Operating equipment costs?

[Skiddy]

Now that I am under construction of a new IGP I have a few friends paying close attention to my build and how smooth or rough the process goes. One question they all ask is how much is the electric bill going to increase each month? I simply have no idea. Does anyone know by looking at my equipment what the average expectations should be. Our pool will be under a screened enclosure.

 

[Newdude]

Like anything else it all comes down to how you use it. The SWG is pretty negligible either way, but the 3HP pump can either sip electricity or suck it as fast as the electric company can make it. My variance was approximately 100W to 3000W. I liked running 24/7 around 1500 RPMs (low) and it added about $20 to the electric bill monthly. You will only need to run about 12 hours so if you run the minimum it would be as low as $10 a month. It was so cheap that we splurged for 24/7 just for the ambiance of the running water.

 

[goody222]

2 HP, 2 speed pump here. I run 2 hours on high and 6 hours on low speed. Booster pump for the cleaner runs 3 hours at a time about 2 - 3 times a week. My bill is up $35/month. My electric company, Dominion, has an excel spreadsheet (I had to call them to find it buried on their web site) that will tell you down to the penny (including taxes, local rates, seasonal rates, etc) how much something will cost.

 

[JC707]

This is a great question that I also have.

Does anyone have a rough estimate of how many kwH a standard pool no spa adds yearly? Maybe additional 2,500-3,000 sounds about right?

 

[Dirk]

$0.

Pool ownership is a great reason to go PV solar. I no longer have electric bills and run my pump and SWG and solar pool heater as much as I want to, whenever I need to. I can ignore off-peak hours and all the other billing/time-period non-sense that other pool owners have to honor. I can use my appliances anytime I want. Run my pool pump and solar heater all day long if I want. Lots of AC, no problem. If building a pool, I'd consider the cost of PV solar as part of the project.

I think I remember about $50 a month, back when I was paying for it. Our pools and equipment are similar. It might have been less, I doubt it will be more, for now. But PG&E owns California's PUC, so don't expect your current projected costs to remain that way for long. Another + for solar. PG&E will probably eventually impinge some sort of minimum charge increase on all us solar owners (even though we were promised that won't happen). But even if they do, it'll be a very small fraction of what the rest of you will be paying for electricity in CA in the coming years. I'm overproducing so far, so I use that credit to pay the current minimum charge. I literally pay $0 for electricity (that's for all of it, not just the pool).

Is Seminole in CA? We have one. Or are you in FL? (You might add that to your profile.)

 

[JC707]

We are planning to go solar but not sure if one of the company's we met with included enough panels for our future pool.

Per our PGE bill, we used approx 11,300 kwH over a year span, no pool, thermostat around 75-76. He is estimating with pool and lowered thermostat to be around 14,100 kwH over a year..so he is estimating 2,800 kwH increase with pool use and AC turned down some and building our system based on this estimate. I am hoping that is a good estimate.

 

[Dirk]

I couldn't say, but my solar co got their estimate very close. And I have the roof to add more, so if I need to expand I can. You'll probably be able to as well.

PS. This is Skiddy's thread, so we need to keep our posts pertinent to his.

 

[Homebrewale]

That's a hard question for me to answer. I could calculate the operating cost of the pump since it displays the number of watts being used at the set RPMs. The other major use of electricity for my pool equipment is my heat pump. The amount of power used is dependent on the ambient temperature. If it's a cool weather month, I will be using more electricity. The problem is that by just looking at my electric bill, it's hard to attribute the increase in electrical use for my pool from the increase in air conditioning that I start using. Basically, when I start opening my pool, I start using air conditioning.

 

[Skiddy]

$0.

Pool ownership is a great reason to go PV solar. I no longer have electric bills and run my pump and SWG and solar pool heater as much as I want to, whenever I need to. I can ignore off-peak hours and all the other billing/time-period non-sense that other pool owners have to honor. I can use my appliances anytime I want. Run my pool pump and solar heater all day long if I want. Lots of AC, no problem. If building a pool, I'd consider the cost of PV solar as part of the project.

I think I remember about $50 a month, back when I was paying for it. Our pools and equipment are similar. It might have been less, I doubt it will be more, for now. But PG&E owns California's PUC, so don't expect your current projected costs to remain that way for long. Another + for solar. PG&E will probably eventually impinge some sort of minimum charge increase on all us solar owners (even though we were promised that won't happen). But even if they do, it'll be a very small fraction of what the rest of you will be paying for electricity in CA in the coming years. I'm overproducing so far, so I use that credit to pay the current minimum charge. I literally pay $0 for electricity (that's for all of it, not just the pool).

Is Seminole in CA? We have one. Or are you in FL? (You might add that to your profile.)

I am in West Central Florida.
I did have a few solar companies, a few months ago, give me estimates on installing solar panels and it wasn't cost effective for us. It was between $40-$50K with the incentives financed over 20 years. The way the program was designed to finance over that period of time at the same price per month you pay for electric now and have no electric bill so its like getting the solar for free. After pressing them I was told I would still have a small electric bill to pay for line usage and maintenance. We have a 10 year plan to be out of the house so not really worth it to us.

So in my region the summer months are almost too hot to use the pool, (Im hoping the screened enclosure will keep it cooler) but we can swim without heat up till late Nov. We get about a month of 40 deg nights in the Jan-Feb months then we can usually get back in the water late march. I am assuming the months we use the heatpump the most will be offset by the fact that we dont run the AC from Nov-March. Went swimming at the beach last weekend and the Gulf Temp is about 81 and that is perfect for me.

 

[Dirk]

Right. Your math doesn't work, especially if this is not your forever home. That's a biggie. I paid for mine in cash, and got the the Fed's 30% credit, which significantly increases my ROI. Plus, I guessed the wrong Seminole, so there's that. I'm wondering if solar is way more expensive in FL. After credits, mine was only $12K. That made it a very easy decision, as it will pay for itself in just a couple more years...

I can't afford to heat my pool. I just have to enjoy looking at it for half the year. I could extend my swim season with wetsuits, they're cheap!

 

[Skiddy]

I forgot to mention that was a price that included a new metal roof which would have cost about 25K alone. I think the biggest turn off for me was when I asked about paying in cash and they said I would loose the fed discount if I didn't finance? That was sketchy so I told them to pound dirt. If ours was only 12k I would have had it installed for the value added to my home would be worth it alone.

 

[Dirk]

Yah, that was BS. Maybe they were gambling you wouldn't check so they could snag the profit from the financing interest. Snakes. You definitely get the credit with cash. I didn't look at all the options, but I seem to remember there's one where you get a great deal, little up front, but the installer gets the credit somehow. That might be a lease. No matter, seems you're past that now.