Hi to all
Is it worth having solar heating installed to raise the pool temp a few degrees.

What is the down side apart from they look horrendous.

Thanks in advance

Cost of installation. I doubt they are very effective?

I would invest in a pool cover first.

We have winter cover, summer cover and hot water, solar panels.

If I had my time again, I wouldn't bother with the panels.

Hi
We have pool cover, need to know pit falls if any on solar heating for pool only.

We have the black panels that have very fine tubes in. The water flows through them and heats up. We have an extra pump for this circuit as well as a control box to dictate when to turn the pump on and off based on the difference in water temperature (pool and panels).

The cost was not insignificant and the gain is not large enough to warrant the expense.

As missile said, we benefit more from the winter cover (at the beginning of the season) and the summer cover which helps reduce chemical evaporation and increases the pool temp by 5-7 degrees.

I looked into it when we moved to Spain, and the cost of solar panels to raise it a few degrees was pointless, and a few degrees is not going to lengthen the number of weeks you can use the pool comfortably for anyway

Thanks for all replies.
Just had quote for solar heating the pool 8m by 4m.
3500 euros plus Iva .
Not wanting to extend the number of weeks we can use the pool, but would like to increase the temp, up to 28 if poss.
Running costs of heat pump getting up say 28 in May if correct would be 150 euros then 5 euros per day to keep it there would that be correct. We are only here 10 days every 6 weeks.
Thanks in advance.

Our pool gets to about 30 every season! We probably get to 28 in May and then it stays that or more 'till late September.

If you haven't got one already, maybe the cheaper option is to try and very good quality summer cover first. I got mine from England and even with shipping it was only a couple of hundred euros.

How many of you guys with pools use them all year round?

We have just bought a place with a pool which isn't heated at present and has hot water provided by an instantaneous LPG gas unit.

I intend to install Solar Thermal tubes into a store to provide hot water. Once the hot water is to temperature I would send the excess heat to the pool via a heat exchanger. The rest of the pool heat required would be met by a heat pump. This unit could also be used in winter to heat radiators/convectors. I just need to confirm cost per kWh of gas and electricity and I could estimate the running cost.

Will let anybody know who's interested how I get on. I am at present a renewables engineer BTW.

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

The vast majority of gas in Spain is provided in cylinders, either the small 12.5k or the larger 21k (think thats the sizes) The small ones are 17.50€ each price is set nationally, supplied by Cepsa or Repsol. There is very little natural (piped) gas, especially outside of the big cities.

Electricity prices can vary depending on what tariff you select and which company you contract with, but are broadly similar to each other, this is what was on our last bill....
Potencia (consider this like the standing meter charge in the UK) 40.40€
Price per Kwh 0.119397€

There was controversy earlier this year because rather than increase the price per unit, the companies increased massively the meter charge. The logic was that many homes are only used in the summer (holiday homes) and they were missing out on winter usage to these people. But it affected everyone in Spain. The promise was that electricity supplied would not rise- nobody believes this will not happen when winter sets in.

we use a solar cover for our pool, currently not being used as water is a very nice 30dg, we were first in the pool in April 17th to be exact, and temp in pool was 27dg. should be in use to end of October, to the new person asking if we use year round, Spain does have winters lol can be quite cold in a lot of places

I think it is a total waste of money to heat the pool.
I can't imagine dashing out to the pool in cold weather, then in again afterwards, too cold to relax by the pool.the expense alone is enough to put you off.
Covers? Very few use them more bother than they're worth, get covered in muck, not attractive
I would prefer the sight of the pool, and see what's going on, state of pool water level etc.
The only time I might use one is if it is a holiday home,left for long periods

I'd agree to some extent, but the solar covers do have their use. Such as stopping the loss of water when you are not using it. When we were away we used to have people come around twice a week in the summer to top up. However solar panels, as I stated before, don't actually make enough difference to make it worth it. It's a large expanse of water. If you manage to raise the temperature even by 4 degrees going into October or November it's still not enough for comfortable bathing.

Unheated, we used to use our pool from some time in April through to early October

Look at Scandinavia were most people use their pool or hot tub all year round. With a decent heat pump these days, running costs will be minimal. If you use it twice a week in winter, definitely worth it.