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It's a fact - most swimming pools are never at optimal swimming temperatures, and while much of the time the cold shock of the water can be an exciting part of the fun, it's also great to have the option to warm things up a little. This is where swimming pool heat pumps come in - they're an opportunity to invest in your home while adding to the fun of family memories, as the kids will never want to leave the healthy fun of the water behind.

Now, to be clear - swimming pool heat pumps don't make their own heat. Rather, they use electricity to catch heat and shift it from one place to another. The swimming pool's water is circulated through the pump, and as it does so the heat pump's fan draws in outside air, sucking it onto an evaporator coil, which holds a quantity of liquid refrigerant. This refrigerant substance becomes a warm gas when it absorbs the air, passing through a compressor and growing hotter as it's squeezed more tightly in its container.

Passing then through a condenser, which transfers the gas's heat to the cooler water coming from the other end of the heater device, the gas returns to liquid, and goes back to the evaporator to repeat the cycle. The water returns to the pool, dispersing through it and adding to the pool's overall warmth.

All science aside, essentially what swimming pool heat pumps represent is a more energy efficient solution to the problem of keeping your pool warm year-round. They work better than other in ground pool heaters, such as those involving solar paneling, because they're less seriously affected by changes in weather and the absence of direct sunlight. While they cost initially more than gas pump heating solutions, their long term cost is less due to their higher efficiency levels, in addition to which they have a significantly longer life span.

The biggest concern when installing swimming pool heat pumps is whether the job's being done by a qualified professional - obviously any device involving gas and heat coils is not one you want poorly installed, especially if you have kids running around. Also, proper installation can optimize the functionality of the pump.

Even then, the prospect of a swimming pool heat pump running for hours a day is one that most people would find a little financially intimidating. You need to establish, prior to any installation, whether you're earning enough to pay the deficit your kids might create running the pump unchecked - the bills could start stacking up pretty quickly. One thing you may want to do is take a look at pump timers, that will switch the pump off if it runs for too long.