Pool Heating
There are a few different types of Pool Heating and Spa Heating options and it’s important to know which of these options best suit your needs.
The 4 most common types of Pool Heating are
- Gas Pool heating or Gas Spa Heating
- Electric heat pump or Pool Heat Pump
- Solar Pool Heating
- Electric element heating (typically used in spas)
Gas Pool Heating
GAS POOL HEATING is the quickest way to heat a pool – essentially providing ON DEMAND heat year-round. Providing you the ability to heat your pool no matter what the weather is like outside.
Understanding how your pool is used can help to determine the best type of pool heating to suit your needs. For example – Are you the type of family that just swims on a weekend? Do you only want to heat the pool on the weekends that you are going for a swim? If that’s the case, then Gas Pool heating is for you. Gas Pool Heaters allow the user to turn them on a mere number of hours prior to the pools use, and when paired with an appropriate automation controller, that allows for remote access. Meaning you can turn the heater on a few hours before your arrival and have the pool heated when you get there.
Obviously all this is dependant on the volume of the pool /spa, the desired temperature, starting temperature and ambient air temperature and the size of your gas heater output measured in Megajoules MJ. All these factors determine just how long it will take to heat your pool / spa, but are also the key elements we need to source the appropriate size Gas Heater for you. Gas Pool Heating is perfect for small pools or spa, Weekenders, Air BnB’s, Holiday Homes, or pools that get irregular usage.
Electric Pool Heat Pump
Pool Heat Pump’s have quickly become the go to Pool Heating System throughout the industry. They offer the end user the ability to keep the pool a steady and even temperature over a longer period of time. This type of Pool Heating is ideal for pools that get regular use. If you were to combine an Inverter Heat Pump, with Solar PhotoVoltaic Panels and a Pool Cover, you would have an exceptionally efficient system that cost practically nothing to run.
Solar Pool Heating
One of the most common forms of pool heating throughout Australian backyards is Solar Pool Heating. It will typically extend your swimming season a month or so either side of your current swimming season. In the 1990’s and the early 2000’s, people widely used Solar Pool Heating, however, the Technology and efficiency advances of Heat Pumps, have rendered this product a thing of the past
Solar Pool Heating actively absorbs the sun’s thermal heat in black tubing on the roof the heat is transferred to the water passing through those panels. The water is then returned to the pool. Despite being referred to as the Free Pool Heating Option, a term that is grossly inaccurate. A Solar System requires the water to be actively circulated, which is done so typically by a pump. The pumps used are generally Single Speed Pumps, small, but terribly inefficient and consume quite a lot of electricity. With Energy bills rising at the moment, the illusion of Free Heating is far from correct. It is also worth noting that Solar Pool Heating relies on the Sun beating down on those roof panels. And the Sun to have some Heat in it. So what happens on an overcast day or a Winters day – typically not much! Which makes Solar Pool Heating typically unreliable. And the Cockatoos love to eat the Rubber Tubes!
Electric Element Heating
People use Electric Element Pool Heating for prefabricated spas and larger indoor pools that require 3 phase power. You could use electric element heaters for outdoor pools, but they are not cost-effective, and they would consume a large amount of electricity. The system works like elements in a kettle, with 1, 2, or 3 elements that heat up, and the pool water passes by them. Not very energy efficient to run and would limit its use to small spas only.