Heating an Olympic Pool?

[Stacy Tidwell]

Hi There,

I have a chance to buy a former swim club dirt cheap. It has one full-size Olympic pool and one Junior Olympic pool.
Both are outdoor.

It is zoned RD-5. In my sunny part of California, that means it can be used as "Light Commercial" or "Residential."

If I did everything right -- commercial heat pump plus solar heater -- how much would it cost me to maintain
the Olympic pool at a comfortable temperature?

My fear is this: I buy the property at a fire sale price, and then find myself unable to afford the monthly costs of
heating and maintenance.

All responses greatly appreciated !!!!

Stacy

P.S. Both pools are over 30 years old. I lack the expertise to know how important this might be for my upkeep costs. Thx!

 

[needsajet]

Welcome to TFP! Good to have you here

Any chance you can get their records? Utility bills? Temperature setpoints, running dates?

If not, you'll need to know dimensions to answer your question, and the estimate will be very rough. You'll also need to know if you want it nice and warm or just warm enough. You'll also need to decide season length or year-round.

For solar, you can use google earth to determine where you'd put the solar system. For residential pools, it's nice to have 2/3 or more of pool surface area in heating panels.

 

[danpik]

Do you have any idea of the actual gallons of the pools? I have seen everything under the sun, size wise, referred to as an Olympic size pool. As was mentioned, past records from the utilities should give you an idea of operating costs.

 

[duraleigh]

Size in gallons? Indoors? Lot's of info missing.

 

[ps0303]

Sounds like you are in unfamiliar territory.

Why do you want to purchase this property?

What will be its main purpose?

What does it have for equipment now?

Why is it for sale?

If you are planning on keeping it as a business and you don't have funds to keep it running until you become profitable or at least to the break even point, you will need investors. As for what it would cost you to run the pool and keep it warm, I would say, lots of money.

 

[Stacy Tidwell]

Thanks for all the comments and help. I will do more research, and report back. Thanks again!

 

[Isaac-1]

While those pools are large they don't look anywhere near "olympic" size. I am guessing those are half olympic size (25 meter long vs full olympic 50 meter long pools). While we are on the topic of competition pools official Olympic competition pools are kept at 78 degrees F, which is far cooler water than most people like to swim. When the summer Olympics were in Atlanta about 20 years ago, they employed a solar panel system running at night to dissipate heat, and still had problems getting the pools cool enough for regulation temperature.

 

[wjr75]

Looks like there are some solor panels on the roof opposite of the one pool.

 

[CaptainCannonball]

Where is the pool located? Your profile says Palm Springs, but that image looks like the property is off of 80.

edit: never mind, I see its for sale in Sacramento for 450k

 

[CaptainCannonball]

Seems like a money pit, strange twin facility across the freeway too. View attachment 52567