Any people from up north keep your pool heated in the winter?

[JoyfulNoise]

Either indoors or in a heated shed/pool-house. Leaving any of the equipment outside in your area during the winter will subject it to freeze/thaw damage and/or bury it under piles of snow. That will make it difficult to work with from an operational standpoint.

 

[Swampwoman]

Wind snob, my vote is inside if you plan to run in winter and/or want to preserve/extend life of equipment Its true that many have equipment outdoors in winter and equipment is fine...when winterized/drained. But if you're going to try to extend the season, heated equipment/indoor installation will be way better.

To that end, I am in Michigan and am experimenting with year round operation (or almost year round) this year--I've just ordered this dome enclosure: Pool Domes | Ameri-Dome Inground Swimming Pool Enclosures

It won't be delivered for another 3 weeks, so in he mean time, I'm getting my "what-if" ducks in a row.

I made an in-pool solar roll cover and so far, if I turn the pump off at night, I'm only losing 3 degrees with a 40 degree temp differential (pool is 90, night temps have been 48-52 ish this week).

In terms of natural gas, right now using this method I'm using between 10-15 CCF per day (whole house, including boiler and pool heater).

Mdrejhon is the name of the poster from Hamilton (Canada) who ran his pool much of the winter using some principles such as still water retains more heat than moving water, etc.

For details on what he did, check out his awesome thread: FAQ: Cheaply Keeping a Pool Hot -- 90F,95F,100F -- How we ran till Jan 11th in Canada

I will report back on dome shenanigans after this winter...I expect I'll be learning a lot

 

[windsnob]

Wind snob, my vote is inside if you plan to run in winter and/or want to preserve/extend life of equipment Its true that many have equipment outdoors in winter and equipment is fine...when winterized/drained. But if you're going to try to extend the season, heated equipment/indoor installation will be way better.

To that end, I am in Michigan and am experimenting with year round operation (or almost year round) this year--I've just ordered this dome enclosure: Pool Domes | Ameri-Dome Inground Swimming Pool Enclosures

It won't be delivered for another 3 weeks, so in he mean time, I'm getting my "what-if" ducks in a row.

I made an in-pool solar roll cover and so far, if I turn the pump off at night, I'm only losing 3 degrees with a 40 degree temp differential (pool is 90, night temps have been 48-52 ish this week).

In terms of natural gas, right now using this method I'm using between 10-15 CCF per day (whole house, including boiler and pool heater).

Mdrejhon is the name of the poster from Hamilton (Canada) who ran his pool much of the winter using some principles such as still water retains more heat than moving water, etc.

For details on what he did, check out his awesome thread: FAQ: Cheaply Keeping a Pool Hot -- 90F,95F,100F -- How we ran till Jan 11th in Canada

I will report back on dome shenanigans after this winter...I expect I'll be learning a lot

Thanks for the info.. Looking forward to read about your results.

Not sure what that one pool builder is thinking. I talked to a 3rd builder last week and he pointed out that the it could be very expensive if the pump breaks down when it's below freezing.

The builder we're leaning towards at the moment said they can insulate the pool from the ground using insulated concrete forms and I'm planning on insulating the buried pipes as well. I also priced out a spa type insulating cover to use during the winter in addition to the automatic cover but I think I'll wait to see how the auto cover works by its self.

Also found this thread where someone put XPS foam boards under the auto-cover and got good results. Anyone use a solar cover with an auto-cover? - Page 2

 

[mdrejhon]

Yes, you can run a pool below freezing, with a pool heater unit. I did it in Canada last winter, before shutting down.

Eventually I plan to run through the winter without shutting down, by using a $5K inflatable dome (within 1-2 year). Or simply maintaining the pool temp at ~40F when unused in February to skip the usual pool-closing and pool-opening, since our pool season is now 10 months long!

For info on how to do it at reasonable bill prices, see:
FAQ: Cheaply Keeping a Pool Hot -- 90F,95F,100F -- How we ran till Jan 11th in Canada

January 2016 poolside snow, below-freezing temperature -- toasty steaming-hot 95F hottubbed pool.

We shut down in January, then we reopened the pool in early April. Here's an excerpt from the other thread:

The most extreme pool opening we have ever done:

These photos are less than 60 hours apart.

Tuesday April 5th, 2016 at 10pm ET
Water temperature: 35F

Friday April 8th, 2016 at 730am ET (before work)
Water temperature: 94F

Less than 60 hours apart!
The steam from the hot pool into the cold air.

Weather forecast is 19F / -7C this Saturday night. It will be a real Norwegian spa briefly.
Spring weather is coming quickly, but we're now ready for expected out of town guests.

The TL;DR story to keeping it within reasonable costs, in below-zero weather is using natgas heater, always heat at full throttle, and turn off pump when not heating, stationary unpumped & covered water preserves heat much better and cuts ~70% of heating bill cost, always use pool cover when not in use (thicker/foam the better). Ideally, sheltered/indoor area for pool pump/heater, and pipes to pool need to be underground and/or needs to be protected (e.g. insulation / pipe heating wire) if not underground.