Having a pool is a big responsibility, and maintaining it is a tad bit difficult at times. When winter comes, none of us want to swim in cold water to know how to heat a swimming pool without a heater.
One of the main issues about heating a swimming pool is that it takes a long time and can take a serious toll on your electricity bill.
Lucky for you, we have some ways that you can learn how to heat your pool without worrying about the bill.
Most pool heaters in the market involve hard-to-set-up procedures and can cost a lot. Little do people know that there are ways you can heat a swimming pool without spending a lot of money.
Without heating your pool, the water will stay cold and will never go warmer than 22 degrees Celsius. This way, you cannot swim in that water without shivering all the time while you are in the pool.
Heating your pool will not only let you use it during the summer, but you can extend your swimming sessions until before winter without risking your health while still enjoying swimming.
There are heating systems that are so powerful that they even allow you to swim in your pool during the coldest winter day. But as mentioned above, these are very expensive systems.
Most of the following procedures will only cost you a small amount of money, and the initial investment will do for the rest of the systems’ lives.
Black Hose
As the name suggests, you only need a black hose in this procedure. The main function here is that the color black absorbs and retains more heat than any color.
It is a natural way to heat your pool water and does not need any chemical or any other form of energy aside from the sun to heat your pool.
So first, you need to purchase a very long black hose. A length can go from your water source to an area where there is direct sunlight and then to your pool.
Pools usually have abundant sunlight around them, place the hose beside it or have a powerful water source; you can place the hose on the roof.
However long the distance may be, make sure that you have at least 50 feet of hose to spare. This will act as the radiator of this heating system.
Then, unravel the hose and connect it to your faucet. Ensure that the hose will run through a spot where it will get direct sunlight for the longest time in the day.
With the extra length of the hose, make a coil with it that lies flat on the ground where the direct sunlight is abundant.
Put the rest of the hose and the end of it in your pool to fill it up. The sunlight will d its job by heating the hose, and the color will absorb the heat.
As the hose heats up and the water runs through it, the water that will come out of the hose and into your pool will be warm enough for you to enjoy swimming in it.
Solar Cover
Solar covers are one of the cost-effective ways to heat your pool. Not only does it help heat up the pool, but it prevents it from going cold again.
Solar cover heats the pool again by absorbing heat and transferring it directly to the water in your pool, and then it kills two birds with one stone by protecting the water.
See, the main reason why the water in your pool gets cold is that it is exposed to the natural elements outdoors.
For example, when you expose water to direct sunlight, it will evaporate as it heats up, so you end up with warm water at the top and cold water at the bottom.
What a solar cover does is prevents evaporation by covering the surface of the pool and heats it at the same time.
It also protects the pool’s surface from gusts of wind that can help make the water cool down.
Do not expect a solar cover to retain heat because it does not. However, it is proven to retain at least 75% of heat than pools with no cover.
Solar covers do not cost more than a couple of hundred dollars, and you can get a cover large enough for your pool.
Solar covers are also customizable to fit them in your pool, no matter what shape or size your pool maybe.
This will help keep your pool heated by absorbing heat from the sun and preventing it from cooling down by making it a protective cover.
Solar Rings
Do you think that solar covers are too expensive for just, well, a cover? You can then buy solar rings designed to do just like solar covers for a lower price.
Think of solar rings as solar cover cutouts. They are smaller circles that you can purchase and place on your pool surface to prevent evaporation.
Usually, they just float around and leave open spaces where the water can evaporate, but you can purchase solar rings with magnets.
The magnets make it easier for the solar rings to stick together and leave the smallest possible hole to improve their function.
Liquid Solar Covers
Liquid solar covers are solar covers that are invisible to the human eye. This procedure includes chemicals.
The chemicals used in liquid solar covers are non-toxic and eco-friendly. These are chemicals that are lighter than water and do not evaporate as easily.
It is some sort of an invisible barrier that improves heat retention and absorption.
However, they are not as effective as solar covers, so you need something more than liquid solar covers to heat your pool.
Using Solar Panels
Solar panels are one of the most cost-efficient and environmental-friendly ways to get energy. They are usually used to heat the home, but you can use the same thing for your pool.
Heating your pool with solar panels comes best when you combine it with an electric heater. Yes, we said no heaters, but essentially, the heater is not the main player here.
You can use the solar panels to heat the pool without a heater as well. It is a great setup for you to make improvisations such as using them as heat collectors alone.
See, running your hose on your solar panels will heat it very quickly. See, with the heat retention help on your panel, the hose you use on the first technique will heat up.
The difference is that it heats up faster.
The surfaces of solar panels heat up while absorbing sunlight, so if you put the hose on them, it will heat up from the sunlight and heat up from the bottom up, making it more efficient.
If you choose to heat your pool with a solar panel and a heater, you can be sure that all the energy you use is free and environment-friendly.
The issue here is that the initial purchase is often too expensive for most households, but once you get to install one on your house, the rest of the energy you use will be free.
Another thing is that solar panels can only use them directly during the summer. Meaning you need to invest in a solar energy collector to store the energy that the solar panels have collected.
Using Solar Mats To Heat Up Your Pool
Solar mats work just like the black hose. They let water inside them and, with the use of direct sunlight, heats the water inside before dumping it into your pool.
Solar mats are intended for smaller pools since it is a slightly slow process meaning the water can cool down before your pool fills up with water.
It also requires a lot of pumping power. See. Usually, a solar mat is placed on a flat roof to get as much sunlight as it can.
Ordinary pressure from faucets does not have the force to pump water above your roof and back down to your pool. If some faucets do, then they usually take a long period.
You can put the solar mats on the ground but take note that it usually takes up as much space as your pool, so it might be difficult for you to find an area like that.
It is also very dependent on the weather, so you cannot use it during rainy seasons or winter where there is little to no sunlight to help it.
Dome-Shaped Solar Collectors
Like the solar mats and the black hose technique, dome-shaped solar collectors function the same way by using direct sunlight to heat your pool.
The difference is that it combines some greenhouse effect and the direct sunlight strategy to make it more efficient.
A single dome has a coil that is wrapped and enclosed in a glass dome structure. The water passes through the coils and heats up inside it before going out and into your pool.
Compared to solar mats, these dome-shaped solar collectors take up much less space and do not need to store it after every use.
The glass dome structure also acts as a protective enclosure for the device. You can install it beside your pool or where sunlight is abundant and let it stay there for as long as you want.
You can also use them to circulate your pool water to heat it; this involves using a pump, so the water from your pool goes to the domes and back to the pool.
The domes’ downside is that a single dome can only handle around 5,000 Liters, so you need more of them for a large pool.
They are also weather-dependent, so they are virtually useless when there is not enough sunlight to heat them.
Windproof Pool Shield
This system does not include a water heater, but it does involve a lot of money. It is, however, a proven way to do the trick and protect your pool from natural elements.
Windproof pool shields or enclosures act like the lid on your hot coffee. They keep the heat inside by preventing wind from blowing into the water.
Aside from keeping the pool water warm, windproof enclosures also act as a greenhouse where it lets sunlight get inside and heats the interior while preventing it from going out.
Depending on the material you choose to use and your pool’s dimensions, windproof pool enclosures will cost around a thousand dollars.
Conclusion
The most efficient way to heat your machine is, of course, with the help of a water heater. But they are not that cheap, so people opt for more cost-efficient ways or keep themselves from using their pools.
However, there are some ways where you can heat your pool without a heater and for so much less. The techniques mentioned above are the most used ways to do so.
Although they are dependent on the sun, they perform so well, and you will not be disappointed by the results.
Most pool owners think that heating their pools is a tedious job, and they need so much money to do it.
Well, things have changed, and heating your pool can now be as easy as running your water through a hose and into your pool.
Make sure to try out how to heat your pool without a heater mentioned above and see what does best according to your pool.
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