The swimming pool is one of the most expensive home amenities to maintain especially during the summer.  In the hottest months of the year, the pool is a popular hangout not only for the people in the household but their friends as well.  The challenge for the pool owner will be to keep the pool filled with clean water without spending a whole lot of money maintaining it.

Below are the top three ways that a pool owner can reduce his costs in maintaining his swimming pool. Many of these ways do not require a lot of expense, just diligence and attention.

• Clean the filter baskets everyday

Filter baskets will get filled up or clogged with dirt and debris, making the pool pumps and motors work more, and thus increasing costs. Cleaning out the filter baskets every day after the pool has been used will prevent this, though perhaps they need to be cleaned more than once a day if the pool is situated in an area where leaves fall into the water frequently or if there are many insects that could fall in.  This will not only put less stress on the pumps and motors, but also help in extending the equipment’s lifespan.

• Use a pool cover

Water tends to evaporate very quickly under the burning sun, so using a pool cover will ensure that not a lot of water evaporates.  This lessens the need to replenish the water in the pool. The cover will also help keep the water cleaner and keep it in a stable temperature. There are pool covers for different sized pools and they are pretty easy to install and maintain. Most are retractable, letting the owner just pull the large cover over the water and pull it back when he and his friends want to go for a swim.

• Use rainwater to fill the pool

Having a large water container or a water barrel could decrease the costs of having to replenish the water each time. The water barrel could just collect rainwater during the wet months, and the pool owner could just use that to fill up the pool. The water will be kept clean by the filters and pumps, and he could also add chlorine as an extra measure. It will be worth investing in a good rainwater barrel during the rainy season, though it could be difficult to fill up an especially large pool.