Chill Out This Summer With A Cool Pool

When's the last time you took a summer dip in a pool expecting refreshing cool water and ended up hotter than ever before? The gist of the science is that water gets hot when the sun excites its molecules, creating energy. It's the same principle as heating a pan of cool water on your stove. Throw some ice in your pan and the water cools off. Filling a pool with ice doesn't work well in a larger, commercial swimming pool. So how can you cool a pool that the sun or surrounding air temperature makes too warm to swim in?

Know Why Pools Stay Too Warm or Cool

You can help nature cool even a large commercial pool by using props like cabanas to shield your pool from the sun or by using a fountain that cools by moving the water around. It helps to understand why pools can stay too warm or too cool:

  • Inground pools stay warmer than above-ground pools due to the amount of insulating soil surrounding them.
  • Pools stay cooler at the bottom than at the top since the surface of the water absorbs more sunlight and air temperature.
  • Splashing water around keeps you cooler since water movement helps slow molecular energy which in turn cools the water.
  • Shallow water gets hot more quickly than deeper water since there's not so much water to get warm.
  • Pools are cooler first thing in the morning since there's no heat from the sun overnight for the water to absorb.

These aren't arbitrary tidbits of information. If you know why a pool would stay warmer or cooler, that's the first step to choosing whether a mechanical means or a more creative approach will help guests chill out and have a great swim when they need cooling off.

Why Cool a Hot Pool at All?

Although certain populations may enjoy a hot tub-like experience, if you're like most people you just want to feel cooled off in the summer. Most public pools are set at 78 to 88 degrees. That range allows for muscles to loosen up and not cramp up by swimming in water that's too cold. Public or hotel pools often have many guests swimming at one time so the water is always moving, cooling it off naturally.

Commercial use swimming pools usually benefit from a mechanical means of lowering a pool's temperature. A pool chiller or other evaporative cooler installed by your local HVAC professional contractor ensures that guests have good swim experiences and can be operated all day and all night as needed. For more information, contact commercial pool chilling services such as Environmental Air Systems Inc.


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