Cost of Keeping Pool Open Year Round

I live in Arizona where most HOA pools are year round. Ours, however, is open in the summer only, mostly because we just don't know how much more it will cost to open it year round. I have already spoken to the insurance people and there is no additional cost there. The pool is NOT heated, and so we expect very little use during the winter (the water will be cold).

We have identified the following annual costs for the pool (not 100% certain of the numbers, but a good guess):
$4000 Chemicals
$3000 Staff Time
$3000 Repairs
$2000 Utilities

Can anyone help me identify which of these costs are going to increase and by how much if we move to year-round access? Currently, we check the chemicals and clean the bathrooms every day during the summer (when the kids are out of school), but I think we can go to weekly in the winter (not sure about chemicals because I have never owned a pool). When we checked with similar properties, they said that their pools areas are used mostly on the weekend in the off-season, and that almost no one goes into unheated pools except for crazy guests from cold places, and so the pool area is used mostly for sunbathing.

We also need to decide if we should put a keyswipe or fob security on the pool gate to control the hours it is used. Right now, we use a regular key and the gate is chained up nightly during the summer and during the entire off-season.

We are having a town hall on this subject soon, so any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

I would consult a pool supply company or one that is paid to keep up pool maintenance. Consult atleast 3 of them to get a good idea of cost ranges and what they think. Chemicals are one of the most necessary and repeated items. Anytime someone has an "accident" in the pool it has to be evacuated for about a day and shocked. That adds up over time. It's guaranteed to happen several times throughout the summer and now more months...

We paid a person about $150 - $200 to come and maintain the pool each week during the summer. I took care of the bathrooms for free. We also installed a timer on the water faucet for filling the pool as our pool person would often leave the water running all day. The cost of the timer was about $60 but saved us hundreds of dollars...We kept the lights on the pool until closing at 10pm. If you leave them on longer it can cause algea and bugs. The lights can be put on timers as well. This will save money and get the message across the pool is closed.

What size is your pool? You may consider getting a solar cover for it. This can hold in the heat for those off months when it's not so warm. It's probably a good investment over the long term.

I question some of your expenses as it seems you can save in many areas. I don't think we spent but maybe 5K - 7K in a summer for our pool. We have it open from May until October. We had a few pump problems and emergencies. The handle for backflushing the pool blew off twice. We also had to add sand to the pump container. There was a leak that did cost us the most which was 800 to detect and another 1K to repair. So repairs aren't really that high and needed infrequently.

Get your quotes and you may find there are better ways to maintain your pool. I know I did when I did the research and it is worth checking into...

We never used a solar cover at our association. I have a neighbor with a pool next door that has in the past. They do cost I hear about 2K. It really depends on the situation if it is worth it. You would have to make prior arrangements on who would remove the cover and when. It may be a good idea just for weekends only to be open as most useage happens then.

There were issues with my neighbor's cover. He's no longer using it. They tend to just clean the pool for summer useage only and leave it green the rest of the year. It's private use so they would have different issues than a public pool would using thier cover. The most serious issue was a dog they were temporarily adopted fell into the pool with the cover on. It nearly drowned until another neighbor rescued it. So there is a serious safety factor if you believe someone may get into that area without notice. They could get trapped under it and drown.

These are issues to discuss if the benefits out weigh the benefits. They work well and protect the pool from turning green. Which helps in cleaning it and maintainence. However, they can be unsafe and cumbersome to remove. It really depends on how the person responsible for taking care of the pool really feels about handling it. It is a serious consideration to consider.