swimming pool heating

gw4nby

Just purchased a house with an outdoor swimming pool. Would like to know the cheapest way of heating the pool. It currently has a calorex heat pump on economy 7. I seem to have to run the heating in the day as well so just wondering if this is the best option as the daytime rate is higher. Also, should I consider changing it to gas heating. Pool seems to take about 4 days to get to swimming temperature so need to watch the long term weather. Any tips welcome. Many thanks

Cardew

When I did some research some while ago a heat pump was the the cheapest option to run other than solar panels. The down side is it takes a long time to heat the pool and you need to run it during the day.

There is masses of information available of the internet; ensure you don't read manufacturers propaganda.

You must ensure that you have a good thermal blanket that you put on whenever the pool is not in use, as you can lose a lot of heat from the pool overnight.

gw4nby

Hi, Many thanks for your comments. As this pump needs to run during day as well, should I get off the economy 7? Gas is used for hot water and heating and I cannot think that we will become nocternal. Thanks again.

Cardew

gw4nby wrote:

Hi, Many thanks for your comments. As this pump needs to run during day as well, should I get off the economy 7? Gas is used for hot water and heating and I cannot think that we will become nocternal. Thanks again.

It is not possible to answer that question without knowing your current day and night consumption.

The general rule is that if you have heating on Economy 7 then you remain on that tariff.

For those without night storage heating it is fairly marginal and even then you need to work at using maximum electricity at night - washing machine/dishwasher on timers etc

My guess is that with the fairly hefty daytime consumption of a heat pump you would be better off dropping Economy 7.

You can check this by monitoring your day/night consumption with the heat pump running and some simple arithmetic using the available tariffs. Bear in mind you(presumably) will not be using the pool all year.

Grimbo_2

gw4nby wrote:

Also, should I consider changing it to gas heating.

I would not recommend it, heating a pool is costly theres no getting around that unfortunately. However I have had experience of the bill aspect of customers of BG with pools and the ones with gas heating the bills are frightening, using in one quarter what I would use in 2 years.

You could always invest in a solar option to heat your pool, costly to install from the offset I know but you will save an awful lot of money long term on fuel costs.

Cardew

Grimbo wrote:

I would not recommend it, heating a pool is costly theres no getting around that unfortunately. However I have had experience of the bill aspect of customers of BG with pools and the ones with gas heating the bills are frightening, using in one quarter what I would use in 2 years.

You could always invest in a solar option to heat your pool, costly to install from the offset I know but you will save an awful lot of money long term on fuel costs.

I think you will find solar heating is just not effective. It is not even used much in Florida let alone UK.
If you look on this forum for solar heating you will see some good information about this subject. Someone has a very complicated and expensive system fitted and even in summer he gets approx 700 units in a month; that will hardly be noticed in a swimming pool over a month.

Grimbo_2

hmm it was a wild idea more than an informed one so thanks for putting me straight cardew, I guess the OP's choices are limited. Pay through the nose or take a cold swim :rotfl:

in_my_wellies

I know it does't look that prity but have you thought of covering the pool with a polytunnel? It extends the use of the pool by weeks and the pool can operate at a lower temperature. It is also protected from leaves, etc so lees cleaning cost.

ps I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, etc, etc, in mine + all my seeds, pots and baskets are started out in it so all this offsets the cost a bit!

in_my_wellies

I know it does't look that prity but have you thought of covering the pool with a polytunnel? It extends the use of the pool by weeks and the pool can operate at a lower temperature. It is also protected from leaves, etc so lees cleaning cost.

ps I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, etc, etc, in mine + all my seeds, pots and baskets are started out in it so all this offsets the cost a bit! XXx

in_my_wellies

sorry - got impatient!