Heating help

[Mike5150]

I have a 30' round AGP with a dinky little 120,000 btu heater that was originally used for a hot tub. My pool is surrounded by trees, and is only in the sun for about 4-6 hours a day. I was hoping someone could tell me the most efficient way to warm my pool and likewise keep my pool warm. My poor little heater is running much of the day when the pump is on, but I was wondering what I should do during the day when the pool is in the sunlight. The solar cover is a medium blue, so I would think that it would gather the heat from the sun fairly well. On the other hand maybe it blocks a good portion of the heat from getting to the water.

I guess to make a long question short...for heating purposes would I be better off taking the cover off during the day even if we are not using the pool, or should I leave the cover on as much as possible to keep the heat I have from escaping. keep in mind that the heater does run for about 8 hours a day.

Thanks!!!
Mike

 

[NWMNMom]

You must have some spot in the yard or on your roof that the sun shines more of the day - solar panels can be plumbed at a distance so it does not need to be right next to the pool. You can really heat a pool up nicely with solar panels.

 

[Mike5150]

The gas heater I have works fine, I'm more interested in optimizing my use of the solar cover during the day to supplement the gas heater.

 

[britinusa]

We use a clear solar cover and a heat pump heater, it heats up faster with the clear cover than the blue one we had before.

 

[dmanb2b]

...for heating purposes would I be better off taking the cover off during the day even if we are not using the pool, or should I leave the cover on as much as possible to keep the heat I have from escaping.

Solar covers are far better insulators, rather than "heaters" although clear covers help let sun rays through. The answer to your question, depends on the pool water temp, vs the conditions outside...here are some examples

Keep the cover on, unless you are swimming given you are trying to heat when cooler outside...once temps are warmer, then take the cover off when the pool gets sun

 

[NWMNMom]

Yep, other than preserving the temp you already have, you will not see more than a negligable gain from any kind of solar cover. If you want to supplement, a panel or a larger heater are your choices.

 

[Mike5150]

Thanks a lot everyone, once again you guys (and girls) are great! I wish I would have known about this site about 5 years ago when we got our pool, it would have saved me some major headaches.