So here the start of an expensive gamble that I took. A heap pump for a swimming pool in the UK. We’re not known for our nice weather but with the recent spikes in electic prices, the 2.2kw heater that we normal use isn’t really an option.
So first off, easy to install. Make sure that you have around 1m around it free from any obstacles as this will dump the cold air from the heat pump straight back into the system. The exhaust is the most important part.
I’ve left my normal heater in the system just in case I fancy burning money.
The system goes, Drain for the pool -> Intex pool pump -> Hot Splash Heat Pump -> Intex 2.2kw Heater Works rather well.
I also have a 100m of black pipe on the garage roof that acts like a solar heater. (Yellow lines on the graph)
The pool in question is 2282l (2.3m3), the Intex small 2.6m x 1.6m x 0.65m
The pump for the pool is the small Intex 28604 530 GPH(2 m3/h). The heat pumps nominal water flow rate is 2.1 m3/h. They seam to work well together.
So how does it compare? Bloody amazing. as you can see on the below graph.
As you can see, its dumping out heat throughout the day. As a Rule of thumb I expect with my 2.2kw heater about a 1C rise in temp for every two hours of use, so 0.5C an hour. This heat pump delivers about 1C every hour (when the temp is above 10C)
Whilst this years hot splash is better due to the fact it runs to 10C, Its useless using it below those temps as nothing comes out of it. At an Air temp of 10C is just about manages to keep the pool at the same temp rather than losing its heat energy. So looking at the graph below, heat loss to the environment is about 0.3C per hour, the Hot Splash is therefore at 10C outputting the same.
This is what I can see to be the draw back. In the graph two above you can see I spend the whole day pumping heat into the pool. Just to lose it all over night and leaving me in the same cycle everyday. The pool has a solar cover, pool cover and PVC corrugated sheeting to minimise the heat loss at night.
As I have a smarthome and a weather station, I’ve not tried to capitalise on the amount of time that the temp is above 10C and it automatically triggers the heat pump to turn on. This has meant that I have have had to remove the RDC plug and replace it with a normal 13amp plug but as my house is covered by ad RDC at the consumer unit its not caused any safety issues. To remove the plug you will need a TP3 screwdriver (Triangular safety screws)
I can see that I twill be useful in the July but that seams like a limited swim season.
With the solar heater and the heat pump on I’ve managed to go from 12C 22C in 12 hours, that includes 3 hours of the solar heater cooling the pool as it didn’t turn itself off.
As A bank holiday treat I decided to give the pool a bump with both the 2.2kw heater and the Hot Splash. Thoughts being that we could then look at a typical cycle when the night air temp was hovering around 10C. This would then give a view of how well it keep the pool warm once its running. Setting the heat pump to a cut off of 36C it never actually gets to it but I would say despite two pool sessions, it finds its kept the pool at a constant temp mitigating the heat loss to the atmosphere. Not bad for 5.27 a day whist the night temp hoevering at 10C
Power wise, seams to use about 800w constantly.
I bought mine from HeatPumps4Pools who had quick delivery. Not needed thier techincal department so cant comment about after sales advice / support.
Hot Splash 3.75kw Plug and Play Pool Heat Pump for Above Ground Pools up to 9m3 – HeatPumps4Pools
I’m constantly adding finding about the pump as time goes on but if you have any questions or want some data to analyse feel free to add a comment below