Heating your swimming pool is something that is going to be absolutely essential if you want to get as much use from the facility as possible. Here in the UK, it’s simply not a suitable climate for swimming year-round without heating the water, and even during the summer months you can still often benefit from heated water.
With this in mind, you’ll need to know how many kW you need to heat your pool in order to ensure you’ve chosen the correct size of boiler to keep the water at the optimal temperature. Here, we’ll take a closer look at everything you need to know.
What Are Kilowatts?
Kilowatts are units of energy. They’re the base units used when measuring electrical energy. Every appliance in a domestic home consumes its electricity in measures of kilowatts. The kilowatt is based on the watt (or W), but because appliances use large volumes of electricity, it makes more sense to measure their energy consumption in Kilowatts rather than Watts.
It can be difficult to understand the units which are used to measure heat. Energy companies give their price quotes in kWh, or Kilowatt hours, while boilers are usually rated in British Thermal Units or BTUs. 1kW is equivalent to 3412 BTU. Therefore, a gas boiler with a BTU rating of 125,000 uses an input energy of 36.6kW.
Needless to say, all of this is very confusing, and it’s no wonder that so many domestic swimming pool owners become confused when trying to work out how many kilowatts they require to hear their pool water.
How Do I Work Out The Correct Size Of Heater For My Pool?
Not only do you need to consider kilowatts, you also need to consider the size and shape of your pool when determining which boiler you need. After all, you need to choose a boiler which is capable of heating the water in your pool effectively and speedily.
Primarily, the boiler size you require will be based on the volume of water requiring heating and the size of your pool overall. Pool heaters are available in a broad spectrum of sizes, which enables you to select the perfect option to suit your pool.
A Brief Guide To Heater Sizes
Depending on the size of pool you have and the number of gallons of water it holds, you’ll need a different sized heater. Here are some examples for you to cross-reference:
24 x 12 feet – 8500 gallons – 9kW – 14kW heater
26 x 13 feet – 10,000 gallons – 9kW – 14kW heater
28 x 14 ft – 11750 gallons – 9kW – 29 kW
30 x 15ft – 13500 gallons – 14kW – 29kW
32 x 16ft – 15250 gallons – 29kW
As you can see, there is a choice of heater sizes for most of the above pool sizes. In general, it’s advisable to choose a larger heater than a smaller one as it will be more efficient and effective.
How Much Will It Cost To Heat My Pool?
Not only do you need to consider how many kilowatts of energy you need to heat your pool, but you’ll also need to consider how much it will cost to run that heater in terms of kilowatt hours.
Below, you’ll find some examples of how many kilowatt hours will be required to heat different sizes of swimming pool:
- 12 foot circular pool – 8000 litres of water – 9.3kWh
- 15 foot circular pool – 16,000 litres of water – 18.6kWh
- 18 foot circular pool – 25,000 litres of water – 29.1kWh
- 12 x 24 feet square pool – 40,000 litres of water – 46.4kWh
- 15 x 30 feet square pool – 64,000 litres of water – 74.4kWh
- 20 x 40 feet square pool – 100,000 litres of water – 116kWh
Once you’re aware of how large your pool is and how much water you need to fill it, you’ll be able to work out how much it’ll cost to heat your pool. When it comes to working out this figure, it may be easier for you to contact a professional company with expertise in supplying and installing swimming pool boilers as they can give you the best advice to suit your specific needs.
Finding The Right Boiler For Your Swimming Pool
As you can see from the above, it is quite complicated to work out how many kW you require to heat your pool as there are many different factors to consider. With this in mind, it’s always advisable to seek out professional advice so that you can be certain of selecting the best boiler to meet your needs.
The team here at Rowlen are specialists in the field of swimming pool boiler supply, installation, and maintenance. Get in touch with us today to learn more and we can work with you to find the perfect boiler to suit your requirements.
