Swimming Pool Water Consumption in Canberra?

Hi Kurrajong ,

We did have a pool at our old place but got it replaced by an outdoor spa. It wasn’t getting used much hence made the decision of having a spa.

We dealt with a Lady at the HIA Building who knew about pool and spa in and out .

We have got her website bookmarked as well – http://spasolutions.com.au/

Give her a call , If she cant assist i am sure she will point you in the right direction.

My 2 cents.

I use a blanket and very rarely top up my pool (salt water chlorinated). Even if I did need to top up my pool more often than I do, the cost of doing this would be small compared to the other costs associated with pool ownership. I find that I have had more instances of my pool overflowing due to heavy rain periods than needing a top up due to lack of rain.

I have never used water from my rainwater tank to top up the pool. My tank water is used for the garden and in long periods of no rain, the need for topping up the pool will coincide with the depletion of water in the tank.

Kurrajong, I think you are on the wrong track to be considering a rainwater tank in conjunction with the pool. A rainwater tank is great for other purposes and I wouldn’t be without mine, but it certainly isn’t used for topping up the pool.

By far, your biggest concern should be the cost of running your pool pumps. My pool uses three pumps (filtration, solar and in floor cleaning). You simply cannot skimp on pump running time if you want to maintain good water quality. You should allow at least $800 per year in extra electricity costs. You could consider a reduced flow pump such as a Viron but you will need to run it longer and it won’t be suitable if you have an inbuilt cleaning system.

I divert a gutter downpipe to the pool when it’s in need of a top up. A good sized roof can catch a lot of water in a storm.

Definitely get a blanket.

These calculations are all well and good, however i noticed no one has made allowances for urination, therefore, the amount of water needed to top up the pool will infact be less.

Kurrajong said :

Responses suggest 1% of the pool water (c 500L) a fortnight, which is about a quarter of the pool lost in evaporation and splash over. Say 14,000L pa for a 55,000L pool.

But responses are divided on rain tanks: “two 5,500L tanks weren’t enough” vs “a good size tank will do”.

Any more views on rainwater tanks for top-up?

With pool blankets, can people me what is normal practice? Do they tend to just use them in colder months but roll them up and leave them off over the summer so that the pool is easy to use. Seems to me that a pool blanket might be more useful to make leaves easier to skim off over colder months than limit evaporation over summer when it is probably left off. Taking it off and rolling it out over summer would be a pain right?

Does anyone have pre-pool and post-pool water consumption for their household?

Blankets are on rollers. They take a few seconds to furl and unfurl. You use them as you use the pool, keeping it covered when it’s not in use throughout the year. We roll back the blanket every time we swim. No great burden.

Responses suggest 1% of the pool water (c 500L) a fortnight, which is about a quarter of the pool lost in evaporation and splash over. Say 14,000L pa for a 55,000L pool.

But responses are divided on rain tanks: “two 5,500L tanks weren’t enough” vs “a good size tank will do”.

Any more views on rainwater tanks for top-up?

With pool blankets, can people me what is normal practice? Do they tend to just use them in colder months but roll them up and leave them off over the summer so that the pool is easy to use. Seems to me that a pool blanket might be more useful to make leaves easier to skim off over colder months than limit evaporation over summer when it is probably left off. Taking it off and rolling it out over summer would be a pain right?

Does anyone have pre-pool and post-pool water consumption for their household?

In my experience (large in ground, 2X5000 litre tanks), forget any ideas about topping up from the tanks. Tanks just won’t come close to keeping up with evaporation.

Concentrate your efforts on fitting a blanket. Keep it on at all times and you’ll rarely need to top up.

Yeh with the rainwater tank it’s a big of a how long is a piece of string question. If there is a heap of rain and u have a good sized tank then yes it will do.

Pool blankets are good. They warm the water and reduce evaporation, as well as helping to reduce leaves and debris falling into the pool. Well worth it.

As for rain water tank, all depends on how large it is, its catchment area, and how often it rains. A couple of thousand litres should help to keep a pool topped up during a dry month.

Hi Kurrajong,

I have a 55,000L inground pool. It certainly needs a lot of topping up, but we had a dodgy broken liner which has been replaced (at great expense) and now it’s much better. Pool blankets reduce the evaporation effect by at least 80% I reckon! So get one and use it. The other big thing is that the blanket keeps the water temp up – reducing your need to heat the pool. Most heat is lost through the wind passing over the water – still days tend to not change the temp too much.

I have a 500L tank which I do use as a first preference for topping up the pool and it works well. I’ll lose around 500L every 2 weeks from evaporation and kids jumping and splashing – so around 1% of the total poolwater every fortnight.

I really cannot recommend highly enough the use of a pool blanket. It’s night and day for both evaporation and water temp. Just a pain in the bum to drag it over every now and again.