With electricity and energy prices in general rising at an alarming rate, you need to know about the easiest and smartest ways to reduce all costs for your salt water pool because they can add up quickly.
One of the larger ongoing expenses for your pool will be energy costs whether electricity for your pump (more so) and chlorinator (less so) and gas charges for your pool heater (can be expensive over time) if you have one. Anytime you can reduce your usage and save some money, you’re ahead of the game!
Here’s how you can reduce your electricity (and by extension) your heating and chemical costs to save you money:
- Set your pump on a timer
- Don’t run your pump 24/7
- Use a solar blanket at night
- Replace an older pump with a more energy efficient and possibly smaller model
- Replace your pool heater with a more energy efficient model
- Run your pump during off peak hours if you get charged on a time-of-use basis
Below we’ll discuss each in more detail.
Set your pump on a timer
Before we bought our Hayward Aqua Rite salt chlorination system, we had an older generation chlorinator from a company that no longer exists. I had to manually turn the pump on and off with a switch and there was no timer or automation of any kind.
Hayward is just one of the major salt chlorinator manufacturers and these days there are other quality ones to choose from.
I was ok walking out each day and manually turning the pump on and off as it gave me a chance to check on the pool and equipment and make sure everything was in order. Plus, it’s all I knew as I wasn’t really aware of automation options.
But what about when you’re away from your house on holiday or for a few days? What if you’d prefer to have the pump turn on and off on it own?
You need a timer for that, something that is provided with most modern salt chlorination systems as standard. With our Hayward Aqua Rite system, I can set several timers each day if I want to start and stop the pump multiple times per day.
This saves on electricity and helps to extend the life of the salt cell, pump and related equipment if they’re also not being run 24/7.
Don’t run your pump 24/7
When I first moved to our house with a salt water pool, I wasn’t really sure what to do so I learned on the fly. The pump was on when we took possession of the house, so I kept it running 24/7. That’s what you do, right?
Turns out I didn’t need to do that after all. I found this out after speaking with the pool company that the previous owner of the home had used, who had also built the pool.
The pool company told me to run the pump during the day for at least 10 hours. They kind of stressed that the pump should be on during the day, when the sun was out, rather than simply at night.
So I took this as gospel and for the first few years and ran the pump during the daylight hours.
But I started thinking about it as I learned more about the pool and wondered if running the pump during the day was really that important. So I decided to do a test and started running the pump mostly at night, shutting it off during the morning, and then restarting it for a few hours during the hot periods, to see what would happen.
In my case, nothing happened. Nothing changed. Algae didn’t start growing. The water didn’t start getting cloudy. It was the same as before.
So I kept it like this and adjusted things here and there i.e. I’d turn the pump on when the pool was in use so that chlorine would be produced while we were swimming and the water would also be filtered at the same time.
Moral of the story: Play around with your pump usage and see what you can get away with. Now, I generally only run the pump 8 hours per day tops and it works just fine for me. In hotter areas with heavy pool use, perhaps you need a longer run time than that.
Remember: A salt chlorinator can only produce chlorine when the pump is running.
Use a solar blanket at night
Solar blankets with the bubble wrap design are amazing inventions. They help use the sun’s rays to heat the water on the one hand while also locking in the heat and preventing it from escaping on the other. Studies show that using a solar blanket may reduce heating costs by 50% – 70% which is a huge savings especially as the gas to power most pool heaters hits record highs.
Plus they can help to prevent rodents from jumping in and drowning and do help to collect leaves and other debris that would otherwise fall to the bottom of the pool.
I’ve written in more detail on the use on solar blankets and I’m happy to have one. They offer several benefits that you’ll learn more about in this linked article.
Solar blankets can reduce:
- Heating costs (it retains heat while helping you use your pool heater less).
- Water evaporation by up to 95%. This means you will have to refill your pool with water less frequently, saving you money and time.
- Chemical usage which also means more money and time savings. When water evaporates, some of the chemicals go too, and might need to be replaced. I’ve seen studies suggest chemicals may be reduced by up to 60% on the high end.
Replace an older pump with a more energy efficient and possibly smaller model
When you buy a home with an existing salt water pool, you of course inherit the equipment that the pool has. With any luck, you’ll be able to use that equipment (chlorinator, pump, heater, etc) for years. At some point though, the pump will have to be replaced if it cracks, seizes up, leaks or otherwise has a significant and costly repair due.
At this point, you’re best served to not only find a pump that is more energy efficient than the one you’re replacing if available, but you might also search for a smaller one if possible. In other words, a pump with lower horsepower and thus lower energy needs.
Check with your pool company to be sure but the average-sized pool can get away with a 0.75 horsepower pump. You may also choose a variable speed pump which can further reduce your electricity bill by operating at different speeds as required.
Major pool pump manufacturers include Hayward, Pentair, Black and Decker and Xtremepower.
Replace your pool heater with a more energy efficient model
Gas heaters for your pool are the most efficient ones available and generally heat water the quickest. They are expensive to install and your local natural gas prices will determine how expensive they are. In general terms, they do consume a fair bit of energy but they are on-demand so you don’t require the sun as you would with a solar option. You pay for the speed and convenience.
If you have an older style gas heater, it will eventually need to be replaced so while you could buy a (presumably) more energy efficient new gas model, you might also consider an electric one. Electric pool heaters are becoming more popular and while they are usually more expensive up front, the ongoing usage costs (i.e. electricity instead of gas) is usually lower.
Having said that, electric heaters are found to perform best in climates that are over 45° F. Electric heaters also perform better over a longer time whereas gas heaters heat pool water up quicker and are thus better for shorter usage times.
Either way, when it comes time to replace your old heater that is at least several years old, you’re probably going to end up with a more energy efficient one.
And how can you continue to save money with your new pool heater? Use the aforementioned pool cover to retain the sun’s heat and lower the set pool temperature to around 78° F. Your energy cost increases by 10% – 30% for every 1° F you raise the temperature on your heater.
Run your pump during off peak hours if you get charged on a time-of-use basis
It wasn’t until my local home area brought in time-of-use electricity that I wondered if running the pump during the most expensive timeframe (weekdays) was a good idea given that I could run it during off-peak hours (nights and weekends) and save money.
So I did a bit of research online and then adjusted the pump timer so that the pump ran largely at night (off peak pricing) and only for 2-3 hours during the day (higher price timeframe). Then on weekends which were entirely off peak at cheaper electricity pricing, I’d run the pump more frequently during the day since we tended to use the pool then and I figured I could catch up so to speak on chlorine production if needed.
