Pool equipment and leak repair in the Hamptons: pumps, filters, salt cells, liners and finding the leak

What breaks

Pumps and motors, because they run 8–12 hours a day for five months; filters, because sand and cartridges wear out and DE grids tear; salt cells, on a 3–6 year clock; heaters, especially copper heat exchangers on salt pools; and the plumbing, which leaks at skimmers, light niches, returns and the joints nobody can see. On a vinyl pool, add the liner.

What it costs (2026, national unless marked)

Repair	Cost
Pump replacement, installed	$900–2,500 (unit $600–1,800 + install $300–800)
Pump motor only	$65–650 part and labor; $250–2,000 for the whole motor assembly
Filter, installed	Sand $250–1,000 (media alone $50–350) · cartridge $250–1,200 (cartridges $50–300, every 1–3 years) · DE $550–1,300 (DE powder $50–120 a year)
Salt cell	$200–700 · $450–1,099 OEM · $500–1,500 · $1,000–1,800 — four sources, four ranges; 3–6 year life, about $200–360 a year amortized
Leak detection	$100–600 standard; $300–1,200+ for pressure, dye and electronic combined; in-ground pools $400–1,000; pressure test alone $200–500
Leak repair	Skimmer $100–130 (replacement $1,200+) · liner patch $150–500 professional · hairline gunite crack $200–500 · structural crack with carbon-fiber staples $3,000–8,000 · small cracks about $75 per linear foot · typical in-ground leak repair $500–1,500+
Vinyl liner replacement, Long Island	$5,000–7,500 every 8–10 years; a 28-mil liner is the local spec for freeze-thaw; national $3,000–7,500+ with the Northeast at the top
Acid wash	$120–1,500, most about $450; roughly $0.56–0.68 per sq ft
Drain and refill	Draining $150–250; refill by hose $40–200, by truck $400–2,400 for 10,000–20,000 gallons; plus about $100 to rebalance

Repair or replace

Two rules the trade agrees on: replace a pump that is more than 10 years old rather than repairing it, and replace anything when the repair costs more than half of new. A $300 motor on a 4-year-old pump is a repair. A $600 motor on a 12-year-old single-speed pump is a new variable-speed pump, and not only because of the age.

The variable-speed pump, in Long Island dollars

Since the federal pool-pump rule took effect on July 19, 2021, single-speed pumps above about three-quarter horsepower have effectively disappeared from new installs; what you can buy is variable-speed. The reason to want one anyway is electricity. A single-speed pump uses about 3,000–5,000 kWh a year (one estimate: 4,600); a variable-speed pump 1,000–2,400 (one estimate: 803). At Long Island's 27–28¢ per kWh, one of the highest residential rates in the country, that is roughly $825–1,375 a year against $275–660: a saving of $550–1,000 a year, which pays for the pump in two to three seasons. The national "save $550 a year" figure understates it here because it assumes half our electric rate.

Finding the leak

A pool loses about a quarter inch a day to evaporation in a Hamptons summer; more than that, or a water bill that jumped, is a leak. The order of investigation is the bucket test, then the equipment pad (a wet pad is a fitting, a seal or a valve), then the skimmer and light niche with dye, then a pressure test of each line. A skimmer leak is $100–130 to fix; a buried return line is a different day. Do not let a pool drain itself to find a leak: on the South Fork's high water table an empty shell can lift.

Salt pools and the ocean

Salt cells last 3–6 years however they are treated; what shortens them is running with the water out of balance and letting scale build up. On a salt pool, or any pool within reach of ocean spray, the heater's heat exchanger should be cupro-nickel rather than copper; copper corrodes in salt water and a heater is the most expensive thing on the pad.