Technologies used in Pool Heating

Sometimes swimming pools can be very cold to enjoy swimming. This is why pool heating is necessary. Pool heating allows you to extend your swimming season. Without heating your pool, you can only swim during the summer season- from end of May until the end of August. But when you heat your pool, you can swim throughout the year.

There are various pool heating technologies that homeowners can use to heat their pools. The following are some of the technologies used in pool heating.

1. Solar pool heaters

Solar pool heaters not only allows you to heat up your pool, it also reduce your energy costs.  They have low annual operating costs. The solar pool heating is the most cost-effective use of solar energy in many areas.

• How they work

Pool water is pumped through a filter and then through a solar collector, where it is heated before it is returned to the pool. During summers, the collector can also be used to cool the pool during peak summer months by circulating the water through it during night times.

There are some solar heating systems that sensors and an automatic/manual valve that diverts the water through the collector when the collector temperature is significantly greater that the pool temperature. When the collector’s temperature is the same as that of the pool temperature, filtered water bypasses the collector and is returned to the pool.

2. Gas pool heaters

This is the most popular system for heating swimming pools. Nowadays there are new gas-fired heater models with much higher efficiency than the older ones.

• How they work

Gas pool heaters use natural gas or propane. When the pump circulates the pool’s water, the water drawn from the pool passes through a filter and then to the heater. The gas burns in the heater’s combustion chamber, thus generates the heat that transfers to the water that is returned to the pool.

Gas-fired pool heaters are very efficient when heating pools for short periods of time. They are also ideal for heating pools quickly. Therefore, gas pool heaters are the best options for pools that are not used regularly. Unlike the solar pool or heat pump heaters, gas pool heaters are known to maintain any desired temperature regardless of the weather.

3. Heat pump pool heaters

Heat pump pool heaters also offer a way of heating your pool. The pumps use electricity to capture heat and move it from one place to another. They don’t generate heat.

• How they work

When the pool pump circulates the swimming pool’s water, the water drawn from the pool passes through a filter and the heat pump heater. The heat pump heater has a fan that draws in the outside air and directs it over the evaporator coil.

The liquid refrigerant within the evaporator coil absorbs the heat from the outside air and becomes a gas. The warm gas in the coils then passes through the compressor. The compressor increases the heat, hence creating a very hot gas to the cooler pool water circulating through the heater.

The heated water then returns to the pool. The whole process occurs over and over again because the hot gas, as it flows through the condenser coil, returns to liquid form and back to the evaporator.