It depends on the desired temperature. I keep mine around 70-72 degrees, I run the 3k watt electric heater about 2 hours a day. I live in the mountains of West Virginia, avg winter temp 27 degrees. I don't use the heater from May thru September.

If you want to swim in a wetsuit you could keep the water below 70 degrees.

Very surprised that once I got the water balanced, I use very little chemicals, maybe $10.00 month.

I run my pump 24 hours a day, depending the size of your pump will depend on the costs. My manufacture recommends running it 24 hours a day, but I could cut that back to 12.

Good idea to get a new water filter once a year, about $80 for the filter.

For all the pool weenies out there, no I do not pee in my pool!

Just a guess, I am probably spending $100 a month. BTW, my pool is a Sentry Riverpool which is wider (12 feet), deeper (5 feet) and longer (18 feet) than a standard endless pool, 6500 gallons.

Get a pool cover, best accessory I bought, it helps keep the water warmer when not in use, and really and I mean really eliminates all moisture and humidity in the room. If I leave the cover off overnight, all the windows are covered in condensation, with cover on not a drop.

If close to Southern WV I would be glad to have you do a demonstration swim.

Hope this helps.

That helps a ton. Do you keep it in the garage? And did you notice a utility bill increase from running the motor to swim in it? How much electricity do you think swimming it it costs per hour or month?

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
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Not an endless pool owner, but the schematics typically seem to indicate a 5 hp motor, so that's about 3 kW +/-, assuming the motor isn't fully loaded.

At $0.10/kWhr (check your bill for the actual rate), this would equate to $0.30/hr to run just the motor.

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30 cents an hour? I burn a gallon of gas to get to my pool just to be told I can't swim because there is the possibility of lightning somewhere else in the American Southwest this decade. That's totally worth it!

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
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Remember, though, that you still need to heat the pool (assuming the cover is off).

If you keep the water temperature close to 70F and your room temperature is 70F, then the heating will be minimal.

If you keep the water temperature at 80F and your room temperature is 70F and your pool has 84 sq.ft. of surface area, that's about 3,400 btu/h heat loss at the surface, which is about 1 kW, so there's another $0.10/hr to heat the uncovered pool. :)

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Yeah, it seems like it's totally worth it if you are going to use it, because it's the same as driving to a pool and paying for it. I'm a lifelong swimmer with no plans to stop. And in this case, there's no drive and nobody in your lane and the hours are unlimited. Now I'm a little concerned that running it outdoors at 5 am will piss off my neighbors. Is it possible to put a ton of sound proofing around the motor to keep it quiet?

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
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I have a hot tub so I'm actually not answering your noise question but wonder how much noisier an endless pool can be? I can't imagine any of my neighbors would hear it unless the thing was touching their foundation/walls and somehow they'd hear the vibration...

I would think that placement of the hydraulic power unit for the endless pool would be key (i.e. away from your property line).

The specifications typically call for adequate airflow to the unit for cooling purposes, but one should be able to build a ventilated enclosure that still provides some acoustical attenuation.

Most likely, you have a property line noise limit of 50 - 55 dB during off hours. The attenuation issue is probably a good question for the sales representative on the best way to ensure you keep happy neighbors.

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A few answers;

I built a room to house my pool, great views lots of windows, I keep the room at 63 degrees unless swimming, then I bump it up to 83 degrees. Once again pool water 70-72 degrees in the winter. If I turn off the heater off in May then I can keep the summer temps under 85 degrees. NOTE: an outdoor pool could be enclosed with a greenhouse type system.

As for the noise, actually I think the heater is nosier than the pump. The pump sounds like an air conditioner or heat pump, should not bother the neighbors. Check the Sentry Riverpool web page. It has the layout and technical specs for the system. Endless pool may have that also.

If you want it outdoors, a cover is a must. Also you can add a foam blanket to maintain the heat. I got a real good one from Lowes (of all places?).

As for swimming, it is not like a pool, but more like a river. I do a lot of swimming in our local whitewater river, so I am used to it. For a glass smooth swim, forget about it. But, unless you are the lead swimmer in a triathlon, most of a triathlon swim is pretty choppy. So the endless pool is good training. And for my Nieces, they just love playing in a current pool, like a whitewater rapid without the danger.

One accessory I got which is unnecessary is in pool lights. You don't need them. But they sure are nice to look at at night when you are not swimming.

I would get the largest motor offered in whatever pool you buy. I got the extra strong motor and at 500 watts it is equal to about a 1:30/100 yd. I can still go to 999 watts, no idea what speed that would be.

If space is a problem, go with the smallest pool offered. But, if you have the space and money get it bigger. The longer the pool the less the current will drag your feet down (the main reason I went with the Sentry Riverpool). Also a wider pool allows you to swim while others just relax in the water.

Mirrors, get them, wow, now you can see how you swim.

I got the underwater camera option, waste of money. Buy a GoPro camera or an underwater cellphone camera.

Find a source for your pool water. Tap water may not be the best choice. Initially I used my spring water (I live on a farm and that is the water source). Spring or even well water in my region is too and I mean way too hard. It was impossible to balance. You can find some vendors that sell balanced pool water, but in my case I could not and ended up putting in a soft water system.

I talk about balanced pool water and for good reason. If you want your equipment to last, water must be balanced, otherwise rust, corrosion and bad things will happen to the pool, metal, liner and you!

Final advice, get a current pool (propeller driven current), not a jet pool.

And I am just a satisfied Sentry Pool customer and I have no other relationships with that company.

Our estimate is about an extra $150 total per year to run two EP motors. We are in East Texas so in the winter we heat (gas) to 80 and in the summer run a chiller (electric) to cool to 80. This is a 35' x 16' pool, 6ft at the deepest and covered unless being used. Neighbors would not notice the noise; even with both motors running it's pretty quiet.
Being able to walk out the back door and swim 24/7 though is priceless!

Dang - I live almost in East Texas too (College Station). I'm going to have to chill it in the peak of summer? Shade won't keep it cool enough?

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

The pool authority tells me the same dumb shit in my part of TX. They close for rain.

Our pool has partial shade and without chiller we were up to mid-80 water temps by mid June. That's way too hot to do a hard workout. Another tri friend put in a lap pool this summer without a chiller and even with the majority of the pool in shade you couldn't do more than an easy swim during most of the summer. A smaller EP would heat up even more quickly. If it was fully enclosed in a garage it might be okay.

I used to lifeguard in Kingwood in the 80's and we used The Logical Method. If we saw lightning, we closed the pool. If we heard thunder clearly (not, "Was that thunder? Do you think that was thunder or just a truck?") then we closed the pool. Now there are these lightning detector systems that are pretty cool, but are a little overkill, pardon the pun.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

we keep ours covered indoors. It costs around 50 a month for heating. My younger boys like it warm so around 78-80. It costs about $1 an hour to run the 5 horse wave generator.