Just like the boiler in your house, the heat pump will run for different amounts of time each day depending on the weather.
On warm summer days when the pool is up to temperature, the heat pump may not need to run at all. Whereas on cooler days, the heat pump may run for a few hours.
In extremely cold weather (eg below +5c) the heat pump may need to run for 12 hours a day or more.
When you keep a solar cover on your pool, this will give the pool some heat gain on warm days and will supplement the heat pump.
As the weather gets colder the heat pump will need to run for longer.
You can control how long the heat pump runs for each day by using a time-clock on your pool pump.
Other factors that affect how long the heat pump will run for each day include:-
- The power of the heat pump – a more powerful heat pump will heat the pool more quickly and so will switch off sooner than a smaller heat pump
- How well insulated your pool is
- If you have a high water table around your pool, then this will drain away the pool heat and cause your heat pump to run for longer to replace the lost heat
- The pool water temperature that you require – a higher pool water temperature will need the heat pump to run for longer to maintain the temperature
- Pool cover – an uncovered pool will lose 2-3 times as much heat as a covered pool
As a guide, on warm summer days the heat pump would typically run for between 0-3 hours
On cooler days between 3-8 hours should be sufficient but this depends on the factors mentioned above