North Facing Pools

This is very dependent on your location and the track of the sun (rarely is it exactly east to west), which changes throughout the year. How do you mean "faces north"? Just not exactly sure what you are concerned about as if it's outside and not covered up with trees, it WILL get sun.

Edit: Here is a picture of how our house/pool sits; the arrow is due north. In the summer, the sun comes up generally in the NE and sets in the SW and there is sun on the pool from 8 am until about 7 pm. The temp of the pool this morning was 88 degrees. Not sure if that helps any, but might give you a little idea.

kristinainaustin said:

I may be overthinking this then... If a house was on the lot I'm looking to purchase and you walked out the back door, you'd be facing north.

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Gotcha. I edited my first post as our pool is "facing north". It appears that there is quite a bit of shade, but this image was taken in the fall...there isn't that amount of shade in the summer.

Getting max sun on a pool in Austin is less important than getting sun on a pool in Albany. Though of course it will heat up slower in the spring and cool off faster in the fall. And in the summer, a touch of shade for you is good, to keep the water cooler. Of course, as nature would have it, that's when the sun will hit your pool the most. Do you plan to have a heater? Of not, the sun issue becomes more important for early and late season comfort. I don't live in Texas, but when I'm in the pool I like to be in the sun, even when its 90-100 degrees. But that's just me. I like sun.

As for how much shade it will receive, it really depends how close your pool is to your house, how tall the house is and your exact direction.

From a pool chemistry standpoint, a pool can easily be maintained in a lot of sun or a little.

My pool faces up

Our pool is on the north side of the house. There is full sun most of the day though...do you have a lot of tree cover? We have forest to the north but it’s far enough away that it doesn’t shade the pool til late in the day. I was kind of concerned but turns out I love how the house provides patio shade in the afternoon!

trivetman said:

My pool faces up

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I was waiting for that one. If no one else said it, I would have to! Kidding aside, I've learned that solar panels in the U.S. are typically installed on the south facing side(s) of the roof, because here the sun is more often south than north of the center of the sky. So assuming the pool is fairly close to the house, especially if a two story house, then you might want your house to be on the north side of the pool. That assumes you have some assurance of what will be on the opposite side of the pool. As someone else mentioned, that also depends on where you are. Here in southeast Texas, our inground pool water in July and August hits around 92-94 degrees by 1pm, and the sun makes the pool almost unusable until about 4 or 4:30. The pool is west of our two story house, which faces east. It would be much better for us if the pool were east of the house for afternoon shade. Actually real estate agents here emphasize that a house facing west is preferable with or without a pool, as it puts afternoon shade on a back patio or deck.

I don't know where you are, although your user name suggests Austin. Down here in Houston, the north side gets plenty of sun most of the summer. BTW, here's a website you could find useful: https://www.photoephemeris.com/ to your goal. The Photographer's Ephemeris is a site that will show you the sun and moon at any given location and time of year. Outdoor photographers use it to find where the light will be without waiting for it, or to plan a trip at a particular time of year. The phone app is for sale, but the web version is free. You can put in location, even latitude and longitude, and see where the sun and moon will rise and set any time of the year. I don't follow Austin weather, but if the temps are close to Houston (97 is forecast today), I don't see shade as a problem!