Swimming Pools

Home

Choosing

Swimming Pool Enclosures

Swimming Pool Covers and Materials

Using Solar Power to Heat the Swimming Pool

The Solar-Heated Swimming Pool

For several reasons, solar heating and swimming pools are an exceedingly compatible combination. First, the cost of conventional heat is so high (simply because the pool loses so much heat from its broad, exposed surface every night and every cloudy day) that is makes solar costs look very inviting.

Second, the swimming season corresponds to the months of high hot sun and long days, when plenty of solar heat is available.

And finally, because swimming pools don't need large amounts of high-intensity heat, and because they act as their own heat-transfer liquid and heat storage, heating a pool requires only a few uncomplicated pieces of equipment.

Swimming pools can be heated by the sun and the heat retained in several different ways – by positioning the pool to take the best advantage of the sun, by protecting the swimming pool from the wind, by enclosing or covering it, and by using a solar water heating system.

A Place in the Sun

Locating the swimming pool where it can receive the maximum number of hours of sunlight possible is the first step in solar heating your swimming pool. For more on this, see “Choosing a swimming pool site”. If your swimming pool has its proper place in the sun, the sun will heat the water directly; then, if you want, you can increase the heating effect by using a solar blanket, embedding water heating coils in the deck, and incorporating a dark bottom in your swimming pool.

Wind.. The Heat Thief

While the sun and a heater are pumping heat into your swimming pool, the wind sets up convection currents that steal that same heat at an alarming rate. Every square centimeter of pool's surface gives up heat to the wind by evaporation, and the stronger the wind, the greater the heat loss. Evaporation alone accounts for 60 percent of the heat loss from the swimming pool. Another 30 percent of the loss radiates into the air from the water surface and 10 percent goes into the ground.

To minimize the wind's effects you can locate the swimming pool where it's protected from the wind, and enclose or cover the pool...