Continue to service your pool even when it's closed for winter

As the leaves begin to fall, and the days turn cooler, swimming pool owners around the country are booking their pool closure with their servicing company. Those of you who are lucky enough to have heat pumps designed for an extended season, rather than relying purely upon the warmth of the sun to heat your pools, are able to use your pool throughout October and take a dip again as early as April. And with the cost of energy hitting the headlines in a big way recently, more of you are looking into ways to reduce energy costs.

New heat pumps

The new breed of heat pumps works in reverse to a fridge, warming the pool using heat that has been re-purposed from the outside air, via a heat exchanger. They offer the lowest running cost of all pool heating methods (up to 12kw of heat for every 1kw of electricity), use renewable technology and can be used all year round.

Variable speed pumps

As you know, your swimming pool also relies on a pump to circulate the water, ensuring treatment chemicals are dispersed and the water remains healthy. It does this by pulling water in through an inlet, funnelling water through a filter and then pumping the water back out into the pool. Traditionally, either single-speed, or dual-speed pool pumps have been used, but these can be noisy, and the energy consumption is higher than state-of-the-art variable speed pumps.

By switching to a variable speed pump at a lower speed for a more extended period, not only can you reduce noise, but your filter works more effectively, leaving you with a cleaner pool, as well as helping to preserve the life of your filter. Since variable speed pumps have more efficient motors and allow you to set the speed to exactly what your pool needs and no more, you will save the most on your energy costs compared to any other pool pump.

Frost Thermostats

If you have a Frost Thermostat, as most newer pools do (and your pool does not have a cover which is water level dependent), you won’t need to shut your pool down completely over winter, making it easier to re-open the pool next spring. If the temperature drops to say two or three degrees Celsius, the thermostat triggers the pump to come back on, so that the pump circulates water throughout the system to prevent it from freezing. If you have a variable speed pump, you can set it to run at its lowest speed when it does come on, which limits the amount of energy used and, in turn, minimises the cost involved.

In summary

Whatever equipment you have in your plantroom, remember that even when your pool is closed for the winter, it’s important to continue with regular servicing. You don’t need to do it as regularly as when your pool is being used, but at least twice during the winter period is recommended. Without professional servicing, you run the risk of damage to equipment such as the boilers, pumps and filters as well as the pool water suffering from significantly altered water chemistry.

If you continue with professional servicing during winter, you are protecting your pool and, come spring, you will more than a little grateful for your forward planning! Your pool will be in great condition, ready for you and your family to swim when your engineer re-opens the pool in April.

For more advice on the winterisation process, read our fuller blog, Closing your pool for the winter, published September last year. The advice is the same year in year out; the important thing is to plan ahead and use a reputable company to manage the winterisation process and the ongoing servicing.