[jeffc1965]

The Villages developer has started building veranda homes that include small swimming pools. My understanding is that the pools are not heated. Does anyone know how difficult it is to install a heating system afterwards? A small pool may not require heat during the summer, but I can see the need for heat during the winter. Any thoughts?

[Bogie Shooter]

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[Bogie Shooter]

I added solar after pool was completed.
If you have a roof or space for gas heater and the money should not be too difficult.
Are you looking to buy?

[melpetezrinski]

Originally Posted by jeffc1965

The Villages developer has started building veranda homes that include small swimming pools. My understanding is that the pools are not heated. Does anyone know how difficult it is to install a heating system afterwards? A small pool may not require heat during the summer, but I can see the need for heat during the winter. Any thoughts?

How did you come to that understanding? Maybe they ran the necessary wires/piping, so you can add your preferred choice of heating at a later time.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by jeffc1965

The Villages developer has started building veranda homes that include small swimming pools. My understanding is that the pools are not heated. Does anyone know how difficult it is to install a heating system afterwards? A small pool may not require heat during the summer, but I can see the need for heat during the winter. Any thoughts?

You will definitely need heat from at least mid December through early March. Installing a system is only as difficult as writing the check to have it done. A heat pump along with a pool cover should do the trick for a small pool.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by melpetezrinski

How did you come to that understanding? Maybe they ran the necessary wires/piping, so you can add your preferred choice of heating at a later time.

Some of the spec houses we have looked at Did Not have heater, just pump and filter.
At our design meeting T&D gave base pump/filter only price, mentioning many don’t heat pools in FL. We choose aftermarket, and not T&D.

[fdpaq0580]

Solar heat for most of the year works well for us.

[MikeN]

If you’re going to use it year round you will want a heater. Just another cheap cost cutting for the villages that you are going to have to pay for

[paulajr]

We put solar heat on our pool. We have discussed putting another heater on our pool… then we quickly realize that when it is too cold for the solar to adequately heat the pool…it is usually too cold for us to want to go IN the pool!

Originally Posted by jeffc1965

The Villages developer has started building veranda homes that include small swimming pools. My understanding is that the pools are not heated. Does anyone know how difficult it is to install a heating system afterwards? A small pool may not require heat during the summer, but I can see the need for heat during the winter. Any thoughts?

[callalily]

I bought a house with a pool and no heating system. The concrete pad for the heater had been put in when the pool was built, otherwise that would have required a permit. I chose an electric pump, but kind of wish I'd chosen something else. Installation required an electrician to get a permit for the appropriate electrical outlet. Once the outlet was installed, it took maybe an hour or two for the pool company to install the heater.

I had tried the pool without heat for a year. It was comfortable for me from about May through September. Adding the heater added an extra month on either end, so April through October. I'm a wimp and don't like getting out of a heated pool into cold air.

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

You will definitely need heat from at least mid December through early March. Installing a system is only as difficult as writing the check to have it done. A heat pump along with a pool cover should do the trick for a small pool.

True, but a good heat pump for my 14,000 gallon pool cost $6,000, and solar heating is nearly that much. A solar blanket to keep the water warm is the least expensive, but it doesn’t heat the pool but just holds heat in. Pool cleaning and chemical testing and all corpse $2,000 a year, and various repairs cost at least another $1,000, generally. Given how seldom I used the pool, compared to what I spent on it, I’d guess that each use cost me about $500. I was happy to sell that house and buy a smaller one without a pool.

That said, some of these really tiny pools about twice the size of a hot tub—more conversation pools than swimming pools and with lots of built in seating—are a delightful idea and could be much cheaper to heat and maintain. Ideally, get one that uses salt rather than chlorine to kill the bugs, so you don’t need to shower each time you use the pool.

Good steps and handrails are very important. You might think you don’t need them, but the rare times I had visitors, several would not have been able to get into or out of the pool without those.

[coconutmama]

Originally Posted by jeffc1965

The Villages developer has started building veranda homes that include small swimming pools. My understanding is that the pools are not heated. Does anyone know how difficult it is to install a heating system afterwards? A small pool may not require heat during the summer, but I can see the need for heat during the winter. Any thoughts?

We have electric heat for our pool & live in a SECO area, so electric is not that bad. About $25/mo for a 10,000 gallon pool. We heat it Oct/Nov & Mar/Apr for sure. Only Dec-Jan if we are having a warmish winter & will swim. Use a solar cover during those months.

Thought about solar but with roofs not lasting long, decided it wasn’t worth it.

It should be fairly easy to add whatever heat source you decide on aftermarket.

Interesting to know that pools of any size are being added to new builds again. Good Luck with your decision

[G.R.I.T.S.]

Buy preowned with a heated pool?������������*♀️

[jeffc1965]

Thanks for all of the replies. If we are fortunate enough to get the house, I think we will go for the electric heat pump option. I would be fearful of solar panels on the roof as was mentioned.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

True, but a good heat pump for my 14,000 gallon pool cost $6,000, and solar heating is nearly that much. A solar blanket to keep the water warm is the least expensive, but it doesn’t heat the pool but just holds heat in. Pool cleaning and chemical testing and all corpse $2,000 a year, and various repairs cost at least another $1,000, generally. Given how seldom I used the pool, compared to what I spent on it, I’d guess that each use cost me about $500. I was happy to sell that house and buy a smaller one without a pool.

That said, some of these really tiny pools about twice the size of a hot tub—more conversation pools than swimming pools and with lots of built in seating—are a delightful idea and could be much cheaper to heat and maintain. Ideally, get one that uses salt rather than chlorine to kill the bugs, so you don’t need to shower each time you use the pool.

Good steps and handrails are very important. You might think you don’t need them, but the rare times I had visitors, several would not have been able to get into or out of the pool without those.

Our 12x18 rectangle 28 feet and length only cost us about $23 a month in January February and March to heat it. Rest of the months around $12.
As far as chemicals it’s not that hard to maintain yourself. Monthly chemical cost is $26, takes me 5 minutes to test water.
If I add in the robot cost that does all the cleaning and the hard work, divided by months owned
that’s around $10 a month,

Then again I swim 2 miles a day, so pool is worth the 5 minutes of testing