Load Shedding Solution For Your Heated Pool & Jacuzzi

Beat Load Shedding & Get The Best Out Of Your Swimming Pool & Spa

Lazing around in a heated swimming pool or bubbling the stress away in a steamy Jacuzzi with family and friends is some of South Africans favourite leisure time activities.

With the effects of load shedding and rising electricity prices, enjoying these luxuries has become increasingly difficult and expensive in recent years.

There are however some smart solutions you can implement to work around the negative effects of load shedding.

With some clever, out of the box thinking and design choices it is possible to still enjoy the luxury of a heated swimming pool and Jacuzzi while reducing your electrical bill and reliance on Eskom at the same time.

Below we will go through some of the best ideas and potential solutions you can make use of to get the most out of swimming pool, Jacuzzi and hot tub.

Nothing beats being able to enjoy endless hours soaking up the warm water in your heated swimming pool.

Most swimming pools make use of either solar panels, conventional elements or heat pumps to get the water heated to the desired temperature.

With the constant interruptions caused by load shedding and these being at the worst levels seen in South Africa’s history, some pool heating system may battle to keep up with the extended periods of down time.

The best way to mitigate the effects of load shedding and extended down time is to optimise every aspect of the pool heating system for maximum efficiency and heat retention.

Use A Swimming Pool Solar Blanket

Regardless of whether your swimming pool makes use of a heat pump or solar heating, covering your pool with a solar blanket remains one of the very best ways to maximise both the heating efficiency and heat retention of the system.

Solar blankets work by trapping the heat produced by your solar panels and heat pump essentially functioning like a lid on a pot.

They furthermore also naturally increase the temperature of the water when installed on swimming pools which are exposed to sunlight.

A pool solar blanket will help to retain much of the warmth your heating system has worked hard to build up and will greatly reduce the cooling effects experienced during the evening and during times of load shedding.

If safety for pets and youngsters around your swimming pool is a concern, then you can make use of a solar blanket in combination with a safety net. This set-up generally performs better than a solid PVC safety cover which is opaque and doesn't allow much of the sun’s energy through.

The black coloured solar blankets are usually a bit better in terms of overall heating efficiency compared to blue ones although may be not be quite as aesthetically pleasing.

Making use of a swimming solar blanket is our number one recommendation to get the very best performance and maximum efficiency out of your heating system.

Swimming Pool Heat Pumps

Swimming pool heat pump technology has come a long way over the years with the current generation of inverter heat pumps being more energy efficient than ever.

Although few and far between in today’s age, some swimming pools still make use of old style heating elements which are very energy intensive.

Moving over from using conventional heating elements to an inverter heat pump will in itself make a huge difference in the amount of energy consumed to heat your swimming pool. Modern day inverter pool heat pumps only use around 25% of the electricity required to generate the same amount of heating as the older style elements.

Even though swimming pool heat pumps have proven to be a great innovation they still require electricity to function and with the current load shedding crisis this leaves us with a dilemma. How do we make this work with a lack of constant electricity?

We recommend firstly making use of a solar blanket to cover your pool as these work very well at retaining the heat produced by your heat pump.

This is especially useful in times when the electricity is out as your swimming pool doesn’t lose all of the heat energy previously produced through evaporation.

If you are planning on installing a new heat pump in the near future, we definitely recommend looking at an inverter series heat pump.

The modern inverter type swimming pool heat pumps are around 20-30% more energy efficient compared to the older generation and have the added benefit of being remotely controllable through a wireless application on your phone.

It may also be good idea to oversize / over-spec your new swimming pool heat pump to ensure it can compensate for the running time lost as a result of load shedding.

Another excellent way of boosting your heat pump’s performance is through the addition of swimming pool solar panels.

By installing pool solar panels alongside your heat pump one can greatly reduce the amount of running time the heat pump requires to maintain its set temperature.

Adding pool solar panels can go a long way towards saving on your heat pump’s electrical running costs and can be very useful on days with extreme load shedding when you need to get the maximum amount of heating done in as little time as possible.

When it is possible to do so, always have your swimming pool heat pump installed in a sunny location with lots of air circulation available.

Pool heat pumps work by exchanging energy with the air in the environment and a warm, sunny location will give you the best overall performance.

One more solution would be to take your heat pump off-grid. This can be done by connecting your heat pump to a dedicated inverter and battery system coupled to PV solar panels for a backup power supply.

There are also energy saving, variable speed swimming pool pumps available some of which come with a dedicated solar photovoltaic power supply.

Pool Solar Heating Systems

Swimming pool solar panel systems are some of the most cost effective and eco-friendly products you can use to heat your swimming pool.

Unlike heat pumps, pool solar panels don’t consume any additional electricity other than what the swimming pool pump already does for its daily filtration and circulation duties.

Swimming pool solar heating system are generally installed and specked with the idea that they require around 8 hours of running time during the warmest parts of each day to work effectively.

With load shedding being a constant nuisance, it’s important to design our pool solar heating systems with this problem in mind.

As previously mentioned our number one recommendation is to make use of a pool solar blanket along with your solar panel heating system.

A solar blanket will help to retain the heat built up from the solar panels and keep it from escaping during load shedding and at night time when the solar panels are not operational.

Pool solar blankets also help to reduce the amount of time required for the solar panels to obtain the desired water temperature and have the added advantage of reducing water loss through evaporation by around 98%.

Should child safety around the swimming pool be a factor then installing a safety net over the solar cover would be our our first recommendation.

Alternatively one can also make use of a solid PVC safety cover to help retain the heat which is produced by the solar heating system.

Although PVC pool covers work great from a safety perspective, solar blankets are generally much better at increasing the water temperature as they transfer heat energy from the sun directly to your swimming pool.

Investing in a solar powered swimming pool pump is another great solution to mitigate the negative effects of load shedding.

A solar powered pump will allow your pool solar panels to keep functioning during the most crucial times of the day and ensure that the maximum amount of heating potential is achieved.

As swimming pool pumps tend to draw a fair amount of electricity, converting to a solar powered swimming pool pump will also have the benefit of saving money on your electrical bill.

Should you be looking at installing a new pool solar heating system, it may also be advisable to over-speck the amount of solar panels somewhat to further mitigate the negative cooling effects of prolonged load shedding.

Jacuzzi & Spa Heating Systems

 We all love spending time in our spas and hot tubs with with warm water bubbling away all the aches and pains of daily life.

Jacuzzis and spas come with great therapeutic benefits but due to the electricity crisis and load shedding, many South African’s are finding themselves not being able to enjoy their hot tubs the way it’s meant.

Spas and Jacuzzis are generally fitted with conventional hard water heating elements which consume high amounts of electricity to operate.

Load shedding does however not have to mean the end of spending quality time in our spas and there are a few ways to work around the effects of the electricity crisis.

The best place to start is going to be with the Jacuzzi’s heating system.

Most spas are fitted standard with a power hungry heating element that draws around 18 Amps (4000 watts) of electricity when in use.

This type of element takes anywhere between 5 and 12 hours to effectively heat a spa up to its desired temperature from a cold starting point.

 This presents a challenge as most spas are currently battling to obtain and maintain the desired temperature due to the constant interruption caused by rolling blackouts.

Our top solution to this problem would be to convert your Jacuzzi’s old heating system and make use of a heat pump instead.

The modern inverter type spa heat pumps have some major benefits over conventional heating elements.

They are firstly far more efficient on electricity. Spa heat pumps consume only around 25% - 30% of the electricity to achieve the same heating potential as a standard element running at full power.

With a spa’s heating system usually consuming most of the electricity being used, switching over to heat pump makes perfect sense and will save a great deal on the amount of power needed to keep your spa running.

Jacuzzi inverter heat pumps are also capable of warming your spa up to temperature much faster than a standard element can and in most cases reduces the heating time required by 50% or more.

As spa heat pumps only need around 1600 watts of electricity at most when running at full capacity, they can easily be hooked up to a dedicated inverter and solar PV system to keep operating even during times of load shedding.

One can also convert the system and incorporate a solar powered circulation pump to go completely off-grid and eliminate the reliance of receiving electricity from Eskom to run your spa.

Although not yet very common, both gas and wood fired heating systems for hot tubs and Jacuzzis are also starting to become available. These could also prove a great way to heat our spas without the need for all that electricity.

Another possible solution is to use solar water heating panels instead of or alongside a heat pump.

Solar panels can take care of the spa’s heating duties during day time hours and these can also be used in combination with a heat pump or standard element to give your Jacuzzi a temperature boost if needed at night.

Solar panels are the most cost effective heating solution as they don’t consume any additional electricity to function and are generally less expensive then installing a heat pump.

To further optimise the heating potential of your spa, we recommend using a high quality Jacuzzi cover.

A well made Jacuzzi / spa cover with good thermal resistance (R-Value) will keep the energy produced by the heating system from escaping.

The cover will keep the water in your tub from cooling down rapidly even when the heating system is switched off and will also decrease the amount of time required to get the spa up to its desired temperature setting.

One can also fit a solar bubble blanket underneath the spa cover which will further reduce heat loss through evaporation and also help your spa get up to temperature up faster.

In conclusion, whether you have a heated swimming pool, Jacuzzi or spa there are number of solutions we can implement to work around the worst effects of load shedding. The best results will usually be obtained by using a combination of complimentary products that will maximise the performance of whichever heating system your pool or spa employs.

For swimming pools making use of a solar heating system alongside a heat pump and solar blanket will yield great results. Adding a solar powered swimming pool pump to the mix and a dedicated solar PV / inverter for the heat pump will ensure that the system can operate full capacity and not have its efficiency reduced as a result of load shedding.

For spas, hot tubs and Jacuzzis utilising an inverter heat pump with solar panels along with a good quality cover and thermal blanket will be the fastest and most cost effective way of keeping the system heated. Where possible having a dedicated inverter / solar PV system to run your spa is the best way to escape the negative effects of load shedding and rising electricity prices.

With the current electricity crisis in South Africa we should all try and do our part to help reduce demand on the national power grid. There are many new and innovative ways we as South Africans can contribute to the solutions and help save our environment by reducing our carbon footprint. From gas geysers and stoves to solar powered electricity generation and energy saving LED lights.

Should you be interested in upgrading your swimming pool or Jacuzzi heating system, get in touch with us and we will gladly help you design and find the best solution for your specific setup.