Heating above ground swimming pools.

HEATING ABOVE GROUND SWIMMING POOLS.There is nothing - nothing - to compare to being able to swim at home in your own pool but, this being the UK, the problem is that an unheated pool is rarely warm enough for comfort, so there are many days during the summer when it's too cold to swim.

The first stage in heating any pool is to fit a solar cover made from UV stabilised bubble plastic. It is reckoned that 70 percent of heat losses from a pool are by evaporation from the surface, and the solar cover not only stops evaporation heat losses but also retains heat at night through insulation. Cheaper pools come with blue 200g covers; ours lasted a season and a half, so I have replaced it with a 500g clear cover, which is the most expensive but which lets sunlight into the water (heating it) while giving far more insulation than a lighter cover. Solar cover prices vary hugely according to their size, weight and type, so I won't give typical prices - you can find them on Ebay.

Next consider building a windbreak around the pool. This not only keeps cool winds off the pool, it also shelters you from the wind - even if the water is warm, the moment you stand up in a cool wind you'll feel cold. You could plant a hedge or build a wooden fence but I built a fence using polyester covered sheet steel that absorbs heat from sunlight and radiates it out, making the area around the pool warm. The sheets are available from agricultural suppliers at roughly 20-25 for an 4'x10' sheet.

The two measures outlined above will make the pool and the surrounding area warmer (the pool water one