotic pool cleaner
than it does to run your entire filtration system.
Tip number 11, maintain your chlorine stabilizer levels.
Chlorine stabilizer, AKA cyanuric acid or CYA,
prevents the sun from eating up the chlorine in your pool.
When you add stabilizer to your water,
it will help keep chlorine in your water longer
to fight contaminants.
And that means you don't have to keep adding chlorine
to your pool because the levels keep dropping.
Tip number 12, conserve your pool water.
Water isn't free and your pool could be wasting water
through evaporation, leaks and backwashing.
So to fight evaporation,
make sure your pool is covered when not in use.
Like we mentioned before,
a simple solar cover can prevent a lot of water
from evaporating.
You'll also wanna find and fix any leaks.
Most pool leaks are small and minor,
but that loss of water can add up over time.
Finally, avoid backwashing your filter too long
or too often.
The average two-minute backwash
expels about 200 gallons of pool water.
So stop backwashing the moment the water runs clear
in the sight glass.
You can also decrease the frequency of backwashing
by maintaining a clean pool and filter system.
If you wanna learn when
and when not to backwash your pool filter,
check out our other video.
And if you need more help maintaining your pool
throughout the season,
grab our free pool care cheat sheet
at SwimUniversity.com/CheatSheet.
And if you found this video helpful, leave a comment,
hit the like button and subscribe
for more pool maintenance tutorials throughout the season.
That's it, thanks again and happy swimming.