What is cheaper ? Heating all week or only the weekends ?

[aswetich]

If I use my pool mostly on the weekends is it cheaper to keep it to temp all the time or just turn the heat on for the weekend ?

20X40 In-Ground Liner about 32K
Electric Safety cover closed when not in use.
300K Natural Gas Heater
In Michigan
We like it about 81 Degrees


Thanks !

 

[kirbinster]

A BTU is a BTU plain and simple. IF you have the cover on it when not in use you are loosing very little heat from evaporation. It really makes no difference if you contantly add a litte heat to make up for the heatloss to the environment or add the lost heat all at once. Actually your heater might be more efficient if it just goes on once and runs to bring it back up to temp than if it maintains it.

I would not expect you to loose much heat in the summer anyway with the cover on.

 

[lovingHDTV]

The rate of heat loss is proportional to the difference in temperature. Therefore you loose less heat the closer to the outside temperature you get, then when your pool is equal to the outside temperature you loose no more heat and further more, when you pool is cooler than the outside you gain heat.

Therefore it would be most efficient to heat right when you need it. This may not be practical as you may not want a large lead time before you can go into the pool. But it would be the most efficient. At least that is what they taught me during thermodynamics classes

This also works for turning down (up?) your AC in the house while away.

hope this helps a little,

 

[JasonLion]

It is cheaper to only turn it on for the weekend. This effect is much more dramatic without a cover but will still be noticable with the cover. Keep in mind that it can take a while to heat up, depending on your heater and how far it needs to go.

 

[aswetich]

Thanks

It sounds like my initial thoughts are correct to only heat during the weekend. My pool is 32K and I have a 300 BTU Heater that can rise the temp fast when I need it.