SWIMMING POOL HEATING

WHY NEED HEATING FOR SWIMMING POOL

If the water in your swimming pool is too cold, then you probably will not swim in it. If you want to enjoy your pool not only on sunny days, then you are best advised to choose an efficient pool heating system.

Without heating, the pool water will not get any warmer than 22 °C, or perhaps 25 °C on very hot days. Sports swimmers like to swim in pool water that is at least 26 °C.  Most pools are even heated to 29 or 30 °C.

Moreover, pool heating allows you to extend your swimming season. Without heating, you can only swim during the summer months, from the end of May until the end of August. With heating, you can easily swim for up to 4 months longer, from April until the end of October. With some systems, you can even swim the whole year round.

SWIMMING POOL HEAT PUMP

Using heat pump technology for pool heating

Using a heat pump for heating your pool water in fact provides numerous benefits. A heat pump is highly efficient, economical, easy to use, and durable. This type of heating is much more environmentally friendly than a gas or fuel pool heating system. In addition, heat pumps have a long service life. If you want efficient pool heating, you should choose a high-quality heat pump. A heat pump uses electricity to extract heat from the outside air and distribute it into the water. They generate up to 5 kW of heat for 1 kW of energy.

Heat pumps are therefore dependent on the outside temperature. Conventional on/off heat pumps can operate at minimal ambient temperature 5℃, however, DC Inverter heat pump can operate at minimal temperature even below -15℃.

How to size a pool heat pump

There are three main factors which can impact the heating load of your pool.

Size of your pool

The size of your pool is one the most important things to keep in mind when sizing a pool heater. And this is because the amount of water a heat pump needs to heat (the size of your pool) directly correlates to how powerful it needs to be. So by that logic, the bigger your pool (volume), the stronger/bigger your heat pump should be. When you size a pool heat pump, you need the surface area of your pool.

 

Pool Location (climate)

Equally important as the size of your pool, is where you live. Specifically, the climate. If you live in a climate that’s mostly warm year round, then most of the time, your pool heat pump won’t have to work all that hard. For someone with an average sized pool, using a smaller to standard sized pool heat pump would be ideal. On the flip side, for pool owners living up north or in more diverse climates, it’s a little bit different. Pool heat pumps with advanced low-temperature performance, can help pool owners in colder climates stretch out their pool season even longer.

  • 1. Determine the hottest temperature you want to heat your water up to.

    Ex.) A target temperature of 27℃

    This is your target temperature

  • 2. Find the average temperature of the coldest month of the year for the area you live in

    Ex.) If you live in area, the coldest average temperature during swim season may be 15℃

    15℃ is the average temperature

  • 3. Subtract the coldest average temperature from the target temperature

    Ex.) 27℃ (target temperature) – 15℃ (coldest average temperature) = 12℃

    12℃ is your temperature increase number

  • 4. Calculate the size of your pool/surface area

    Ex.) 5m x 10m = 50 sqm (Surface Area/Pool size)

    Use this formula to calculate your pool’s surface area: Width x Length = Surface Area

  • 5. Calculate the amount of heating power (BTUs) needed to heat your pool

    Ex.) 50 x 12 x 230 = 138,000 BTUs

    You already have all the numbers you need, so here’s the formula:

    Pool Surface Area x Temperature Increase x 230 = BTUs needed

    According to the above example, a heat pump size of at least 108,000 BTUs or more would be a good choice.