Pool heater advice needed

[gattaca66]

Does anyone have any experience of having a pool heater fitted, and of running costs, please? Tbh I am perfectly happy with our unheated pool. I am in it at least once every single day of the year, from its coldest at 19 degrees up to a balmy 30 degrees in mid-summer. My wife, however, is less keen, and is using the argument that our grandchildren would be much keener to visit in cooler periods if the pool was more ‘accessible’. 

Solar heating is out for sound reasons, so an air-source heat pump seems to be the solution. They seem to be around the €2k+ mark for our 55 m3 pool, but I suspect running costs with the ever-rising electricity prices would be prohibitive. Does anyone have any informed advice, please?

[Keithal]

Hi,

 I've had electric air source heat exchange pool heaters since 2004. My pool is pretty much the same size as yours, it was 55 m3. but has now been reduced to 47.5m3. From memory (I'm in the UK) the heater that I've got now cost €2.5k back in 2017, and uses 1.5kW of electricity to provide about 4kW of heat . To heat my pool I would expect to have to run the heater for 6 - 8 hours/day, and it would take probably 4 days or so to come up to temperature. The heater that I've got cuts out at 28degC as that seems to be the highest recommended temperature for a swimming pool. So reckon on 10 - 12 kWHr/day and multiply by what ever your highest tariff for electricity is as this would be additional to everything else that you run in the house. It would also pay to check that your supply is capable of handling the extra power consumption.


The most important thing with a pool heater is keeping the heat in the pool, so you need to have a good cover for the pool, and keep it on except when you're using the pool. I've had 2 pool covers now - just installed the third - so I'm getting something like 7 years life out of a cover, and these are the solar covers that help to warm the water. The new cover has cost just under €1k for 38m2 coverage. My experience is that the pool cover contributes nearly as much heat to the pool as the heater!

Back in 2017 I looked at solar heating for my pool (Solarland in Villaverde), but decided against it as we were looking at installation costs in excess of 5k€, a large area needed - pretty much as big as the pool - and they are least effective when you really need them in the winter due to the low sun angle, shorter daylight hours and generally cooler days so more likelihood of the heat escaping.

The other thing that you need to consider is the noise generated by a heat pump, they aren't silent, but they aren't too bad either. Mine produces about the same noise level as the pool pump does when it's running in the open, not enclosed in the pump house. The noise has 2 components, that produced by the fan and that from the compressor when the heat exchanger cuts in. The fan noise is constant while the unit is running, the compressor noise only when the unit is trying to move heat. It's something to consider if you have close neighbours, but can be mitigated with suitable siting and screening.

I hope that helps, no black and white I'm afraid just many shades of grey to consider.

Keith