To think an indoor pool is going to cost a fortune?

[Mercial]

DH all in favour of buying a house with an indoor pool. I'm more skeptical of the running costs. I'm not even sure where to begin with who is right. We would use it but at what cost!?

@Mercial, we have an indoor pool in a separate building with dimensions roughly the same as yours.
We pay £370 a month for energy as DH has just changed energy supplier, it was £425. We have a large 4 bed house and also permanently run a hot tub.
Chemicals don’t cost that much. I don’t know what the cleaning costs are that posters are referring to, I’m assuming that’s for outdoor pools starting up each year. Our indoor pool runs continually and filters do their job.
The separate boiler needs servicing each year and the plant room has lots of equipment that could go wrong and need attention.
We were advised against a ground source pump as it takes heat out of the ground and can cause pockets of permafrost underneath the building which can in turn cause problems.
DH wants solar panels on the roof and this would lower bills considerably.

That's incredibly helpful @CatsMother66 - thank you! Can I ask how many sq feet/metres the house is?

I’m guessing 15m by 8m.
It’s a relatively new building with insulation and a cover over the water to minimise heat loss from the water.

I don't have an indoor pool but I do have an outdoor one (it was there when we bought the house). We have an air source heat pump (and electric cover) and I'd say it costs around £150-200 a month in extra electricity when in use. We were told it was meant to be a saving of £400 relative to a boiler but not entirely sure that's true (though our pool is quite large and deep). I'm sure this would be lower indoors as you don't get the same heat loss.

The chemicals are not that expensive if you do them yourself. I'd say about £100 each to close and open the pool (which you wouldn't be doing for an indoor pool). You can keep the cost of chemicals down according to the type you buy - ready made or granules you mix yourself. I'd be surprised if it cost you more than £20 a month, depending partly on the natural ph of your water (and whether that needs treating before you can add the chlorine).

But we both find owning a pool very frustrating. Again, probably far worse for outdoor pools as the machinery gets colder in the pool shed and is turned off through the colder months, but the equipment breaks regularly. We bought a new air source heat pump 10 years ago, that needed various expensive maintenance procedures such as re-adding the gas inside, and needed replacing entirely last year. Ditto for the electric safety cover, bought new 10 years ago, the ropes snap at least once each season and we've needed a new cover this year.

For the outdoor pool owners, most people don't discover the faults until they turn them on in May or June at which point it can be hard to get an engineer out for several weeks (and some won't come out at all). Engineers are expensive and can be hard to find as the equipment can be quite specialist (my pool cover specialist drives from Somerset up to London to do mine).

My kids swim but, as they get older, they don't stay in for hours as the lure of YouTube and Tiktok is too tempting. I suppose it also depends on much you love swimming - my brother in Wakefield swims more frequently in my pool over the course of the summer than I do (as ashamed as I am to admit it).

Ugh total millstone
And can often devalue property
Can also be very expensive to fill in (out door ones) and some types you can’t just drain and leave as they would collapse in
Some friends bought a house with an outdoor one, the time burden of the day to day/weekly maintenance is massive (or expensive if you pay a company

Depth makes a big difference and theirs was built with a 7ft deep end so is a massive body of water to heat and treat with chemicals, also awkward to clean

And yes sadly like anything the novelty does wear off for kids and they tend to only go in a lot with friends

We have a heated outdoor pool. We only use it in summer, its the type that you can put away. IT costs £600 for electricity to run from May to end of summer + filters, cleaning products. Our water is free, so don't have to pay for that.

We had one a couple of houses ago. They don’t actually use much water after they are full. It’s just topping up which is a hose on overnight. (Many people would use that on their gardens).

Oh and it was outdoor and we had oil heating and I can’t remember what it cost to run. It was usually heated between Easter and September. I’d get the temperature perfect and tell the kids and they wouldn’t want to go in. Everyone else’s kids loved it though.

Average running cost depends on size most UK pools are 10m X 5m which has a average running cost about £13 per day hope that helps

The renting out is a good thing to look into if it’s a separate building. DD went to a baby swimming school that was held in a private house. Instructor rented the pool. I’d guess the income would help with running costs.

Money pit. Friend bought a house with an outdoor pool (not for the pool specifically) and would love to have it removed but too expensive!

Thanks @cheffie74 Is that for an indoor or outdoor pool? I reckon this one is about 10x5.

@Mercial

I would LOVE a house with an indoor swimming pool #jealous

Oh 10' x 5' is a bit small. Sorry no offence....

Google it.

Op are you sure it’s a pool and not a hot tub? It’s smaller than large hot tub and equivalent to a medium one. It doesn’t sound like a pool to me?

Small Hot Tubs: 5'4” – 7” (Length) x 5'4” – 6'8” (Width) x 29” – 35” (Height)
Medium Hot Tubs: 6'6” – 7'9” (Length) x 6'4” – 7'9” (Width) x 33” – 38.5” (Height)
Large: 7' – 9” (Length) x 7' – 9'2” (Width) x 36” – 38” (Height)

Indoor pool costs sorry should have put that down

I think thr numbers quoted are not relevant, I think what you have is a plunge pool which is for relaxation or rehabilitation. Not for swimming,

They are generally about rhe size of a hot tub as yours are. You’d be better asking rhe costs for running a hot tub, as most folks have assumed it’s a proper swimming pool you’re asking about,

I think OP means 10x5m, not 10x5 foot.

My best friend’s parents old house had an indoor pool but it was unuseable for a large part of the year as they would heat it or pay to heat the surrounds so even when invited I would avoid it.

It was housed in an old garage so it was only a single skin brick and they didn’t have proper central heating in there just a few fan heaters they only switched on when you got there.

If I had one I’d have to have it properly heated so I think the running costs would be really high

@Bluntness100 10 x 5 meters. I can tell the difference between a pool and hot tub. Honest. It's not that bad.

@Dixiechickonhols I wouldn't rule it out entirely but surely you'd commercial insurance of some sort.

We have a 10x5m outdoor pool and an air source heat pump. It takes about 3 days for the pool to heat up and costs about £100 per month in electricity (we are on economy 7 though and mainly heat it at night). We luckily aren’t on a water meter but you’ll want to factor that in as well. Servicing for the heat pump and cover are about £200 per year each. We just clean it ourselves so I’m not sure how much that costs. Watch out though anything to do with a swimming pool is expensive ££££

Yes insurance but it must be feasible.