Although we live in a country blessed with long summers and relatively mild winters, there are still many months in the year where the water in our swimming pools is just too cold for swimming. When you consider that an average sized pool in South Africa costs upwards of R80 000, you really want to use it as much as possible!

Heat pumps are an eco-conscious and energy efficient way to extend the swimming season beyond the traditional months of October to February. There are many different options available, and your choice will depend on a number of factors, including the size of your pool, whether or not you have a pool cover, how warm you want the water to be, and how many months of the year you want to swim. If you want to swim all year round, you will need a bigger, more expensive pump, but if you simply want to extend your swimming season by a couple of months either side, a smaller, entry level pump should be just fine.

How Do Heat Pumps Work?

Unlike pool heaters, heat pumps don’t actually generate heat. Instead, they use electricity to capture ambient heat and move it from one place to another. In other words, as the pool pump circulates the water in the pool, the water drawn from the pool goes through a filter and then the heat pump heater.

The heater’s fan sucks in air from outside and blows it over the evaporator coil. The heat from the air is absorbed and turned into gas by the refrigerant inside the coil. The gas goes from the coil into the compressor, where it is heated even more, and then on to the condenser. The condenser than transfers the hot gas into the cooler water circulating through the heater. The heated water then returns to the pool. Science is cool!!

At Pool, Spa and Filtration Supplies, we stock electrical swimming pool heat pumps for any size swimming pool. Contact us today to find out how we can get you into hot water!