Heating a swimming pool at night

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Heating a swimming pool at night

Boeingflyer

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#289312 27-Aug-2021 16:40

Each season from start of Oct to April I turn on my heat pump for my swimming pool for up to 8 hours a day (obviously it auto turns off at 28 degrees).

Just wondering if there are any downsides to having it heating overnight using the cheap night power. The only thing I can think of is that it will alway be on at night due to the temp dropping but the savings of 50% would make up for that.

Does anyone heat at night?

afe66

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#2767745 27-Aug-2021 17:15

?noise annoying neighbours at night.

Senecio

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#2767759 27-Aug-2021 17:41

28*C for a swimming pool?

Dingbatt

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#2767770 27-Aug-2021 17:53

How rapidly does it lose heat? If it’s well insulated then getting some of the energy you are using to heat it at a lower cost would be of benefit, wouldn’t it?

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Boeingflyer

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#2767776 27-Aug-2021 18:40

afe66: ?noise annoying neighbours at night.

Pump is quiet and well insulated in a shed, the heat pump on the other hand could be a bit loud for the family and next door but then less than 5 meters is the house heap pump and the neighbours which would just be like winter.

Neighbours are real nice and they pretty much have theirs going 24/7 which doesn't affect us.

Boeingflyer

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#2767777 27-Aug-2021 18:42

Dingbatt:
How rapidly does it lose heat? If it’s well insulated then getting some of the energy you are using to heat it at a lower cost would be of benefit, wouldn’t it?

have a pretty good cover that helps heat the pool during the day. I think it's about 4-5 degrees loss overnight in summer, doesn't take long to heat back up especially if it's sunny and the cover is left on.

Boeingflyer

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#2767778 27-Aug-2021 18:43

Senecio: 28*C for a swimming pool?

nice and warm for the kids. the cover sometimes help it get over 31*C, that is getting warm.

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nickb800

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#2767781 27-Aug-2021 19:06

As you mentioned, you'll have a degree of loss from heating at the coolest time of the day.

Whether it is worth it will depend on what the night rate options are in your area. The best rates come from having your load on ripple control, which might come with a one off cost of having the heater on a dedicated circuit back to the meter.

For me, there's less than a cent difference between night rate, night boost (extra 4 hours in the afternoon) and controlled 20 (20 hours guaranteed per day, interrupted by ripple control in peak hours). So you might find you can save money by using ripple control but still have it heating during the day

CrashAndBurn

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#2767782 27-Aug-2021 19:20

Trying to maximize Contact Energy 9-12 plan?

hsvhel

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#2767858 27-Aug-2021 21:27

at 28 Degrees, even with the increase to 31 with cover, how long does that temp last for and hour or two use? is the heater running to compensate whilst in use?

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raytaylor

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#2768230 29-Aug-2021 00:38

Go for it.
Just make sure you insulate by using some thick polystyrene padding.
The local city hot pools in napier use some 5cm thick custom cut sheets of the polystyrene-like foam padding stuff that they make pool accessories out of that are custom cut to the shape of each pool.

You will always be losing heat energy or temperature. If you heat during the day you will still have to reheat the same amount to recover that temperature lost over the preceding 24 hour period anyway.
There is a slight increase in the heat energy lost per hour as the difference in air temperature vs water temperature increases.
But the insulation will minimise that and the cheaper power should more than make up for it.

It may even work by considering the water as a battery that stores heat energy.
If you want the temperature to be 28 degrees, you could spend $1 to heat it to that temperature in the hour preceding your use of the pool.

Or you could heat it to 32 degrees by spending $0.50 in the early hours of the morning, and then letting it cool to 28 degrees in the time before you use the pool.

Even better of course is to just install solar PV and use the pool as a dump load so you can heat at almost no cost while reducing the carbon emissions.

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blackjack17

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#2768237 29-Aug-2021 06:07

Free hour of power with electric kiwi and pump that temp up to 50c :)

Please don't do this unless you want to cook your children

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