Robert Ebsen

How can I find out how much it costs to heat my pool to 86 degrees during these cooler months? All I could think of was to compare my bills from the gas company month-by- month. I located the last three years of gas bills, and I made a chart. I was prepared to fill in this month’s bill when it comes out next week.

Luckily, I decided to check my gas bill online. I was amazed and thrilled. Right there in chart form was an analysis of, not only how much the daily cost was for gas, but also the hourly cost each day.

The chart shows the hourly cost for gas on a typical day of heating the pool when the pool was heated the day before. As you can see, the cost of heating the house was negligible. The pool was heated from 5 a.m. to 7a.m. this day.

Clicking on each hourly bar shows the total for each hour: $.92, $1.53, and $.31. The total is $2.76. Subtracting $.09 per hour, the cost of heating the house, brings the total for heating the pool that day to $2.58.  The cost for heating the pool when it was not heated the day before was $6.50.  If I swim 25 days each month during the winter, I expect to pay about $6.50 x 4, and $2.58 x 21, which comes to $77.60 for the month.  Gas bills for this period, for the two previous years, were $153 and $206.

I explained to my wife that this month’s bill will be higher than usual because it was only two weeks ago that I built a greenhouse over my pool, thus insulating it and significantly lowering the amount of gas it takes to heat the pool. I guaranteed her that the next month’s bill will be lower than previous bills for the same time during the year. That guarantee now has me thinking of additional ways to insulate my pool.

Three things I can do are:

• Cover the surface of the pool more completely,
• Tape up spaces around the greenhouse sheeting where cool air can enter and
• Use the solar panels on my roof during the three or four hottest hours on sunny days.

I wish I could magically lift the entire pool and lower it on an insulated floor.

How fun and exciting this healthy swimming hobby has become!

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com