Ecological and Economical considerations for Swimming Pool owners
Fast rising energy costs represent a huge challenge to pool owners both commercial and domestic alike. Everyone is looking to cut unnecessary costs, with the added benefit of helping the environment.

Energy Costs in Heating yout Pool
Aprils issue of the UK’s ‘Recreation’ magazine, reported that fast rising energy prices have added more than 50 million Pounds to the annual running costs of the UK’s swimming pools, during the last year alone. Other countries within Europe such as Spain, are also suffering the same problems.

The energy conscious pool owner only heats his pool using energy efficient systems like solar and heat pumps. Solar is highly efficient but will only work effectively during the warmer months. A Heat pump will produce up to 5 free kilowatts of heat for each kilowatt it consumes, they are more reliable as they will work to low temperatures or when the sun is not shining. When using a heat pump, the running cost for heating an 8x4 pool will be well under 2 Euros per day.

The Value of Water
Water is a precious commodity; here in Spain, the water loss through evaporation is considerable in a pool, due to the high summer temperatures. Fitting a pool cover will give huge savings on water bills by stopping evaporation whilst the cover is on the water surface. The barrier that a pool cover forms between the water and the air no only saves water losses but on heat losses too, giving huge savings on your heating bills.

The greater the temperature difference between the water and the air, the greater the evaporation rate, humidity and wind velocity are also very important factors. Studies carried out by the University of Brighton have shown that an astonishing 60,000 litres of water per year can evaporate from and uncovered pool of 10 x 5 metres.

Cover Your Pool & Save Energy
Pool covers are an important consideration when building a pool, as they can save significantly on energy as well as water usage. They also have the added benefit that some of them are also designed for safety and play a big part in prevention of accidents through drowning. Covers are available in a variety of styles and colours both Manual and fully automatic versions.

Liquid Pool Covers
There is another useful product on the market called Heatsavr, which is a liquid pool cover and an extremely effective heat saving product. To give an example of the efficiency of this product, it is used by Butlins in Bognor and in 2003 their annual energy costs were cut by 38,000 Pounds, simply by using this product.

Heatsavr is a liquid that floats on the water surface, forming a layer one molecule thick. It is highly effective because unlike a conventional cover which needs to be removed when in use, heatsavr breaks apart when the water is disturbed then reforms once it becomes calm. This provides an inexpensive cover which will form to any shape or size of pool. It is also available to cover reservoirs or lakes where water conservation is important

There are many ways to provide energy savings in your pool and to reduce water evaporation. Even something as simple as maintaining a clean pool reduces the need for extra chemicals and re filling.

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