Pool Maintenance

How to Build and Operate an Energy Efficient Pool

General questions you should consider when building a new pool. Please note that this is general advice. How do you want to use the pool? It sounds simplistic, but you…

May 8th, 2017

Will Solar PV panels reduce the cost of running my swimming pool?

From July 2017 many swimming pool owners are experiencing an astonishing 30% or more increase in the price of electricity required to filter and chlorinate their pools and are now looking to adding solar PV panels to reduce these new costs. Will solar PV panels help? Not necessarily. Adding solar panels to a home with pool, will certainly reduce the amount of energy you will need to purchase from the Grid, but it will also likely force you to use more expensive Grid energy, actually putting your bills up. The reason for this apparent contradiction is the weather. This blog explains why it happens, how you can avoid the problem and how you can save dollars.

July 24th, 2017

What Sort of Pool Sweep, Cleaner or Robot Should I Buy?

A pool sweep or robot makes a pool much easier to manage and keep clean. You can hand vacuum the pool, brush the bottom or flail away with a net, but it is quite a chore. If you want a clean, automated pool, we would strongly recommend an automated pool sweep.

July 10th, 2017

Want to extend the swimming season beyond the summer months? Here’s tips on recommended pool heating solutions

When you heat your swimming pool not only do you need to choose the most appropriate type of heater to match your needs, you should also think about how the heater will be connected to your pool and the other equipment. Some heating types dictate the plumbing method and others you have a choice. For the same heater and the same heat output, the plumbing method can have significant effects on your energy consumption, your power bills, and the ease of operation. We’ll walk through each possible configuration and look at their pros and cons.

September 4th, 2017

The new smart tech to maintain your swimming pool

Pool owners know how time-consuming maintenance can be – testing the water with a pH stick, adding chemicals like chlorine (volumes of which were often based on guesswork), fiddling with the pumps, and sometimes ending up with algae despite your best efforts.

September 28th, 2017

Sydney swimming pools slugged with up to 53 percent electricity price increases from 3 July 2017

Australia has an estimated 1.4 million swimming pools with a total electricity consumption equal to around half of the State of Victoria. With the recent retirement of Victoria’s massive Hazelwood Power Station, coming soon after the retirement of another 8 power stations, more than 90% of NSW pool owners will face operating cost increases of up to 20.2% to 52.6%, with the majority over 30%.

July 10th, 2017

Swimming pool covers! Tips on the pros and cons

Just over 10% of the pools we look after have covers. The most common objection from people we speak to is that they either don’t like the look of them or don’t have space on their pool deck for the roller. You can see from our analysis of swimming pool water temperature they offer a significant temperature gain – more on average than heaters often provide.

September 14th, 2017

Do you own a pool? Are you considering going off the grid and using a home battery storage solution?

If you are living in an average house in Sydney and considering going totally off-grid with batteries, you are likely to find that it is neither practical nor economical. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, the technology of batteries is not yet sufficiently developed. Secondly, the weather. Thirdly, you probably don’t have a big enough roof. This article is intended to show how you can calculate the situation for your own circumstances.

August 3rd, 2017

Choosing a pool heater? What are the relative performances of Solar, Gas, Electric Pool Heaters?

In pool heaters, size and type matter a great deal. There are 4 basic types: Solar, Gas, Heat Pumps and Direct Electric Heaters. It is almost always better to get a larger pool heater than you think you need. The reason is that it is faster and loses less heat during the heating stage, while requiring less water pumping. Overall, large pool heaters tend to require less energy than small ones and are more convenient.

July 17th, 2017