How to heat a paddling pool?

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
I've just started thinking about getting the paddling pool out.

Ours isn't massive but it does hold a lot of water (It takes about 4/5 hours to fill) and because of the British weather, not wanting to kill the grass, water getting filthy brown and full of bugs we don't have the filter set up, it needs to be emptied after a days use, two at most and there are probably only 3 weekends a year when it comes out so it really isn't worth paying out for the heater/pump system.

The problem we have is that it's freezing. Last year we put boiling water in from 30 kettles and it didn't seem to make the slightest bit of difference to the pool temperature.

I'm hoping some clever person here can help me find a solution, my idea would be to have something similar to and electric cooker hob, in a cage so it doesn't melt the sides of the pool that can just be plugged in for an hour or so, and avoid inducing hypothermia, or something similar to the opposite of ice cubes, maybe balls that can go in the oven then get chucked in the pool but no such products seem to exist.


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wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
@Bob - believe me you're NOT going to heat that pool. If it takes about 4 hours to fill then it's probably around 2,000 litres (my 18,000 litre pool takes 36 hours to fill).

Now, a full tank of gas heated water through our hose raises our pool by 0.4c. If your pool is around 1/9th the capacity of ours, then it might raise yours by 3c at most!

A better investment is a solar pool cover. It's like bubble wrap that floats on the water surface and they really do work! Ours raises pool temperature on a good day by around 5C by mid afternoon. On a pool your size, I've no doubt it would feel more like a bath. Outlay for your size, around £10 one off.... and will probably produce the equivalent of around £3 of gas heated water per day.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
I've just started thinking about getting the paddling pool out.

Ours isn't massive but it does hold a lot of water (It takes about 4/5 hours to fill) and because of the British weather, not wanting to kill the grass, water getting filthy brown and full of bugs we don't have the filter set up, it needs to be emptied after a days use, two at most and there are probably only 3 weekends a year when it comes out so it really isn't worth paying out for the heater/pump system.

The problem we have is that it's freezing. Last year we put boiling water in from 30 kettles and it didn't seem to make the slightest bit of difference to the pool temperature.

I'm hoping some clever person here can help me find a solution, my idea would be to have something similar to and electric cooker hob, in a cage so it doesn't melt the sides of the pool that can just be plugged in for an hour or so, and avoid inducing hypothermia, or something similar to the opposite of ice cubes, maybe balls that can go in the oven then get chucked in the pool but no such products seem to exist.
I've got visions of a tumble dryer full of those tumble dryer balls & them being lobbed into the pool! (I may patent that idea )

We bought one of the 10ft round pools last year, its impossible to get it warm - I think we will go back to out old rectangular one this year, it was small enough to top up with hot water from the tap (with the hose attached) & 2 boilerfulls of hot water were enough with the cold water to keep it warm....
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
@Bob - believe me you're NOT going to heat that pool. If it takes about 4 hours to fill then it's probably around 2,000 litres (my 18,000 litre pool takes 36 hours to fill).

Now, a full tank of gas heated water through our hose raises our pool by 0.4c. If your pool is around 1/9th the capacity of ours, then it might raise yours by 3c at most!

A better investment is a solar pool cover. It's like bubble wrap that floats on the water surface and they really do work! Ours raises pool temperature on a good day by around 5C by mid afternoon. On a pool your size, I've no doubt it would feel more like a bath. Outlay for your size, around £10 one off.... and will probably produce the equivalent of around £3 of gas heated water per day.


To be fair @wmrcomputers the 3c increase is probably all I'd want, maybe 5 at most, I'm not after a warm pool, just a cool rather than freezing cold one.

I've tried in the past but can't seem to get a hose to connect to the hot water tank or the kitchen tap :(
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
If you only want to take the chill off, I think you'll be amazed at the effectivity of a solar cover. It made our 15ft pool useable on a good day. It's 4ft deep which is where my problem lay, but the shallower the better. An 8ft or so pool would work great with one as they aren't as deep.
 
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Bob

Well-Known Forumite
With having a 3 year old running around the cover seems to me to be a bad idea, not that she's left unattended near the water but if she ever got wrapped up in the cover, she wouldn't be able to just stand up and get out. We did have a cover once upon a time but I think I threw it in the bin for that very reason.

Chance are if we've got the pool out it's because we're spending the day in the garden so the kids would just be poking at it a and moaning to be able to get in.

I think I might just go out and buy a smaller paddling pool :(
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
I understand your concerns @Bob , in which case you can get solar "rings". They are essentially hula hoops with the same bubblewrap attached. You just calculate how many will fit on the surface of the water. Wont be quite as effective, but would still help. Alternatively dump in a full tank of gas heated water from the house. Attach a hosepipe to a washing machine style connector and use the washing machine hot fill point (unused in 99% of cases these days) as a way of doing it. Depending on your exact pool size, a full tank of hot water should hopefully at least take the chill off it a bit.
 
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hop

Well-Known Forumite
I wouldn't worry about the cost too much. You are probably on an electric tariff where you pay around 10 pence per Killowatt hour. The cost of running something like a 3 Killowatt kettle continually for 1 hour would therefore cost 30 pence. Or heating for 3 hours would be under £1.

Even if you were to use a 3 Kw heater every day for 3 hours the cost over a week would equal to a bottle of reasonable wine. Consider the fact the pool might help tire your child out and get them to bed on time and you might not even feel the need for a glass of wine (therefore the cost being neutral).

When I used to visit the barbers as a kid he had a small plug in kettle element which he used to heat a cup, like the one below. Something like this or multiple of them would do the trick. Even if they were all 1 killowatt and you heated for 3 hours the cost would be very little in terms of power used.

61NnzAhymVL._SL1000_.jpg
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
Sorry @hop but I have to disagree. Electrically heated water costs a small fortune. It's been a while since it was 10p/unit. Most people are paying around 15p these days. 15p x 3kw pool heater = 45p per hour. It would probably require 6 hours use (getting on for £3) to make the same difference as a tank full of gas heated water at around 60 to 80p. Bear in mind we are talking about 2000 (minimum) litres of water. Far cheaper (and safer) to run in a full tank from the boiler through a hosepipe if it's do-able. @Bob has already said that she's tried pouring in around 30 kettles which made little if any difference. Also any slow form of heating wont work as the heat is lost quicker than it gains... this is why I said that solar pool covers are great as they also insulate against heat loss from the surface of the pool.

The exception comes into play with swimming pool heat pumps, which work almost in reverse to air conditioning. They extract heat from the air and transfer it to the water. They use around 1kwh of electricity to produce up to 4.5kwh worth of heat. The downside is that they are quite costly and certainly not viable for a small paddling pool.
 

hop

Well-Known Forumite
What's the standing charge Hop?

Will see if I can find the bills. Generally I switch every year. In the past 12 months due to the falling price of oil there have been some very good prices available on utilities, I recall a friend fixed his gas at 2.xp per kWh (prices last seen 10 years ago)
 

peggy

Well-Known Forumite
Took us a day to fill out paddling pool much to the delight of hubby who kept muttering something about 'bloody water metres' we have a solor cover for ours... I think it helps on a good day if it's left to cover the pool but pesky little fingers keep pulling it off to test the temperature then leave it abandoned on the grass.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
10p is very feasible the prices a low at the moment, suggest you shop around since 15p is a rip off, check u switch or similar.

I'm paying 4p off peak and 10p peak.
We're paying over 17p on a pre-pay meter, although I know we're being ripped off and 14.x pence is more realistic if we switched.
As for your cheaper evening rate, economy 7 is almost extinct now. If you don't already have a dual rate meter, the chances of getting one are slim to none.
 

hop

Well-Known Forumite
We're paying over 17p on a pre-pay meter

I thought a prepay meter was the worst way to pay ? If you have a reasonable credit rating you should be able to get the meter converted to a normal meter and pay by direct debit to get the best rates.
I have to admit I have no knowledge of prepay meters since I have never had one and would never opt for one.

I believe economy 10 is popular now. Everytime I talk to meter reading staff or similar they all seem to be on economy 10. For many this is a good idea since you get cheap rates during normal day hours and often get 3 chances a day to take advantage of the cheap rates.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
I thought a prepay meter was the worst way to pay ? If you have a reasonable credit rating you should be able to get the meter converted to a normal meter and pay by direct debit to get the best rates.
Unfortunately not the case, we've tried. If there is already a pre-payment meter fitted at a property when you move in (which is the case in a high percentage of rented properties), then there's no way of getting it taken out. I've even offered to pay to have a standard meter before without success.

Likewise, people on a standard meter can't just request to have a prepayment meter fitted. But they do have the advantage, as by refusing to pay the bills you end up eventually having a prepayment meter forced on you set at higher rates to recover the money owed.
 

c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
Unfortunately not the case, we've tried. If there is already a pre-payment meter fitted at a property when you move in (which is the case in a high percentage of rented properties), then there's no way of getting it taken out. I've even offered to pay to have a standard meter before without success.

Likewise, people on a standard meter can't just request to have a prepayment meter fitted. But they do have the advantage, as by refusing to pay the bills you end up eventually having a prepayment meter forced on you set at higher rates to recover the money owed.

Which supplier are you with ? You should be able to get it moved out http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/news/how-to-switch-from-a-prepayment-energy-meter/0014939/ If you're with any of the big suppliers and meet the criteria I'd suggest pushing the issue to the Energy Ombudsman....
 
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