Our pool has solar heating which we have not used yet (because it needed a replacement part not because the water was too warm!). My question is should I have it switched on all the time or just when I want to use the pool? If the latter then how long does it take to get the pool up to a bearable temperature?

We have ours on a timer - this operates between 10.00 and 3 I believe (need to check with hubby the real technical bits). This is when we are sure we are going to be using the pool - summer months and a bit around. The pump then only works when the temp in the pool is below that on the roof and below that which has been set. Easy hot days sometimes we can get a bath depending on which of us has set the temp.

Hope this makes sense.

We have solar heating for our pool and I leave it on all the time as it has a simple temperature controller that senses the difference between the pool water temperature and the solar panel water temperature. So when the sun comes out and heats up the solar panel, the circulating pump for the solar panel starts up and then shuts down when the sun goes in. I can set the desired pool water temperature and so it will also switch the solar circulating pump off when the pool temperature is up to the set temperature, even when the sun is baking hot.
I didn't run it for the 3 months of last winter but I may just try to run it this winter to see if it's warm enough to swim in.

Thanks for the replies