You are a new condo board member, your condo association has a pool, that pool is required to be heated either by condo rules or resident demands, and upon reviewing your heating costs you realize there must be a better way. Sound familiar?

This Fort Myers, FL condominium pool is 1,100 square feet, requiring about 24 solar panels for excellent heating performance. Since there is not enough roof space, ground mounted solar panels are the only viable option.

Solar pool heating can work very well as a standalone heat source or as a primary heater with existing or new auxiliary heaters like heat pumps or gas heaters. If your pool clubhouse is large enough and has a suitably oriented roof, that is usually the best and most cost effective solution. If your clubhouse is small or you don’t have one, we look at possible areas on the property for ground rack mounting of solar panels. Since condominium pools are often quite large, most are typically 2 – 3 times the size of a typical residential pool, the number of solar panels required is scaled proportionally.

Condominium pools are considered commercial pools. While some, especially order pools, are build very much like a residential pool, many commercial pools employ different filtration and circulation systems than those found in residential pools. Large commercial pools will require a solar booster pump for solar pool heat operation. Some smaller pools may require pump upgrades and plumbing changes. Regardless, almost any pool can be retrofitted with solar heating at a reasonable cost, resulting is huge savings on heating costs.

The payback period on commercial condominium pool heating is typically in the 2-5 year range. Since solar panels are a long-term investment, they clearly pay for themselves in almost every case where a traditional heating system is already being used. Sometimes it’s hard to accurately determine existing heating costs, as they may be lumped in with gas or electric bills that serve other uses. However, despite this lack of information, we can confidently say that there will be a very attractive return on investment and existing heating costs will be reduced substantially.

If you are a condominium or homeowner’s association board member, resident in a community, or pool service professional for commercial pools, we would be happy to talk to you about solar pool heating options for your community pool in Southwest Florida.

Contact us today!