BY SIMON BONES, FOUNDER OF GENOUS HOME RETROFIT
POOLS, SPAS & HOT TUBS
HOW RENEWABLES CAN HELP WITH THE RUNNING COSTS OF A SWIMMING POOL
BY SIMON BONES, FOUNDER OF GENOUS HOME RETROFIT
Swimming pools are expensive to run. Indoor pools are often heated year-round and require significant electricity for air-handling units, while outdoor pools are more often seasonal, but, given that pool covers are poor insulators, the heat loss can often be considerable. The bigger the surface area, and the more you leave the pool uncovered, the bigger the costs tend to be( assuming you have a reasonably insulated shell).
Swimming-pool-specific air-source heat pumps have been around for a long time, especially for outdoor pools, benefitting from the fact that heat pumps are more efficient when the ambient air-temperature is higher( when such pools tend to be used) and the lower the flow temperature you need out of them( and pool water is a lot cooler than the water going round your radiator) but at Genous we think some home-owners are missing a trick on combining a pool with a broader renewable strategy.
There are three opportunities: 1) combining a heat pump for domestic heating and pool heating; 2) using solar photovoltaic panels to offset some of the costs of heating and managing a pool; 3) using time-of-use electricity tariffs to optimise the heating. These can save home-owners money, support decarbonisation and integrate more broadly with how you live.
1) Combining home and pool heat pumps A swimming pool isn’ t included in the heat load of a property for Energy Performance Certificate( EPC) purposes, meaning that if you have a big house and don’ t heat your pool all year, you can often buy a heat pump that is big enough for your house that will also be big enough for your pool. Plus, you need much less heating in the home when
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