What can you do with your swimming pool?

It is estimated taht there are approximately 100,000 swimming pools in the UK. Of these some 15% are indoor pools, 15% enclosed pools and 70% outdoor pools. Of the outdoor pools more than 90% will probably be in private gardens. Enclosed pools are those which are covered but not fully air-conditioned. They are typically only used during spring, summer and autumn.

Many indoor pools are already fitted with complex services including heat recovery systems and heat pumps and this together with physical constraints for siting large areas of collectors suggest that only 10% of existing indoor pools are suitable for solar heating. Physical constraints also apply to siting collectors for enclosed and outdoor pools but larger percentages, even up to 75%, have been estimated as suitable for installation of solar water heating.

The heating of swimming pools is one of the best established applications of solar water heating and because of the high system efficiencies that can be obtained one of the most appropriate. Average collector efficiencies of apporximately 75% can be obtained.