The Annual Running Cost of a Pool: How to Calculate It Item by Item

The calculation is simple: pump power (kW) × daily running hours × 30 days × your electricity unit price. For example, a 1.1 kW pump running 8 hours a day uses about 264 kWh a month; multiply this by your own tariff and you have your monthly pump cost.

Variable speed pumps change this calculation fundamentally: a pump running at low speed circulates the same water with far less energy and cuts consumption substantially compared with a single-speed pump. If you use heating, the equation grows: a heat pump produces the same heat with far less electricity than an electric heater, and the real decision that sets the annual total is the target: extending the season, or using the pool all year. For details, see our article on heat pumps.

There are three sources: evaporation (a few millimetres of water depth a day in summer sun), filter backwashing (each backwash sends out water in proportion to the tank volume) and losses from splashing and overflow.

A rough calculation for your own pool: pool surface area (m²) × evaporation depth (m) gives you the loss in m³; add the water from a few backwashes a month and multiply by your local water tariff. A pool cover reduces this item considerably because it cuts most of the evaporation; since the cover reduces heat loss at the same time, it saves on two items at once.

That is why the chemical budget should be thought of per m³, not as "so much a month": a pool of 50 m³ uses roughly half as much chemical as a 100 m³ pool. For the details of dosing logic, see our per-m³ dosing guide.

A saltwater system changes the structure of this item: the unit produces chlorine from salt and greatly reduces chlorine purchases; in return, replacing the cell every few years is added to the budget. Automatic dosing does less to reduce consumption than to prevent imbalance: excess chemical added by hand also has a cost, and it is usually invisible.

Renewing the filter sand or glass media every few years, worn seals and lamp replacements also go under this item.

A periodic maintenance agreement turns these scattered costs into a single, predictable item. Which option suits you depends on how you use the pool: a pool at a summer house you visit once a month and a pool you use every day do not have the same maintenance needs.

The second is a variable speed pump: it lowers pump electricity, the largest item. The third is LED lighting: it gives the same light as halogen with far less energy. The fourth is automation: it runs the pump and dosing only as much as needed and takes human error out of the loop. The fifth is correct sizing: a pool larger than needed makes every item bigger for its whole life.

What these five decisions have in common is that they are all cheapest when made at the construction stage. Running cost is really decided at the survey table; that is why, at the survey, we explain the construction budget together with the cost profile of the equipment you choose over the years.

On the construction side, the reference price is as follows: 10 × 5 m concrete pool costs 1,850,000 TL in October 2026 (excluding VAT). Running costs come on top of the construction price every year and are calculated for your own pool with the items above.