Swimming pools are a fantastic way to cool off on a hot day, provide exercise, and create a backyard oasis. However, keeping your pool clean, clear, and enjoyable can be an energy-intensive task. Luckily, there are several hacks you can implement to reduce your pool’s energy consumption and keep those poolside costs down.
The Big Energy Users:
Pool pumps are the workhorses of your pool, circulating and filtering the water. Heating a pool can also be a significant energy drain, especially in cooler climates. Here are some tips to keep these energy guzzlers in check:
- Run your pump efficiently: Traditionally, pool pumps have run for extended periods throughout the day. Today’s variable-speed pumps allow you to customize the filtration speed and schedule. Pool experts recommend running your pump for enough time to turn over the entire pool volume at least once every 24 hours. For more information, read: Optimizing Home Swimming Pools For Water Efficiency and Sustainability.
- Solar Power to the Rescue: Solar pool covers are a fantastic way to reduce heat loss and evaporation from your pool. These large thermal covers act as a barrier, capturing the sun’s heat and minimizing the amount of water that escapes through evaporation, which can account for up to 75% of heat loss! They also help keep leaves and debris out of the pool, reducing cleaning time and chemical use. While a solar pool heater utilizes solar panels to directly heat your pool water, it’s a substantial investment. Solar rings, smaller versions of solar covers that float on the water’s surface, can be a more affordable option for free-form pools.
- Invest in a Solar Pool Heater: While the upfront cost can be higher, solar pool heaters offer a long-term, energy-efficient solution for extending your swimming season. By harnessing the sun’s power, they can significantly reduce your reliance on traditional gas or electric pool heaters.
- Heat Pump Technology: Heat pumps are a more energy-efficient alternative to traditional electric pool heaters. They act like a refrigerator in reverse, extracting heat from the surrounding air and transferring it to your pool water. While they work best in warm climates, they can still be effective in cooler areas. Look for a heat pump with a high Coefficient of Performance (COP) rating, which indicates its efficiency in converting electricity into heat.
Beyond the Big Spenders:
Beyond pumps and heating, there are other ways to keep your pool energy consumption in check:
- LED Pool Lights: Swap out your traditional incandescent or halogen pool lights for energy-efficient LED alternatives. LEDs last longer, use significantly less energy, and come in a variety of colors to add ambiance to your nighttime swims.
- Keep it Clean: A clean pool is an efficient pool. Regularly skimming debris and vacuuming your pool helps prevent clogs and allows your pump to circulate water more efficiently. A clean pool also requires less sanitizer, reducing your overall chemical use.
- Landscape Smartly: Plant trees and shrubs around your pool to provide shade. Shading your pool during the hottest part of the day can significantly reduce evaporation and heat gain, which in turn reduces the workload on your pool pump and heater.
- Take a Dip at Night: While nighttime swimming may not be for everyone, during hot weather it can be a refreshing way to cool off. The cooler nighttime air reduces evaporation and heat gain, making it an energy-efficient time to enjoy your pool.
Other Hacks to Consider:
- Seal off leaks: Homes have a number of leaks that are hardly noticed. If a home is more than three decades old, there’s a great possibility that the living areas are not equipped with the level of air tightness that was intended at the time of construction. These leaks can be very taxing on energy efficiency and heating costs, because the heating system is forced to exert more energy just to keep the rooms sufficiently warm.
Refrigeration costs: In many homes, refrigeration temperatures are set at very cold levels. This can be a needless drain on the energy bill. Even though refrigerators with ENERGY STAR ratings are more efficient than older models, it’s still wise to manually adjust the temperature to about 38 degrees, with the freezer set at zero.
Change the bulbs: Incandescent light bulbs were widely known to be energy drainers long before developed countries took measures to phase them out completely. Because there were no other light bulbs available that were similarly priced, the ‘regular’ light bulb was found in homes everywhere.
Now, there are alternatives. LED’s (light emitting diode) for instance, last 25 times longer and saves the average user 25% on electrical costs over incandescent bulbs. CFL’s (compact fluorescent lamp), used 75% less energy than the traditional bulb.
Cover, insulate and reinforce the windows: Either in extreme cold, or heat, air leaks around your windows could make temperatures in the home rise or fall to uncomfortable levels. The older the home, the more likely this is to be the case. Heating bills can be reduced by insulating the windows to make them more airtight.
Dry clothing the old-fashioned way: Even in the winter, you can still use the time-tested method of drying clothing. String a line in the basement, or use a drying rack for clothing. Even in the winter months, it’s possible to use the sun to get clothing dry outside.
By implementing a combination of these energy hacks, you can keep your pool sparkling clean and save money on your energy usage.
