Cost of pool chemicals

For anything to do with the garden and pool
wendyj
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Cost of pool chemicals

Post by wendyj »

We have an old pool 12x8m and 3m deep at the deep end. Water direct from the forage. There is an infinity edge where water tumbles over.

3 Gites use this from May to October. There is a bubble cover and a pompe a chaleur to heat it.

We have a company that comes to clean it twice a week and a robot installed to add chemicals.

This year has been super hot, here in the South of France.

Thing is, we have paid this year, over €2000 on chemicals alone, including start up products. Am I alone in thinking this is astronomical?
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Bassman
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Post by Bassman »

Mine is roughly 1300€ for the same period but i use bromine which is roughly twice the price as chlorine. Working with the fact you pool is roughly 3 times the volume as mine (175m3?) it sounds about right.
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teapot
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Post by teapot »

Wendy, at the first thought it sounds like you are paying over the odds.
Your pool is filled from the well?
If so then maybe they are having to counteract something in the water.
Presumably they supply you with receipts for each visit or a log of what they are adding?

I won't jump to conclusions until I know more details but it sounds a lot. Your pool is just over 3 times the size of mine so this year which was a relatively short season for us Mid June to last week I used 20 litres of javel (chlorine) from a Brico shed and about 5 litres of hydrochloric acid ( pH-) from a Brico shed and that is it. Usually only a couple of litres of acid is needed but a small leak meant more top ups and our water is a high alkalinity and hardness, hence more pH correction.


You probably do not need 2/3rds of what they put in your pool but I defer that until I know more details.
Is your pool vinyl lined or plaster/tiled?
Have you any idea of your water chemical parameters from the testing? What tester do the pool people use?

Using known quality drinking water may cost more than using well water but the less treatment it would need in some cases could save you more in the long run.

Please come back with more information, it might pay you to fly me over to train you as I can save a potential small fortune each year.
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KathyG
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Post by KathyG »

You're definitely not alone in thinking that's astronomical! I think this implies your pool chemistry is not correct. Your pool is about 5 times the volume of ours and we've used about 23 x 20 containers of chlorine @25€, more than we should have done but had some problems with dosing pump early in the season.

I would listen to teapot, he can help you. Best of luck Wendy!
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bornintheuk
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Post by bornintheuk »

We have a pool 11x6 with 3m deep end and our usage of Brico Chlore is about 4x20l plus 2x5l acid for pH reduction - so about €100 tops. Dont use any other chemicals and have a doser for the chlore. Pool is used by 2 gites.
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Old Bill
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Post by Old Bill »

We have a similar pool, well water, infinity side, bubble cover and pool heater, although it isn't as big as yours being 11m by 5m. Also not as deep. Our costs for chemicals this year were €800 and last year were €750.
We had a lot of problems in our first year with cloudy water and green water but since we switched to a local pool man everything has been fine and we trust him to do whatever he thinks is necessary with the chemicals.
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teapot
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Post by teapot »

Old Bill, as I said to Wendy, could you pop back with a list of what chemicals they are adding? €800 just for chemicals not visits?
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wendyj
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Post by wendyj »

Invoice for July..

10 x 20 litre chlore multifunction liquide
2 x ph moins 2 litres
3 chlore multi-fonctions - seau de 5kg
4 anti algues Q20 5 litres
2 blackal shock hth 3L
1 hypochlorite de calcium granules - seat de 5kg

€402.53
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teapot
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Post by teapot »

wendyj wrote:Invoice for July..

10 x 20 litre chlore multifunction liquide
2 x ph moins 2 litres
3 chlore multi-fonctions - seau de 5kg
4 anti algues Q20 5 litres
2 blackal shock hth 3L
1 hypochlorite de calcium granules - seat de 5kg

€402.53
For July!! There is enough for a whole season in one month. You shouldn't really need the last 4 items at all. Have you a had a green pool issue?
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Old Bill
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Post by Old Bill »

teapot wrote:Old Bill, as I said to Wendy, could you pop back with a list of what chemicals they are adding? €800 just for chemicals not visits?
For the months April - August, we have spent as follows:

PH minus 168 euros
Chlore multifonction
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Post by Old Bill »

teapot wrote:Old Bill, as I said to Wendy, could you pop back with a list of what chemicals they are adding? €800 just for chemicals not visits?
Oops I'll start again.

For the months April - August inclusive, we spent as follows:

PH minus 168 euros
Chlore multifonction 175 euros
Anti-calcaire 336 euros
Chlore choc 105 euros
Algicide 48 euros
Floculant 16 euros

Total 848 euros
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teapot
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Post by teapot »

Hmmm, I see problems ahead for you Old Bill based on the shopping list these pool people have purchased. That's a lot of pH-, + anti calcaire, really? do you have that much of a scale problem? Algicide hmm, still having green pool issues? a lot of chlor choc to. I agree with the flocculent though.

I think you and Wendy should PM as you are only a couple of hours apart are you using the same company? or if you are changing make sure you avoid the ones each other are using.

With both of you in a similar neck of the woods, I repeat it would be worth you getting me down there to analyse the pool water and equipment and train you how to do it your selves without 2/3rds of the magic potions you are currently buying.
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Old Bill
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Post by Old Bill »

teapot wrote:Hmmm, I see problems ahead for you Old Bill based on the shopping list these pool people have purchased. That's a lot of pH-, + anti calcaire, really? do you have that much of a scale problem? Algicide hmm, still having green pool issues? a lot of chlor choc to. I agree with the flocculent though.

I think you and Wendy should PM as you are only a couple of hours apart are you using the same company? or if you are changing make sure you avoid the ones each other are using.

With both of you in a similar neck of the woods, I repeat it would be worth you getting me down there to analyse the pool water and equipment and train you how to do it your selves without 2/3rds of the magic potions you are currently buying.
Thank you for your comments and we'll certainly look further into it. The water in the area is very heavily loaded with calcaire, which has always been a problem. We'll compare ph - with previous years to see if there's something special about this year and will report back.
Old Bill
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Post by Old Bill »

teapot wrote:Hmmm, I see problems ahead for you Old Bill based on the shopping list these pool people have purchased. That's a lot of pH-, + anti calcaire, really? do you have that much of a scale problem? Algicide hmm, still having green pool issues? a lot of chlor choc to. I agree with the flocculent though.

I think you and Wendy should PM as you are only a couple of hours apart are you using the same company? or if you are changing make sure you avoid the ones each other are using.

With both of you in a similar neck of the woods, I repeat it would be worth you getting me down there to analyse the pool water and equipment and train you how to do it your selves without 2/3rds of the magic potions you are currently buying.
PS Maybe the fact that we change the water every year is pushing up the cost of anti-calcaire. What do you think?
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teapot
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Post by teapot »

Old Bill wrote:
PS Maybe the fact that we change the water every year is pushing up the cost of anti-calcaire. What do you think?
It takes time and money to get water into a balanced condition for a pool, so changing it and starting again each season is not really needed. Well water changes, you may have good water one season and poor the next.
Are you/were you getting a hard white calcaire build up?
Is your pool vinyl lined, GRP or tile/plaster finished?
What type of filtration do you have?

I would be interested to see the water test results from your pool and from the well water you are using, testing the source water is really important but over looked by most pool operatives.
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