What’s Good for Pool Heating – A Heat Pump or a Solar Heater

Keep your pool comfortable and inviting all year round with pool heating. Pool heating not only keeps your pool comfortable year-round, but it also extends your swimming season and helps keep you fit and healthy. 

There are a variety of options for pool heating but whether you choose an electric heat pump, a gas heating system, or a solar pool heating, the result will be a pool with water that is always the perfect temperature for swimming. 

Not only does investing in pool heating allow you to extend your swimming season but it can also add value to your home and that’s a win-win.

There are two main options for a pool heating system, a heat pump, and a solar heating system. We will be discussing the two main options to get your pool heated. 

Solar System 

The solar heating system is arguably the most cost-effective way of heating your pool. The question is how does solar work? The solar system uses sunlight and converts it to electrical energy. 

How does Solar Work?

Solar technologies work by converting sunlight into electrical power energy either through photovoltaic (PV) boards or through reflectors that concentrate solar radiation. This power can be utilized to produce electricity or be stored in batteries. This will save you a lot of money and does not require a lot of capital to set up, especially if you are taking advantage of federal solar tax credits to offset some of the costs.

The way solar works is that it pumps and recirculates the water from your pool through heated solar panels on the roofs and returns the warmer water to your pool until it achieves the desired temperature. 

So, if you are energy or environmentally conscious, it’s the obvious choice to heat your pool as it uses the most natural and renewable energy source there is sunlight.

Solar pool heating systems can work for up to 10 years without being replaced, which is fantastic longevity. The solar heating system also has its downside and the main downside is that solar is climate reliant. As solar needs the sun to function very well. Its effectiveness can be as unpredictable as the weather is also unpredictable.  

They also take a little bit of time to heat up, particularly on cloudy, rainy or windy days. So, if you live in a colder climate, you may also need to use an electric heat pump to achieve your desired temperature. 

A Heat Pump System: 

To raise the temperature of your pool, the heat pump takes the air from the atmosphere and transfers that heat back to your pool water, which provides a more consistent temperature all year round no matter what the weather is like. It also means a warmer, consistent temperature than the solar system. 

With your Heat Pump Installation, inverters can be used to utilize heat from the surrounding air and to help maintain a constant water temperature, and they are also very energy efficient. Just like the air conditions at home, once the inverter reaches the desired temperature, they operate at a lower speed. With this, it will save you energy and money. 

Anything that has advantages will definitely have disadvantages, the main downside to the heat pump system is that it takes a little longer to heat up, so if you are planning a spontaneous dip in the pool on a cold day, it might not always be possible or you have to plan ahead. 

We have discussed the ways to make your pool warm, let’s discuss the possible ways to keep your pool warm. 

Investing in a pool cover or blanket helps keep your pool warm. When your pool is covered with a blanket it means high heat retention and lower energy use. A pool blanket insulates your pool water preventing a significant amount of heat loss and reducing your pool heating cost by 70%. 

When you are planning to heat your pool, this grossly depends on your pool size. The pool size should be put into consideration before planning what method to heat your pool with. The reason is that one solution might work for a smaller pool size while a larger pool might not reap the same benefit from the method. It’s also important to work with a proper agency when installing your pool as this is a very big factor when planning to heat your pool.

Cost

Heat Pump: Based on the explanation of how the heat pump operates, you might be guessing that the expense to run a heat pump system is more than the regular electric bill. Well, that’s right. Because it needs a substantial amount of energy to maintain the extra pump running, the expense of operation can vary anywhere from $600 to $2,000 annually without the assistance of a pool cover. The original cost to establish them is pretty expensive as well.

Solar: The only huge sum you will spend when installing a solar pool heater is the original cost of installation. The price is not different from that of an electric pump pool heater, usually varying between $2,000 and $5,000. A solar energy heat pump is cost-effective and does not require too much money to maintain because it uses free energy from the sun. 

Conclusion: 

The two common ways to provide heat into the pump are through solar and the heat pump, the two methods are effective and do not cost too much money to maintain. Know the difference between the two and choose whichever one is the best for you.