8 Ways To Make Your Swimming Pool Greener (Eco-Friendly)

1. Buy A Heat Pump Instead of a Gas Heater

Heat pumps are the new and eco-friendly way to keep your pool heated during the pool season. Just like most eco-friendly products, they do cost more (depending on the brand) but over the long haul you will end up saving money and you won’t be using gas like in a natural gas or propane heater. For more information about heat pumps for swimming pools read: Heat Pumps For Swimming Pools

2. Use a Solar Blanket or A Liquid Solar Blanket

Heating up your swimming pool, no matter which type of heater you have, will be costly especially if you have to do it and maintain that heat all year using just your heater. Instead invest in a solar blanket or liquid solar blanket. These two items are very cheap and work the same way. They trap the heat that your pool makes or receives from the sun. By putting on a solar blanket a night it stops the heat from evaporating during those cool nights, thus keeping the temperature of your swimming pool at the same level or close.

3. Buy a 2-Speed Swimming Pool Pump

Most swimming pool companies and SwimUniversity.com will recommend that you run your swimming pool filter and pump for at least 8 to 12 hours a day to keep your swimming pool clear and clean all season long. For some this will rack up your electric bill not to mention a big waste of energy, but it needs to be done. They now sell 2-speed pumps, which have a normal every-pump speed and a slower speed for daily use. You can keep your pool filtering by leaving your pump on a lower speed and save some energy. If you are having a lot of people in the pool or you are adding chemicals and cleaning, you can bump the speed back up to normal for the time being.

4. Buy A Sand Filter or Cartridge Filter For Your Pool

The most common inground filter is a D.E. filter, which even though it’s the best filter on the market when it comes to cleaning your pool, it uses a lot of D.E. (diatomaceous earth) in the process. Instead use a sand filter. You only have to change the sand every 3-5 years. Or even better than that, buy a cartridge filter. With sand and D.E. filters you have to backwash in order to clean them out, which can waste a lot of water, but with a cartridge filter you don’t. To clean a cartridge filter, just pull out the cartridge and give it a quick rinse with your garden hose and place the filter back in. That’s it!

5. Buy A Robotic Pool Cleaner

If you are using a manual vacuum cleaner or an automatic cleaner that uses your filter system then you are wasting more energy than you would with robotic pool cleaners. Instead of your pool pump running to clean your pool you can just plug in a robotic pool cleaner to a regular outlet and use far less energy cleaning your pool even more than if you manually did it yourself. Plus these cleaners are known to be way more efficient and will clean your pool faster.

6. Make Your Pool Automated

This can be an expensive move, but by getting your pool automated you now have full control of your pools energy saving and you don’t even have to be there. You can go full boat and get your system completely automated so that now you can keep an eye on your pool from wherever you are. Or, just to start, make sure you install a timer on your filter system and your underwater light. Don’t keep your lights on if you not using your swimming pool and make sure you have your timer set on your pool pump so that it doesn’t run 24 hours a day.

7. Buy A Salt Generator

Chlorine can be expensive especially when you have a really big pool. In order to save money and energy on chlorine just install a salt system. That means you no longer have to buy chlorine. The salt in your pool water runs through your filter system and generates chlorine all on its own. Salt systems can be costly to first install but over time you will save money, not to mention the environment.

8. Keep Your Pool Clean and Clear

Nothing can burn up more energy and money then when your pool turns green or cloudy. Now you have a problem to fix and that can take a lot of energy running your filter system and dumping chemicals into your swimming pool. If you take the time and follow our system to keeping your swimming pool clear all season long then you will save yourself a lot of money and energy.