[jedalton]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

We have both heat pump and solar, both installed by T&D when pool was built. Solar runs year round, it’s set to turn on when water in solar is 10 degrees warmer than pool, but won’t run once pool water reaches 90 degrees (pool is currently 89 degrees). In the summer we turn max pool water temp down to 84 or the water would get too hot. In the colder winter days when temperature outside drops, the days are shorter, and the sun is low the solar alone is insufficient to heat the pool. During those times we keep the pool covered with the heat pump running and the water gets into the low 90’s. We only uncover the pool when swimming so the cover holds in the heat. Our electric bill during this time is about the same as it is in the summer, we are just paying to run the heat pump instead of the A/C. The only problem is you have to carefully manage the chlorine level when the pool is covered and the filter is running most of the time. The chlorinator runs more frequently when the filter is always running and the cover holds in the chlorine. We have to turn the percentage of time the chlorination runs way down in the winter our our chlorine levels will spike up too high. Hope this helps.

whats better than a pool? A friend who has a pool. Luckily I have friends who have pools and invite me almost anytime.