If you have an outdoor swimming pool and live in a region where winters are cool, you may be interested in options to heat your swimming pool water without breaking your budget. In ground electric pool heaters can be very inefficient and costly, and two newer solutions that are becoming more popular for heating pool water are swimming pool heat pumps and solar heating panels. Each of these technologies has certain advantages and disadvantages.
Solar Heating Panels
Solar heating panels can be used to raise the temperature of pool water 10-15 degrees about the outside air temperature. If you live in a region that is cool, but not cold, they may be the solution for you. Using the sun to heat your pool is a wonderful renewable energy solution, and it is very economical as well. However, solar panels will not work as effectively on cloudy days, and they may not get the water as warm as you would like it to be. You also need a lot of space to install the solar panels, which may be an issue for some pool locations.
Swimming Pool Heat Pumps
Swimming pool heat pumps do not heat the water in the pool in the way standard electric pool heaters do. Instead, they capture and use the heat of outside air, further heated and turned into a hot gas, to warm pool water. They are generally much more efficient than electric pool heaters, and they are more reliable and can get the water warmer than solar heating panels. One downside of pool heat pumps is the cost. They are a complicated piece of machinery, and you can expect to pay upwards of 00 for even a standard unit. They will, however, add value to your home as well, so they may in the end be well worth the cost.
In my opinion choosing a ground source heat pump to heat home is an alternative method of providing heat. Not many people are familiar with these devices.
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