How much does is really cost to run an above ground swimming pool pump?

As a moderator of a large swimming pools group on Facebook, I am constantly hearing about what pool owners think the electric cost is for their pool’s pump. And it varies.

I have heard people say that their electric bill went up $300 a month, while others have said their bill went down when they got a pool. Even though some of these people really believe what they are saying, in reality, the extremes are impossible.

How much an above ground pool pump costs to run depends on the size of the pump, how long per day it runs, and what the local Kw per hr rate is. The average cost to run a pool pump is about $40 per month.

THE THREE FACTORS THAT DETERMINE HOW MUCH A POOL PUMP WILL COST TO OPERATE

If you are researching this, chances are that you are either considering buying a pool and want to know what the monthly electric cost is, or you’re an existing pool owner with a high bill. These three things will tell you almost exactly what your existing pool pump is costing you.

If you are getting a pool and want just an idea of what the electric cost is, then you can somewhat determine this with this info as well.

1 What horsepower is the pump?

Above ground pool pumps can be tricky with their ratings. This is one of the google rabbit holes you can choose to go down to determine exactly how efficient and uprated a pump is and what that means in reference to how much energy it uses.

The best example of this that I can remember was several years ago when I was installing pools for Recreational Factory Warehouse. It was the nineties and in the pool business, pump sizes started going up.

Bigger is always better in America, so retailers who were selling only 3/4 HP and 1 HP pumps were now selling 1.5 HP and 2 HP pumps instead. They didn’t move much more water than the pumps they replaced, but pool owners thought they needed something with a bigger number on it, so the trend went to bigger.

During this time, Rec Warehouse started selling a whopping 2.5 HP pump, but there was something wrong. This pump motor was only single voltage. (Most above ground pool pumps only come in 120v. Inground pumps are what is called “dual-voltage” which means it can run on either 120v or 240v.)

I bring this up because horsepower (HP) for electricity is a formula. And according to the formula, it’s impossible for a true 2.5hp pump to run on only 120v. Oops. Upon inquiring about this, Rec. Warehouse told me that this pump was not a 2.5 HP pump (It was actually only a 1.5HP) and that the giant 2.5 on the side of the pump motor was only a name of it and not a description. Tricky, right?

For the sake of keeping this simple and you just quickly moving on to just enjoying your pool, I’m going to say just determine what the horsepower is on the pump and go off of that.

The world of above ground pool pumps is dominated mostly with 1HP or 1.5HP pumps. There are a few 2HPs around, but if you have one of those, treat it like a 1.5. That’s what it is anyway (if you’re lucky).

So, a 1HP pump motor will use about 1.72 Kilowatts for every hour it runs, And a 1.5 HP pump motor will use about 2.14 kilowatts for each hour it runs.

2 How long the pump runs per day

If you are just trying to figure out what your future above ground pool pump is going to cost you in electric, then just assume 8 hours a day here. This is what most pool pumps run and probably will be how long yours runs.

Bigger above ground pools (ones bigger than 24’ round) may need to run longer and smaller pools (one smaller than 21’ round) may be able to run less.

The pool industry wants you to run as many gallons of water that your pool has in it at least once per 24 hours. If you want to geek out, you can determine how many gallons of water pump per hour and determine how long it should run per day. Or you can just run it 8 hours a day and focus on some other hopefully more important things in your life.

This is what you need to know:

1HP pump uses 1.72 kilowatts per hour x 8 hours = 13.68 KwHrs per day

1.5HP pump uses 2.14 kilowatts per hour x 8 hours = 17.12 KwHrs per day

3 What does your electric company charge per kilowatt-hour?

The American national average cost per kilowatt-hour is 12 cents, but it really depends on where you live as there is a pretty big range. If you are reading this from overseas, this number can really go up as the price for electricity is relatively cheap in the US compared to other parts of the world.

If you want to know for sure what your local rate is, take a look at your utility bill. It should have your current rate on it.

HERE’S A CHART SHOWING THE ELECTRIC COST TO RUN A POOL PUMP BY STATE

TWO-SPEED ABOVE GROUND POOL PUMPS

In the last few years, I have seen more and more two-speed pool pumps come with above ground pool equipment. A single-speed pump only has one speed, and that is high.

Two-speed pumps have a high and low speed. The low speed is very low. Some will run their pump continuously (24hrs per day) and say they like that. Personally, I like the pool’s water to move as fast as it can, so I don’t care for the low-speed option.

It’s going to take the low speed all day and all night to pump the same water as the high speed does in a quarter of the time (8 hours). This is an approximate figure, so if you want to figure out the exact numbers for your pump, then you’ll have to find out the GPM (gallons per minute) for both your high and low speed.

THE TRUTH ABOUT VARIABLE SPEED PUMPS

There aren’t too many above ground pools with what is called variable speed pumps, so I won’t say much about them. They do cost a lot more and are suppose to save a lot on electricity. In truth, they save nothing.

Variable speed pumps have multiple speeds and are designed to change speeds by programming them. The higher the speed, the more electric it uses per hour, which means the lower speeds use less energy.

The idea here is to save on electricity by reducing the pump speed at times during the day. When that happens though, the pump moves fewer gallons of water, thereby needing to run longer so it can pump the same amount of gallons. This is not a savings.

If you want to reduce electric usage for your pool pump, reduce the run time. It’s simple really. You don’t have to complicate things by buying a super expensive variable speed pump and programming it to ultimately do what just reducing the time on your single speed pump will do.

IN THE COOLER MONTHS, YOU CAN CUT THE PUMP’S RUN TIME WAY DOWN

The colder the pool water, the fewer things grow in it. What this means in reference to this article is that you don’t have to run your pump as much in the colder months.

Here in Central Florida, a lot of above ground pool owners will cut their summer pump run time in half in the winter. This means they will go from 8 hours of runtime per day to just 4 hours and have no issues whatsoever. This can save you a lot of electricity.

Learn of the other ongoing costs to having an above ground swimming pool here