Hello from Florida! I'm helping a relative with pool plans and am tying to do it on a budget. The plans they have are for a 16X23 foot pool. They are saying they would like a pool ledge(for lounge chairs) and I think that would be helpful to keep their operating costs down in the future. My relative isn't interested in solar heat although I think that would be a good idea for cost savings. I've also been told that solar will only heat 10 degrees higher than the air temperature. Although the water temp wouldn't be bad during the day, I know they will want to swim at night and I'm concerned that it will be cold. My family has a pool and it has a heat pump. We swim daily and at night and keep the pool very warm. Some months the bill has been very high. They are going to retire in 5 years and I'm concerned about the operating costs in the future. Any advice is appreciated!
New pool build
- Thread starter Rustysmom
- Start date
- Oct 18, 2009
- 3,635
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Welcome to TFP. We have a heat pump and solar. At this time of year we like the pool to be about 91-92 degrees. The solar heated the pool to 92 degrees during the day so it was perfect for us however it dropped to 89 degrees as the sun went down so I put the heat pump on so we could be in the pool till 9pm last nite. A heat pump and or solar will extend your swimming and also allow you to swim all year round. Why send the expense of putting in a pool if you can't use it. Please post pics of your relatives pool build 
I agree a warm pool is great. We also have solar and a heat pump. For us solar takes care of 80-90% of the heating for free and the heat pump takes care of the rest. An 8mil solar cover helps a LOT with heat retention. Once our pool water is heated to 86-88 the cover and solar can usually keep up most days.