Cheapest and most efective way to heat a pool?

[woollies]

Last year we put 6 kw pool heater on 24/7 for our above ground 8 metre x 4 metre x 1.3 metre pool. We had it on for about 10 days and it worked well but obviously we had a heafty bill at the end of it. This year we were thinking of doing it slightly differently; putting it on during the off peak (heure creuse; 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm and 2.30 am. to 7.30 a.m. - 8 hours in total), from now until perhaps the 22nd August. we have worked out that it should cost about 120€ extra but are not sure whether it will be false economy as maybe it will not be on for a long enough period to make a difference and that during the on peak when the heating is off it will be counter productive.

Any thoughts much appreciated!

[Pierre ZFP]

If I've done the sums right, you have something like 40 tonnes of water to heat.  At 6 Kw, and  assuming no losses (you presumably have a very thick pool cover) it will take around 60 hours to raise the whole lot by 1 deg C.  Better to have a stiff upper lip and take the plunge - much better like that in the summer anyway - solar powered heating is the way to go, direct conversion of heat to ...well, heat so minimal losses and environmental friendly.

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

My little research tells me it's solar power or grit your teeth and freeze - unless you have just won the lottery.

I've done nothing yet but think and ask questions and think more. The solar matt system looks cheapish, but a bit untidy. It could be good on a flat roof somewhere close by. A week or two back some on this site suggested:

http://www.navitron.org.uk/solar_collector_panel.htm 

The Navitron tubes look good to me and are No.1 on my preferred list at present. One day I might even get it all installed.

[LEO]

woollies wrote; Cheapest and most efective way to heat a pool? Move south!

[Fil]

Hi,

sounds like you have a similar pool size to ours.  First year we had it, no heating, sun shone and it got to 31° all by itself.  Too hot really to be refreshing.  We decided we'd install a heater for those less than hot weeks the second year, and it was a much cooler year, the heater was on full time, the thermostat was set high (28°) and we had a HUGE bill!  Same heater as you, I bet, as it uses 6kw. Also, if we had the pool heater on, which we did, maybe the washing machine AND the tumble dryer and then had the stupidity to turn on the electric oven, off went the electrics altogether. 

So, the next year we decided to use Heures Creuses, like you, and it has worked fine, except when the temperature at nights is very low.  September we usually get lovely hot days, but much cooler nights, and the heater doesn't cope, so we've decided that it's just not economically viable except in the hottest months, maybe (normal year, not this one) June, July and August.  But we get no complaints on the warmth of the pool.

Like the person who wrote about algae, we've for the first time this year had a problem with it, probably down to lack of use of the pool due to weather, and to the stormy weather itself.  So this Thursday we emptied it!  Saturday morning it was refilled by about 8am, at 18°!  PH very high and had to be lowered, and off we went.  It rose 2° the first day (in about 12 hours) just by sunshine, then overnight another 2° presumably just by heating as no sunshine (so the 60 hours to rise 1° is definitely wrong).  Then another 2° during the day on Sunday, and presumably has gone up again overnight, although it has tipped down with rain.

So, I would conclude that it is a good way of heating a pool, combined with sunshine, and that if we can do it in southern Brittany, then virtually anyone can do it.  Obviously if you lived further south than us, you would probably use less power still.

Good luck,

Fil

[woollies]

Thanks so much Fil, I was begining to think nobody had an answer judging from the replies I received!!! Your's was 'spot on' and exactly what we needed to hear as we have our grandchildren coming over middle of August and as they are quite small, we feel we need to take the edge off the 20 degrees it is at the moment without having to be faced with a huge bill!

Will let you know if it works out,

W

 

[oliveau]

Not cheap to start, but then, look at the savings:

So first buy an abri-

No muck, so no cleaning.

No wind blowing across the top removing the heat

We were at 26c by the end of April, dropping a bit in late June as 'summer arrived!', but it now hits 29c with a bit of sun [and there hasn't been much lately has there?]

And no, I'm not on the Med!