Swimming Pool Solar Panel Guide
How much does your pool cost to run?
How much energy does my pool use?
The first thing to work out is how much energy your pool requires per day to run. Did you know that if you have a standard single speed pool pump it uses a lot of electricity to run? Most pool pumps for an average size pools are 1-2 Hp which equates to 700-1400watts. If you have solar heating on your roof (These are different to solar panels), then you probably also have a 0.5hp pump running (300-400watts) in order to pull the water up to your roof (through the heating tubes) and back into your pool (solar heating is therefore not free).Then add a controller and chlorinator which will add a further 200-300watts. Running these for hours a day can add thousands to your yearly electricity bill.
How much electricity will a pool use over the day?
Depending on the size of pool most companies recommend running 4-6 hours in winter and 8-12 hour in summer. So based on the above power figures for a larger pool running a 2 Hp filter pump with a 0.5 hp solar booster plus controller and chlorinator in summer this could easily using up to 20KWh per day (in winter you could halve this figure as a rough guide). Less drop this to 1800w (18KWh if run for 10 hours) to ere on the side of being more conservative for the below calculations.
How much will a pool cost over the day?
This will depend on your energy plan (numbers easily available in your monthly bill). In Australia, all new houses are installed with a smart meter and the days of having an old meter (which gives you a huge advantage of a fixed rate across the day because energy companies can’t see per hour usage) are disappearing as energy companies continue their push to swap out these with smart meters.
In NSW, having a smart meter forces you into one of two types of plans, either Time of Use (where you have peak, off peak, shoulder tariffs across the day) or Demand (where you have a fixed rate across the day but are charged a demand charge which essentially penalizes you for having high usage in peak period. an explanation on this is beyond this article but sufficient to say it likely won’t be in your interest to be on this type of plan if you are a high energy user during peak times …. ie if you are running a pool at the wrong time of day, cooking with an electric oven/stove, got kids gaming and use air conditioning in Summer in the magic 2-8 hour window, this is definitely not the plan for you)
If you run your pool pump at the wrong time of day then you could be costing you hundreds of dollars a month. Many TOU (Time of Use) peak charges are 60c now per KWh and peak normally runs from 2-8pm. Based on recent AGL TOU rates as of Jan 2024 (rounded to nearest cent). If you were to run your solar pump for this full 6 hour window (1800w x 6 hours =. 10.8KWh @ 60c = $6.48 then if you where to run the remaining 4 hours in Shoulder = 1800w x 4 = 7.2KWh x 31c = $2.2. Add these together and multiply by a 31 day month = $270 over summer!!. Alot of money just for one appliance!
If you are smart enough to run your pump only during offpeak (at night normally between 10p and 7am) then this will cost 10 x 1800w x 23c = $4.13 per day (or 128 Dollars over the month).
Unfortunately, Australian Electricity prices have pretty much doubled in recent years so these excessive costs are a relatively recent phenomena. So without solar no matter how you time your pumps, your pool is easily using $1-2,000 dollars a year by itself.
One might think, I just won’t run my pumps or reduce the time they run. This is great until your kids get sick as you are not actively circulating and sanitising the water.
How Solar wipes out these costs?
The answer is likely pretty self explanatory right?
When you install solar, your home appliances ie your pool (assuming its a sunny day) pulls power from your solar system rather than the grid.
Run these pumps in a 10 hour window over the course of sunny day means your pumps are being driven by the solar and not the grid and therefore not costing you money. Don’t get me started on over selling of Solar systems to say you will never pull from the grid however, many sales people will tell you you won’t have a bill however this is a straight out lie as all you need is some cloudy or rainy days (clouds do exist on most days) and your system won’t be generating enough continuously to cover your electricity requirements unless you have a battery (but in saying this, your solar does still generate some power and its better no generation).
When should I program my pumps to run?
The answer here is obvious too! When the sun is out and your solar is getting enough of it!
Generally you will see Solar ramping up from about 7am in Summer and ramping down after 5pm. Since your system won’t be hitting maximum capacity at the start and end of day, you are best to run your system in the middle of your solar generation window (middle of the day).
What is the best Solar Panel Size for your pool
Just make sure that when you are getting quotes for solar your system is big enough to run this equipment along with everything else in your house.
It is highly likely a 6.6KWh system won’t cut it. Unless you are someone who runs very little in your house (in summer a large air conditioning can consume much of a solar systems output) you will want a bigger system. You will likely want to run a 8-13KWh system but you are best to talk with your local solar supplier on the correct size.
