Heating your pool this summer?
Considering today’s high fuel costs, does it make sense for me to heat my pool?
The answer is yes - if you want to enjoy comfortable swimming at your own convenience. One of the reasons for owning a pool is being able to swim when you want to. As for cost, that’s up to you. You really can control fuel consumption and waste simply by taking advantage of the suggestions made below.
What guidelines should be followed in heating our pool?
Taking into consideration the need to conserve energy and to minimize fuel consumption, any unnecessary pool heating should be avoided. You are the best judge of the kind of use you want out of your pool. Use of your pool for recreation, exercise, therapy or just general enjoyment obviously will require heating it.
How warm should I keep my pool?
That depends entirely on you, of course. The temperature recommended for recreational and competitive sports swimming by the South African Red Cross and many swimming coaches is 30 degrees C . This comfort level coincides with good fuel conservation practice, too.
Young children, the elderly and others often need 80 degrees F or warmer water, however, and hydrotherapy calls for warmer water, too.
Although 25 degrees C to 32 degrees C takes in about everyone, how warm you should keep your pool actually depends on personal preference.
What are the costs involved in heating a pool?
Operating costs can be kept to a minimum by installing an efficient, properly sized heater; using a good quality pool cover; and, of course, keeping your filter clean and your heating and filtering system well maintained.
We hear a lot of praise for the pool cover. Is it a good idea?
Most certainly. A good insulating pool cover can reduce heat loss by 80% or more, depending on your location and climate.
A pool that is uncovered can lose up to 5 degrees C overnight; a good cover can cut that loss by half.
Used at night or whenever your pool is not in use, the pool cover can help save fuel costs by cutting heat loss regardless of the type of heating you utilize. And it can even make an unheated pool more swimmable by helping to retain the sun’s energy that naturally heats the pool during the daytime.
A pool cover stops water evaporation when it is in place. It isn’t the water loss that’s the big consideration here-it’s the heat loss. Every gallon of water that evaporates from a pool takes with it 6000 BTU’s of heat in the process - and a typical uncovered pool loses 1 to 1½ inches of water a week through evaporation. For a 20 by 40 foot pool, an inch of water amounts to 500 gallons - roughly, a heat loss of more than 30 therms every seven days. (A therm is equal to 100,000 BTU’s).
Besides stopping heat loss, a cover saves on pool chemicals, too, by keeping them from evaporating with the water.
What types of heating are available?
Several - from the sun itself to gas-fired, electric and elaborate solar heating systems.
The most widely used type is the direct fired natural gas heater because of its low cost, reliability, ease of operation and the wide availability of natural gas. In areas where natural gas is not available, heater models can be furnished equipped to use LP gas or propane gas.
Electric heaters are generally much less efficient and more costly to operate than natural gas heaters, unless the electricity is hydroelectrically generated.
Solar heating ranges from simple "passive" solar - the familiar pool cover that absorbs and transmits some of the sun’s energy to pool water - to "active" solar heating systems.
Used alone, the passive heating technique merely serves to help keep pool temperatures at existing levels by retaining natural solar heat and preventing its loss. It cannot add heat to build up water temperature beyond what the sun supplies. Active solar uses traditional pool motors to move water from the pool through a system of solar collector panels for heating by the sun. This increases the amount of solar heat added to the pool.
What are the differences between constant and intermittent heating ?
With constant heating your pool temperature is kept at a comfort level, and your pool is ready for use at all times. You set your thermostat at the temperature you want and forget it. This is very convenient but more costly as more fuel is used to maintain temperature in the pool at all times.
With intermittent heating, you heat your pool only for those periods when you expect to be using it. For example, if you swim only on weekends, you would heat up the water for weekend use only and shut off your heater during the week.
With either heating method the use of a good pool cover can conserve heat and reduce fuel costs considerably.
Any pointers on intermittent heating?
While intermittent heating generally effects greater fuel economy, just as you would achieve by cutting off your furnace while away from home for several days, even less heating is required with this method if you keep a cover on your pool when it is not being used. A covered pool stays warmer than an uncovered one. Shutting down your heater for less than 2 or 3 days can be a false economy if you are not using a cover because building pool temperature up again tends to offset the "shutdown" savings. The less temperature buildup you require, the less energy will be needed.
Remember, too, that intermittent heating requires a heater large enough to heat your pool quickly when needed.
How can we conserve energy and still fully enjoy our pool?
First, keep your thermostat at the lowest comfortable setting-and mark this setting on your thermostat dial. Second, if you swim only on weekends and are not using a cover, keep your heater on a standby setting of 70 degrees. With a cover on the pool when you’re not using it you can leave the thermostat at your normal setting. Third, if you’re vacationing for a couple of weeks or more or shutting down for the winter, turn the heater off completely, including any pilot light. Fourth, use every available means to prevent heat loss. Shelter your pool from prevailing winds, using hedges, other landscaping, cabanas or decorative fencing as windbreaks even though the pool is covered. Finally, use a pool cover whenever you are not using the pool.
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