Pool Energy Efficiency Solutions Reduce your Fuel Bills with Rockingham Pools - With the rising costs of fuel, we are all trying to save money on our bills. Pool Water Heat Pumps are an efficient way of reducing those running costs, but how do they work? Fresh air is drawn through the heat pump unit by an electric fan & is chilled by the refrigeration system. The heat chilled from the fresh air together with all the electrical energy consumed in operating the refrigeration circuit is transferred via a heat exchanger to the swimming pool water. As you only pay for the cost of running the electric motor & refrigeration compressor, all the heat absorbed from the fresh air is totally free. So for every kW of electrical heat used the heat pump can absorb a further 4kW of free heat from the air. The average cost of supply & installation of a heat pump is approx £3,600 (+VAT) and manufacturers suggest the cost of installing a heat pump unit is returned in savings over 3 to 4 seasons. Solar Panels are an extremely popular and cost-effective way to heat your pool water. There is a lot more solar energy available than many people realize; even on cloudy days in spring & autumn there is still enough defused or scattered radiation coming from the sun to help heat your pool. Here in the Midlands from April to September the average solar radiation falling on 1m² surface inclined at 30° to the horizontal and facing South ranges from 3 to 6kWh/m² (kilowatts per hour per squared metre). Over the swimming season a solar panel can collect solar radiation of around 733kWh/m². High efficiencies of 75% or more are obtained when the pool water is below the ambient temperature. Research by Cardiff University in 1984 showed that a pool heated by solar panels can obtain average 24hr water temperatures of +6°C above an otherwise unheated pool. The general rule is that the panels need to be 60% or more of the pool water surface area.