How to make your pool more energy efficient

Making your pool more energy efficient will not only help reduce your impact on the environment but can also save you a lot of money over the course of a year! Not all upgrades have to cost a lot to make a difference, so here are six of the best, most practical, simple, and smart ways to reduce your pool’s power requirements and prevent spending more than you need.

1. Install a Variable Speed Pump

Variable speed pumps save money by giving you the ability to reduce the power consumed by reducing the speed of the pump. Compared to conventional single-speed pumps, the Viron XT pump will save you anywhere between $700 and $1,200 every year in operating costs.

2. Use a Robotic cleaner

The way robotic cleaners save you money is by reducing the filtration time required, which in turn requires less backwashing or filter cleaning which can typically use up to 20,000 litres each year!

3. Prevent water evaporation & heat loss

During summer, your pool may lose as much as 25mm of water per day, through evaporation. Additionally, 80% of your pool’s heat can also be lost through evaporation. This comes with dual costs – the cost of the water to top up your pool and the expense of heating it. Using a pool cover (yes, especially in summer) will help – as will windbreaks around your pool like trees or larger potted plants (a mere 10km/h wind blowing across the pool’s surface can cause dramatic evaporation).

4. LED pool lights

Most of us have swapped the globes around our homes to energy-efficient LEDs, but what about around the pool? Modern lighting can draw around 80% less power than conventional lighting. Plus, you can also change colours at the tap of a screen.

5. Your filtration system

The more debris there is in your pool, the harder your pump and filter will have to work and therefore, use more energy. So regular cleaning of your pool and filter will help everything work more efficiently. You can also upgrade your old sand filter media to glass media and this will further reduce the amount of time needed to backwash & rinse.

6. Move to the dark side

If you’re about to build, renovate or install a pool, darker-coloured pools absorb the sun’s warmth more than lighter-coloured pools. If you’re keen on saving energy, money and the environment, they’re worth considering. And with plenty of LED lighting installed, they look especially magnificent at night.

Saving the buck stops with you

It might seem obvious, but if you only use your pool on weekends, reduce your temperature settings for weekdays by about 8–10˚. Similarly, if you’re away on holiday, you don’t want to heat the pool back home if no one’s using it.

And while most of us really only think of using the pool cover in winter, to stop debris falling in the pool, it’s a good idea to use it in summer, especially if the pool isn’t going to be used for an extended period. Note Point 3 above, about ‘evaporation’.

At the end of the day, it’s about saving energy, saving money, and saving the environment. With nearly 1.5 million of us lucky enough to own a pool or spa, and around 100,000 more being installed every year, reducing the amount of energy our pools use is good for everyone.

We want you to have as much safe enjoyment of your pool and spa as possible. However, importantly, the enjoyment that doesn’t cost the earth.

Variable Speed Pool Pumps

Variable speed pool pumps are saving pool owners hundreds of dollars each year, though how exactly does variable speed pump work? Why are they so good? And how much will one actually save you?

A single-speed 1.5hp pump will start up and then run at a consistent speed, flow rate, and power consumption level for the entire time. More often than not, it's pumping more than what is effectively required, costing you money. For this comparison, we have used the Astral Viron P320 XT Variable Speed Pump to show you the difference between variable-speed pumps and single-speed pool pumps.

Variable Speed Pump technology

A variable speed pump such as the Astral Viron P320 XT allows you to tailor the flow rate to suit your pool and filtration requirements. Once a pool pump has started up and the water moving, it’s about keeping the water circulating as efficiently as possible, this is where the variable speeds come into play.

By reducing the speed of the pump, you're reducing the power consumption, as well as the flow rate, though this can be set to whichever setting is most effective.

The challenge for swimming pool filtration design is that 90% of the time, effective filtration and circulation of the pool water is achieved with a gentle flow rate of between 120 to 200 litres a minute. Occasionally, however, vacuuming, backwashing, and specific applications such as water features, spa jets and in-floor cleaning require higher flow rates and pressures.

The Viron XT has 4 flow settings

• Overdrive - up to 600 liters/min

• High Speed - 2850 RPM (around 400 liters/min, great for backwashing)

• Medium Speed - 2000 RPM (around 200-300 liters/min, ideal for larger pools or where equipment is much lower than the pool level)

• Low Speed - 1125 RPM (around 100-150 liters/min, perfect for smaller pools with equipment nearby)

Power Savings

If you were to halve the speed of your pump, the flow rate will also halve however, the energy consumed drops by more than 85%. Compared to conventional single-speed pumps, the Viron XT pump will save you anywhere between $700 and $1,200 every year in operating costs, which, over the life of the pump will pay for itself many times over!

Benefits of the Viron XT Variable Speed Pump

• Two sizes to suit the most demanding applications

• Save between $700 and $1,200 every year in operating costs

• High-performance overdrive mode and fast priming programs Reduce carbon emissions

• Whisper-quiet operation

• Longer pump and equipment life

Comparison between 1.5hp pump vs Variable Speed Viron P320 XT

• Viron Annual Operating Cost* $818

• Viron Annual Saving $809

• Viron Saving over 7 years $5,663

Environmentally Friendly

Warranty

Built in Australia for Australian conditions the Viron XT Pumps are covered by a limited 3 year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship.

Astral Viron XT Variable Speed Pool Pumps

*Annual operating cost based on operating pumps at factory preset low speed for 8 hours a day, each day of the year. Actual operating costs may vary according to time spent on higher speeds and the actual speed required to effectively circulate water throughout the pool, filtration, and plumbing system.