Energy Usage in Swimming Pools
We were among the first in our area to
promote energy efficient heat pump pool heaters, filtration pumps, control
systems and non-porous fiberglass construction materials. Together, these
features will save you over half on operating costs. If you add an
automatic pool cover, even more energy savings can be achieved.
Filtration Pumps
The average backyard swimming
pool requires a one horsepower pump to adequately recirculate water. Many
manufacturers of pumps are using high efficiency motors that save a large
percentage of the power over older models. Electronic timers allow you to
run your pump at one or more cycles during the day. Our filtration systems
can run 8 to 12 hours per day and keep the water safe and beautiful.
Pool Heaters
Heat pumps extract heat from the surrounding air and transfer it to the pool
water using electricity. Two drawbacks of heat pumps are slower heating
and a higher required ambient operating temperature. Most heat pumps cannot heat water when
the outside temperature is below 45°F. When temperatures are above 45°F,
heat pumps do very well at maintaining pool water temperature. However, most
people do not want to swim when the air temperature is below 45°F. So,
heatpumps in the Midwestern US make a lot of sense. They are the best way
to efficiently add heat to a swimming pool, saving as much as 70% of the cost of
using a gas heater.
Gas fired heaters use either propane or natural gas to heat water. The main
advantage is fast heating which makes sense for only heating the pool during
certain periods such as weekends. The cost of running gas heaters is two to
three times the cost of a heat pump.
Pool Covers Save Energy
Solar Covers, Winter Covers, Automatic
Covers... which is best?
Solar covers are inexpensive but will save a large portion of your heating bill
when properly used. They keep evaporation down and at the same time allow
solar gain and insulation during nighttime hours. The problem is that they
are difficult to place on the pool and are hard to handle and store.
Winter covers are great at keeping the pool clean and safe during extended time
of non use of your pool. However, they require an hour or so to put on,
and another equal amount of time to take off. We recommend winter covers
for those who operate their pools when average daytime temperatures reach about
60° F.
Automatic covers are great for people who want to save the most energy and keep
their pool operating at the lowest average outdoor temperatures. When closed,
automatic covers keep debris and uninvited guests out and when open, allow full
use of the pool. You can keep the pool closed except when in use, saving
energy, chemicals and water.
Our Environment
We recycle all cardboard, paper,
metals and other left over products from our operations.
We install fiberglass pools that
require half of the pump run time of liner and gunite pools. This translates
to half of the energy cost of other types of pools. Fiberglass just
makes a better water container with the non-pourous surfaces that stay clean
with little effort.
Fiberglass pool shells never need to
be resurfaced or have their liners changed (because there is no liner!).
This saves land fill materials from being generated, sand blasting dust from
being generated, and conserves your hard-earned money as well.
We use cartridge filters which
conserve water by never requiring backwashing. These filters also
conserve chemicals and prevent pool water from contaminating our streams.
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