Last summer when covid meant no visiting beaches or other people’s pools, we decided to get a pool for our own yard. We got one of the Intex “East Set” pools which you plop in place and add water. Okay, actually there’s more involved including clearing the space where the pool will be of any rocks, installing a safety fence, and all of the associated maintenance. But it’s easier than most aboveground pools and much much cheaper than an inground pool. But even our small pool doesn’t warm up as much as we’d like. Sure, you want the pool to be refreshing, but not painful, bracing, or even exhilarating. And a cold pool is one that isn’t used much. Which makes even the low amount of money spent on the pool and fence and water look like a bad investment. So it doesn’t take long after the initial swim before you start thinking “there’s got to be a way to warm up the water”. In the end, I came up with a fix that worked really well for me, wasn’t too expensive, and actually did warm up the pool, at least enough to make it worthwhile. The full story follows the picture of the finished project.
