About Heated Pools...

My parents use solar to heat their pool in FL and it works so well that at times they have to turn it off. If you have a spot for the panels (theirs are on the back roof of the house) it works great.
That is a very good idea! Solar is now required here in CA if you have new construction. We have not done it yet because it is so expensive to do it as a retrofit but many neighbors have. It sure would be nice to have a heated pool with solar. Will have to look into it to see if we could just do the pool. SBH is the perfect place for it but I am not sure of the costs to bring solar panels to the island..that must be a fortune, I am guessing. And the construction people seem to be very preoccupied with new construction on the island...
 
Interesting thread. All I know is that our Villa’s pool is heated. Jumping in the morning a great way to wake up. A jump in after dinner….life is good. Standing in the pool during a rain storm is simply amazing.
As long as there is not any lightning:blush-smile:! (DD had been hit by lightning in his OFFICE..maybe it would be safer in a pool:laughing-cry:!)
 
As long as there is not any lightning:blush-smile:! (DD had been hit by lightning in his OFFICE..maybe it would be safer in a pool:laughing-cry:!)
great advice! I do not remember ever seeing lightening in St. Barths. Of course we are only there for a couple of weeks a year.
 
Glad DD got through that! For sure, I will bring it up when next we meet.

And yes for observing lightning here. A few weeks ago it was incredible..lightning, thunder, and major downpours.
 
air condition the inside and heat the outside. Environmentally not too smart!

Seems like a bit of an opportunity here to kill two birds with one stone. There was actually a This Old House episode about this a few years ago....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7fB8ul9dZw

My daughter plays youth hockey.... and as I walk next to the huge cooling units to keep the ice nice and hard, I often when they don't use some of that heat to heat the other parts of the rink that parents like to congregate in to keep warm.

In regards to heated pools.... Unfortunately, I am on the heated pool band wagon. I have said this before, but nothing beats taking a dip after diner with the villa lights off when the moon is full.
 
My daughter plays youth hockey.... and as I walk next to the huge cooling units to keep the ice nice and hard, I often when they don't use some of that heat to heat the other parts of the rink that parents like to congregate in to keep warm..

Simple answer, especially when retrofitting a facility. Cost. I've been down this road. I had to reject 3.5MW of heat from one part of a facility, while the rest was office space which needed to be heated/cooled. I would have had to do a serious retrofit to the existing HVAC system in order to reuse that heat. It was a nice-to-have. When costs run over budget, and Value Engineering kicks in, nice-to-haves are the first thing to go. I wish that it was as simple as piping in a plain old Heat Exchanger, but that doesn't always work.
 
Simple answer, especially when retrofitting a facility. Cost. I've been down this road. I had to reject 3.5MW of heat from one part of a facility, while the rest was office space which needed to be heated/cooled. I would have had to do a serious retrofit to the existing HVAC system in order to reuse that heat. It was a nice-to-have. When costs run over budget, and Value Engineering kicks in, nice-to-haves are the first thing to go. I wish that it was as simple as piping in a plain old Heat Exchanger, but that doesn't always work.

I completely understand regarding costs and was merely bringing up an alternate idea to heat pools.... which probably wouldn't work in SBH due to the scattered ductless systems they tend to use.
 
Simple answer, especially when retrofitting a facility. Cost. I've been down this road. I had to reject 3.5MW of heat from one part of a facility, while the rest was office space which needed to be heated/cooled. I would have had to do a serious retrofit to the existing HVAC system in order to reuse that heat. It was a nice-to-have. When costs run over budget, and Value Engineering kicks in, nice-to-haves are the first thing to go. I wish that it was as simple as piping in a plain old Heat Exchanger, but that doesn't always work.

Kevin is right..it is a very large investment for sure and you have to be sure it will be worth it because you are putting out somewhere from $50K to $100K or more, depending upon what you are retrofitting. Even with rebates, you have to do the math for each house, as it is completely different. But it is a large cash outlay at first.
 
A lot of "solar" heated pools in Florida don't really use solar with the sun converting to electricity, rather plumbing the water through black PVC pip[es on the roof......pretty easy retro fit using the existing pump....
 
Kevin is right..it is a very large investment for sure and you have to be sure it will be worth it because you are putting out somewhere from $50K to $100K or more, depending upon what you are retrofitting. Even with rebates, you have to do the math for each house, as it is completely different. But it is a large cash outlay at first.

Totally agree . . . the difficulty & cost of retrofit of our Villa — not to mention regulatory limitations — to accommodate solar pool heating isn’t remotely an economic proposition. (BTW . . . perhaps my Anglo / Irish heritage explains it, but after an initial, momentary chill as I get into the pool, day or night, I’m refreshed . . . don’t rush to get out . . . and savor the ambiance & luxury of the environment.)
 
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