One of the things I love about chatting with people as they’re considering their pool heating options, is explaining the things to consider when choosing between heating types.

In recent years, one of the big questions has been, should I heat my pool with gas or with solar?

So let’s think this through a little.

The clear blue water glimmers as the morning sun rises above the trees and houses on the horizon. It’s going to be a beautiful day and you can’t wait to throw on your bathers and dive into the crystal depths.

But it’s not always as simple as that. Just because the day is warming nicely doesn’t mean your pool is too. Without heating, the temperature will likely fall well short of the ideal swimming temperature of 28^oC and will only really exceed it on a blistering summer day.

So you’ll need to heat it. But how? The answer lies with you and depends on your lifestyle choices and whether you plan your swimming in advance or want to dive in at a moment’s notice.

Choosing between gas and solar pool heating – the big questions

The first question, therefore, is how often you want to swim.

Solar pool heating will work like a charm on warm days from late spring through to early autumn, when the sun is shining enough to heat the collectors laid out across your roof.

So if, like most, you’re someone who only feels like swimming when it’s warm outside, it may well be the right option for you.

If, on the other hand, you want to be in the water well into the winter, you’ll need to think about gas heating.

Next, is the question of cost.

Solar pool heating does come with installation costs but, once up and running it’s an extremely cost-effective way to heat your pool and will give you a swimming season of about 6-8 months, which is unheard of for other pool owners in Adelaide without heating.

Gas heating on the other hand comes with higher running costs because you will effectively be burning propane or natural gas to heat the water in your pool.

However, the benefit is that within little more than a few hours you’ll be swimming in warm water, whatever the weather.

And you wouldn’t be the first person we’ve worked with who’s ended up deciding to do both.

In this way, you can heat your pool efficiently when the summer sun is shining, and go to gas during the winter or when the weather lets you down