| an outdoor swimming pool is probably the least efficient use of fuel there is. Think about it for a minute. Gas is being burned to heat water that goes into a big tank or hole in the ground. This water is completely un-insulated and has several hundred square feet of surface area exposed to whatever the weather happens to be. Its almost like shoveling money into a bottomless pit.
Consider free solar heat! Over the entire United States the sun is at its highest and hottest during swimming season. No one has figured out how to charge for sunshine. Its still free. Doesnt it make sense for the 3-6 months of the year most pools are open to heat the water with a free resource
Solar pool heaters today are a well-proven, effective and efficient way to heat a swimming pool. A properly sized solar heater will raise the temperature of a pool from 8 to 15 degrees. Solar heaters even work when its overcast and cloudy. The only outlay of funds is the purchase of a system. Depending on the size of the pool, over the typical 10 year life of a solar system the cost per month to heat a pool can be as little as $13.00. With entry level systems costing as little s $125.00, pool owners who thought a heated pool was a budget buster can get into warm water too.
There is only one catch to this rosy picture. To be effective, solar pool heaters have to be properly sited. The pool area needs a minimum of 6-8 hours of direct sun during the day for the solar array to produce useful heat. However, one of the benefits of solar heaters is that they can be mounted in so many ways and still be effective. A roof, a portable rack or even laid out on the ground a solar system will do the job. It doesnt have to be close to the pool either.
With energy prices rising nearly every day a solar pool heater could be a great investment.
Rob Dr. Duck Coxworth
About The Author
Rob Coxworth is the founder of Webfoot Leisure (www.webfootleisure.com) an internet retailer of swimming pools, supplies, equipment and accessories. Rob has wide experience in the pool industry having positions in senior management, consulting, marketing, sales and operations.
This article was posted on September 05, 2006 |
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