The best way to heat a swimming pool

[neilfaulkes]

Good morning everyone. This is my first post. Please be gentle!!

I am renovating a barn in Poitou-Charente. We intend to retire there in about 10-15 years but will rent it out from 2007 so that it can pay it's way. I need to order the pool (approx 10 x 5) in September. I am still considering liner pool versus fibre glass but one thing occured to me last night over a glass of (french) red wine. What is the best way to heat a pool and what are my options?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[paolo]

Welcome to the forum Faulken!

I have no idea about the best way to heat a pool, but others will know.

There is an ongoing discussion about solar heating here:

viewtopic.php?t=1055

[Calvados]

Good morning everyone. This is my first post. Please be gentle!!

I am renovating a barn in Poitou-Charente. We intend to retire there in about 10-15 years but will rent it out from 2007 so that it can pay it's way. I need to order the pool (approx 10 x 5) in September. I am still considering liner pool versus fibre glass but one thing occured to me last night over a glass of (french) red wine. What is the best way to heat a pool and what are my options?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

April through September in Charente, you are probably best looking at an air to water heat pump.

Check out certikin.co.uk they are TRADE distributors of pool equipment and will have retailers in France.
Other trade suppliers with agents in France are probably Astral
and Plastica.


If you build a concrete block and liner swimming pool, with good reinforcement designed in, you would in the future be able to consider tiling the pool.
Initially you could render and paint and forget the liner . Then when funds will allow, grit blast off the paint and fix mosaic or tile.
See www.bisazza.com for some wonderful mosaic.

[cromercrabholiday]

We've got friends in the Dordogne who heat their pool successfully with water solar panels on most of their house roof. The French fitters wanted to fit it on the North-facing roof as it would be less obtrusive but he managed to persuade them that South-facing was a better bet.

John

[Guest3]

We're thinking about getting pool heating installed this Autumn.

From what I gather the heat exchanger system seems to be the best option for us as we haven't got the room for solar panels. Has anyone heard of a Company called Calorex? They manufacture heat pumps. Or can anyone recommend a system that is already tried and tested in their own pool?

[la vache!]

I use the Optimac model by a company called PSA which has been very reliable.

[Ju]

If you build a concrete block and liner swimming pool, with good reinforcement designed in, you would in the future be able to consider tiling the pool.
Initially you could render and paint and forget the liner . Then when funds will allow, grit blast off the paint and fix mosaic or tile.
See www.bisazza.com for some wonderful mosaic.

Be careful with this. It depends where youe are in the Charente. We are in the South Vendee and have been advised that it is a sysicmically active zone, therefore using tiles or just concrete is risky. Liners will move with the earth and therefore don't carry the same problems.

We heat with fuel oil, which works very well, but is certainly not the cheapest option.

If you are planning to rent peak months only (ie June, July and August) then you may well not need to heat, just as long as you have a summer cover and make sure it is covered every night. If you do heat then the cover becomes essential.

Ju

[Giddy Goat]

I've trawled through the relevant threads and there is a lot of helpful stuff here about the two main options, heat exchangers and solar panels.

It's 5 years since this particular thread was opened up for discussion and somewhere in the distant past I read (elsewhere) that solar heating was more expensive to instal but cheaper by far to run. My research today however seemed (according to a small number of posters) to indicate that heat exchangers aren't as expensive to run as I originally thought. It would be somewhat better for us to go that route, due to the orientation of our roof. Are there any others out there who can comment please?

Thanks in advance!

[la vache!]

I haven't tried solar, but from comments of guests who have stayed in places with solar heated pools compared to mine (heat exchanger) then the heating is much better with a heat exchanger. But maybe that's to do with the lack of sun in Brittany. Mine isn't terribly expensive to run, but I have the Tempo tarif so electricity is cheap in the summer. A heat exchanger (plus abri in shoulder season) allows me to keep the temperature at 28°C which is nice for adults as well as children to swim in. I've had my heat exchanger for 10 years now and never had a problem with it (touch wood).

[pepsipuss]

I am sure from what LV says and from experience of friends that the heat exchanger gives you much more than solar.

However for anyone in a really sunny climate looking to extend the swimming season by three or four weeks either end of the winter, solar can be VERY cheap. You don't need a proper system at all - 300m of (small bore) black pipe coiled where the sun gets at it for the maximum number of hours will do a great job (just as good as panels), and even better if you religiously cover the pool at night.