You can own a beautiful and grand swimming pool, without having to spend your entire life’s savings. What’s more, you could save energy, contributing to a safe ecosystem while saving money as well. How amazing is that?

I know…the challenges associated with owning a swimming pool could be daunting to the faint in heart. It can be even more difficult to handle this when you have some other serious issues to deal with. You might even be considering leasing out the pool because of your inability to take care of it properly due to hefty maintenance costs. You didn’t bargain for this! All you wanted was to be able to have fun, and for other people who want to take a swim, to hop into your jolly pool. Turns out taking care of a pool can get you bankrupt (haha, just kidding, but you get my point).

Statistically, houses with swimming pools spend twice as much money on energy than houses without pools. Besides, there are lots of expenses associated with owning a pool; and if you don’t know the tweaks to make your pool classy without breaking a bank, you might be walking on a very slippery slope.

Thankfully, the benefits of owning a pool are way more than the stress involved in its maintenance- if you know the tweaks, that is. Swimming continues to stand out as a beneficial sport- which doesn’t lead to you breaking into a sweat, and pools are perfect hangout spots for family and friends. Want to have a beach party? You could do that, right in your house! What’s not to love about owning a pool? If it’s your lifelong dream, you no longer have to feel threatened by the rigorous maintenance process.

With the right maintenance measures, you can reduce the amount of energy consumption in your pool as well as overall maintenance costs.

The use of Robotic pool cleaners

With robotic cleaners, the cleaning industry is taking on a new face. Robotic cleaners can run on auto-pilot, even in the absence of pool owners, and they do the work super well. What’s so golden about them anyway? Well, robotic cleaners are highly efficient, cleaning the pool very fast while only using small amounts of power- they are energy-saving bots! By estimation, robotic cleaners use about 40% less energy than other standard pool cleaners. This makes lots of sense if you have a commercial pool that needs to be clean at times, and yet, you want to save up on energy while ensuring this.

You could utilize the Dolphin H50 pool cleaner for commercial pools, which amazingly, is a plug and play pool cleaner which requires neither installation nor setting up. It is an entry-level robotic pool cleaner that’s excellent for use in hotels, resorts, gym pools, spas and other exotic locations for pools.

Such a pool cleaner has been noted to provide deeper cleaning action than even the standard home robotic pool cleaner, and usually reasonably priced too.

Pool covers save energy too

Leaving your pool open might not be a good idea. When a pool is left open, heat gets lost through evaporation, at a very short time interval. As well, an open pool is exposed to sunlight, increasing the growth of algae.

When you invest in a pool cover, you prevent evaporation of the pool water and pool chemicals while saving up energy at the same time.

Good pool covers are excellent in that they keep the water in your pool about 10 degrees warmer, cutting up heating costs by approximately 90%. The cover reduces evaporation of water and chemicals by about 70%, saving up to a thousand gallons of water monthly!

You also prevent the infestation of your pool with rats, mice, insects, leaves and wooden twigs. What a good way to keep your pool clean at all times! Having a clean pool also translates into you running your filter pump less often and in this way, you save even more energy. How genius!

An effective pool filtration system

One of the things keeping you away from an energy-efficient clean pool is the pool filtration system you’re currently running. A pool filtration system could make the difference between clean water and cloudy or off-whitish water that’s unsightly. And when what you have is a poor pool filtration system, you find out that you’re cleaning the pool over and over again, and still not achieving wholesome results. At this point, it is wise to start looking for better options.

The type of filter you use would also determine how much energy you use. The three major types of filters are the cartridge, sand and DE filters. If your aim is to purchase an energy-friendly filter, go for the cartridge filter as it puts up a very low resistance to water flow. It also does not need backlashing, which makes it the most readily recommended filter if your aim is to save energy, water or even chemicals.

How efficient is your pool’s pump?

A pool pump is one of those things you can save cash on. You could, for example, installer a smaller, high-efficiency pump and operate it less (because it has a higher efficiency!).

Astonishingly, these high energy-efficient pumps are notable for making do with as low as 30-45% less energy than for standard pumps; while running for an average period of 5-6 hours, unlike standard pool cleaners which have to run for an average of 8 hours. Also, because pumps come in different speeds now, you can decide to turn up the speed or turn it down per speed-need on a given day.

You could also install automatic timers for your pump and pool heater, as this lets them run in several short cycles during the day, thus, increasing the effectiveness, as opposed to just running it once during the day for several hours. As pumps are very good at circulating water in order to keep it clean; when they work better you have less need to use a filter.

Installing a solar-powered heating system

Here’s another genius idea: install a solar heating system to deal with the power needs for your pool. Although the initial amount of money you’d spend on this installation process might be a bit high, you will reap the benefits- and if your home is close to your pool; you can always connect the solar system to serve your home as well!

It is best to locate your solar-powered system closest to the sunniest part of the outdoor area as this helps increase the amount of solar energy you can make use of, to power your pool. It also helps to regulate the pool water temperature. A smart thing to do could be screening your pool from outside influences that might cause cooling. This screening could be done by building a fence as a windbreak (especially when protecting it from fierce winds).

This is an effective approach to prevent a rise in heating costs because of the temperature you desire your water to have. Usually, pool water temperatures range between 78ºF to 82ºF; and energy consumption costs for each degree rise in temperature increase by an average of 10-30%.

You should see conserving energy/power from at least two angles: saving of costs and protecting the climate by further reducing environmental destruction. Isn’t this the way to live?

That’s why you need to continually lookout for ways to upgrade your pool’s technology system and its safety, by making use of both innovative pool equipment (such as energy-saving bots) and abiding by preventive maintenance tips.

What are the preventive maintenance tips to make your pool energy-efficient?

To make this section easy to understand, and seeing as some of these tips have been discussed earlier, here are the preventive maintenance tips to note if you want to make your pool energy-efficient:

• When your pool is not in use, turn down the pool heater.
• As well, aim for appropriate water temperatures depending on whether the pool is in use (78°-80° for active swimming, 82°-84° for recreational use), or not; as raising the water temperature by just 1°F can increase your energy cost by an additional 10 – 30%, depending on your location.
• To determine the best temperature for your pool, leave a thermometer in the pool- on which you have marked the ‘comfort settings’ on the thermostat dial, so as to avoid a case of overheating
• When backwashing the pool filter, do it only as required- to avoid energy wastage
• Keep your drainage system clear, thus allowing for free water flow.
• The most energy-efficient lights for a pool are either solar-powered lights or LED lights.
• Increase the chances of your hot tub being energy-efficient by choosing a portable hot tub over an in-the-ground hot tub; as portable hot tubs have better insulation and usually have covers (I digress).

Saltwater conversion pools cost less to maintain

This point deserves some explanation because of how vital it is in pool care and remodeling.

Saltwater pools are more natural, and for them, you needn’t spend so much on chemicals- as such, they cost less amount of money and time to maintain efficiently.

In a saltwater pool system, what you have is a chlorine generator which is added to the pool’s filtration system, and as the water circulates through the chlorinator, the salt produces a chlorine gas that is dissolved into water, after which the chlorine breaks down again and is transformed into salt. That sounds like a pretty recycling process and if you’re here for it, there’s a lot of energy-saving that happens per cycle.

As you might have figured, upfront the amount of money invested is more than the typical money spent on building pools, but with this sort of remodeling, you end up having much-reduced running costs.

As salt is known to be softer on the skin than chlorine and as well, causes fewer cases of red eyes, skin itch and hair discoloration in swimmers, this is a preferred win-win option of maintaining your pool.

Pool safety tips

Besides just pure energy efficiency, you might want to remodel your pool to make it safer for users, especially if it is a commercial pool. Here are some suggestions to make your pool safer for all and sundry to use:

Building a pool fence:

Safety is guaranteed when you build a pool fence, especially if you’re making it child-proof. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of having a permanently fenced pool, you could go with the more flexible option of using removable pool fences, be put in place just when kids are around and the likes.

Pool safety nets:

This is another option to protect your kids from getting into the pool. While some overactive kids might be able to climb over a fence, the safety net is a more secure barrier, as kids cannot readily climb over or underneath it. It is also removable.

Safety pool cover:

A safety cover can be made of several materials; inclusive of mesh. These covers can be anchored to the deck with straps that pull the cover tautly over the pool.

Anti-entrapment equipment:

As a pool owner, adding on anti-entrapment can prevent parts of the body such as hair or limbs, from been pulled in the direction of a pool drain. You have a safety vacuum release system to act as an automatic suction force release system to provide vacuum release very fast.

Pool ladders/lifts:

These are basic equipment which helps protect disabled, injured or elderly individuals so that everyone can readily use the pool.

Wrapping up: How do you maintain pool operations efficiently?

Running a pool requires a lot of work, especially if you ventured into it as a business. From ensuring all pool equipment work well to saving power/ energy, running a pool is serious business. Take for instance the very important business of saving power in your pool. Having an efficient pool heater is a must, and keeping track of the water temperature during the pool heating process.