I have been around the pool industry since 1980 -- about 33 years -- and have noticed much change. This change has been in product performance and in innovation to save money for the end user of swimming pool products. I take my hat off to the remarkable job our industry’s manufacturers have done.
When I started working with pools, the hot ticket for keeping a pool clean was an octopus-looking monster that floated on the surface and traveled around the sides of the pool with long tentacles hanging down, powered by a ¾horsepower (1.4 kilowatts an hour) motor from Arneson. In today’s dollars, this would cost anywhere between 25 cents to 63 cents an hour to run.
Today’s pool sweeps get around the pool much quicker and have the capability of not only stirring up debris, but also capturing leaves and other large organics in a net bag. These sweeps are much more effective than the sweeps of yesterday. Unfortunately, sweeps that use the same method of propulsion as the Arneson Pool Sweep still have the ¾horsepower motor along with the above described cost.
A new type of cleaner — the robotic pool sweep -- has emerged over the past few years and is designed to clean residential pools at a much lower cost. This cleaner has a built-in filter that filters the water and a scrubbing brush for pool-surface cleaning. The bottom line: a big electrical savings for the residential customer. Using the same rate structure as above, this cleaner would cost to operate between 3 cents and 8 cents an hour, depending on the utility rate structure.
Summary Based on a three-hour run time 365 days a year, costs would be as follows:
* Booster Pump Sweep - $274 to $690 a year
*Robotic Pool Sweep - $33 to $88 a year
This information can and should improve your bottom line and your customer’s loyalty to your company, if presented properly.
