Originally Posted by frigilianafreddy

Crikey, we were in the pool mid April as well. But it was a rather numbing 20dg. Does a cover increase temperature that much? If so recommendations please for Nerja area.

Originally Posted by snikpoh

A good summer cover can raise the pool temp. by up to 6 degrees.

You need to get a good one though - simple bubble wrap won't cut it

I bought the 500 micron version for an 8 x 5 metre pool I think it cost me £185

Originally Posted by Bri and Katee

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.

Originally Posted by High5

Can you tell me the cost of electricity per kWh plus any standing charge.

I'm sure you could heat enough water for domestic use all year round with solar tubes heating a cylinder(thermal store). You have to take a long term view retrieving the cost of the installation but with gas 3 times the cost than the UK that's possible. The excess energy not required would go the pool and the heat pump would cover the rest with the climate a COP of 3 or more would be easy( 1kw in 3kW out). We heat houses to 21 in the uk in the depths of winter using heat pumps BTW although our insulation standards are higher.

Anyway in going to do it as we will be living there full time within 2 years.

Originally Posted by snikpoh

A good summer cover can raise the pool temp. by up to 6 degrees.

You need to get a good one though - simple bubble wrap won't cut it

I bought the 500 micron version for an 8 x 5 metre pool I think it cost me £185

Originally Posted by frigilianafreddy

DO you recall where you bought it? Did you buy in the UK - I'd assumed they were cheaper in Spain. £4sqm sounds very very reasonable to me. I was expecting nearer £10 - £15 sqm, or £500 to £700 for that size.

Originally Posted by Mitzyboy

Ahhh ... so you're a seller .... I understand

Yes, you could probably heat your domestic water all year round, but thats not quite the same as heating a large outside pool when the temperatures at night drop to very cold to sometimes freezing outside.
You're going to need to raise the pool temperature by a very large margin to make it worthwhile .... you can do that?

Originally Posted by High5

I'm retiring to Spain not to work thanks and avoid cynical people

My interest and discussion here stems from the fact that I won't be living there for a while. I want to get away from LPG water heating with expensive fuel, servicing requirements and a conventional flued appliance that could produce Carbon monoxide(a small amount kills you).

If I install solar thermal with a tank if I am not there it is likely to get excessively hot (110 plus) and this will eventually cause problems. My idea of dumping the excess heat into the pool was simply to get rid of it. However this set me thinking if I'm starting to contribute heat to the pool as I don't have any at present why not add a heat pump.

Anyway just think about all the polar bears I'll be saving.

Originally Posted by Mitzyboy

I wasn't being cynical, I was asking you a question because I investigated this for quite a while and never came up with a cost effective way that actually made any difference to the time that you could use the pool. The reason being that when it gets cold in Spain, it gets very cold. It's had been known for my pool to freeze over.

Most of the systems would maybe give someone another week but by November and through to (probably) March it would need a serious heating system to make it bearable.

My niece owns a swimming pool down in Burnham on Sea which has proper pool heating. It costs them a fortune (please check power costs in Spain), and the only way they managed to make it less costly was to buy one of those sliding pool covers, and keep it closed all winter. Still not cheap though



Just thoughts ... thats all

Originally Posted by High5

Mitziboy I was joking with the cynical reference. I am looking generally at cost's in Spain and energy usage is is just part of it. I guess most did the same before leaving the UK.

We will have a pool cover and will follow up on suppliers mentioned here. This and other forums are a good resource for us newbie's.

From figures I've worked out so far electricity cost in Spain is 25% cheaper than uk and bottled gas to natural gas comparison makes Spain 50% more.

I'm still keen on installing some renewables but not selling them to anybody in Spain! I'm coming to enjoy the lifestyle to the full.