Swimming pool heating?
How to choose a pool heating system
Heating the water in the pool makes it possible to extend the swimming season by between 2 and 4 months, depending on the geographical area and the system chosen. If you are assessing what type of pool heating you want to install, it is important to take into account the cost of the installation but also the energy cost that each option will entail.
Solar heating
A much cheaper option is solar heating, which consists of integrating a circuit with a solar panel. The efficiency of the system depends on the climate and the hours of sunshine, so it is not as reliable as other systems.
There are models specially designed for swimming pools and it is a useful resource to improve the temperature of small elevated pools.
Their installation is very simple, they can be collected in summer or, in the case of larger panels, protected with a cover. For its operation they are placed, connecting the tube fittings, from the impulsion tube to the exit of the purification system.
There are also semi-spherical models designed to heat about 10,000 litres, which can be installed in series. They are ideal for larger volumes or to have a larger solar yield surface and faster heating.
Heat exchangers
The heat exchangers are mainly used in spas and indoor pools, but can be attached to any pool. The heat exchanger is a water heating system with two circuits. One takes water from the impulse system and sends it back to the pool. The other connects to the available heating system in the house (such as a gas or oil boiler or a solar collector) and uses its power to heat the water. In this way, the heating power of the boiler can be used, for example, to heat the pool water during the warm months of the year.
From an installation point of view, it is like adding an extra radiator to the house’s heating circuit. If it cannot be directly integrated into the boiler’s heating circuit and used, for example, connected to a solar-powered water storage tank, a model with a pump must be chosen to move the water.
There are two types of heat exchangers:
Multi-tube: This is the most economical and consists of several tubes (both for the heating circuit and the pool circuit) that heat the water by contact.
Plate: It offers a higher performance, since the water instead of circulating through tubes does it through plates. By increasing the contact surface, more water is heated in less time.
The heat exchangers can be supplied in different configurations, depending on the needs of the installation.
Basic: Only the heat exchanger body is supplied. The amount of hot water generated can be regulated depending on the heating system of the house.
With regulation: A system of probes and a thermostat is mounted to control the temperature of the water brought into the pool.
With regulation and pump: It is the most complete system. Apart from having integrated regulation, as it includes a recirculation pump, you can choose when and how much the pool is heated. It also guarantees a correct and quick recirculation of the pool heating system, thus increasing its performance.
Heat pump
The heat pump system works like air conditioning, but instead of heating air, it heats water. To perform the heat exchange it uses the properties of the refrigerant gas that absorbs the heat from the outside and transfers it to its internal circuit. As with air conditioning heat pumps, the outside air does not need to be hotter than the water to extract heat.
The main advantage of this system is its low consumption compared to that required by electric heaters and heat exchangers. Only 20% of the energy produced is of electrical origin, the rest corresponds to the work of the refrigerant gas referred to above.
To use a heat pump equipment you must make the same adaptation in the electrical panel of the house supply that you would do with an air conditioning equipment and you can place it on the surface at any point around the pool.
There are different pumps depending on the size of the pool, you should take this into account when choosing one. Other differences between the pumps are the quality, which determines their performance, the compatibility with different disinfection systems (e.g. salt chlorination) and the sound decibels it generates when in operation.
