Heating an outdoor swimming pool can be expensive, especially these days with energy costs so high. In cooler climates, it's even worse. Fortunately, pool-construction companies are tapping into today's technology to provide new types of insulation.
The Australians, for example, have a therma-foam system that's built into swimming pool walls to create a more energy efficient pool. The system uses expanded polystyrene panels covered with a structural reinforcing mesh, which is embedded with two coats of plaster. This all combines to create an insulated pool shell that is more thermally efficient than average. It reduces heat loss from your water into the surrounding ground, thus meaning you can spend less to heat your swimming pool to the same temperature.
The therma-foam insulation can also be helpful for pools built in hot climates, where the sun-heated water can get uncomfortably warm for swimmers, during some months of the year. The insulated walls will help keep the water cooler because less heat is absorbed from the surrounding soil.
The good news is therma-foam is flexible, so it can be incorporated into virtually any size and shape of pool design. The bad news? You have to get in on this from the beginning. There's really no way to retrofit your pool to have more insulated walls--at least not yet.
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