Table of Contents
Take a moment to think about how much relief a pool can bring during both unpleasantly hot and cold weather. There are few things as enjoyable as lowering yourself into a heated pool on crisp autumn nights. Likewise, the feeling of jumping into refreshingly cool water during the summer heat is almost indescribably wonderful. But while everyone knows heaters can warm up a pool, it’s often harder to cool it. However, you might have heard someone asking, do pool fountains cool water? The answer to that question can change your pool experiences for the better.
How Do Fountains Cool Pool Water?
Do pool fountains actually impact your pool’s temperature? The simple answer to that is an emphatic yes.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that modern pool fountains come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Not to mention that fountains can operate in several ways. All of these options can impact the total effect on your pool’s temperature.
Pool fountains cool water by increasing the water’s exposure to the air, otherwise known as aeration.
If you’ve hiked much in areas with rivers and creeks, you might have noticed that the air tends to get a little colder as you approach those moving bodies of water. This is something that you don’t feel to nearly the same extent with placid bodies of water like ponds. The reason rivers run cooler is that moving water increases the rate of evaporation. And evaporation has a cooling effect. This is also why people use pool covers to increase a pool’s temperature. Blocking evaporation stops the normal cooling effect provided by evaporation.
All pool fountains essentially increase the cooling effects of evaporation by emulating the same effect seen in natural streams. Water moves through the fountain and is exposed to the air. The evaporative effect then cools the water on the way down as it returns to the pool. Without the fountain effect, only the surface of your pool’s water would be exposed to the air and is relatively static.
A fountain forces air to mix with the water and, while doing so, the air molecules attach to the water molecules and evaporate.
Tips and Tricks With Water Fountains
The discussion around pool fountains usually begins with someone asking do pool fountains cool water. But given the straightforward positive answer to that question, it’d be better approached by asking how to maximize a fountain’s impact.
How can you make sure that you’re getting the best possible cooling effect from a pool fountain?
If you’re considering fountains before building your pool, then you’ve already got one solid advantage. The fiberglass vs concrete pools debate will probably never have a single definitive answer. Both have advantages and disadvantages. But people concerned about temperature should keep in mind that concrete provides better insulation.
If you’re still in the planning stages, then it’s also a good idea to consider how to heat a swimming pool as well as cool it. Even the warmest areas will have cold spells. And if you plan for both extremes, you can rest assured that you’ll be getting the most out of your pool-related investments.
You should also think about how many fountains you want to install in your pool. If you run a pool fountain long term, you’ll see temperatures drop by around two to four degrees. What’s more, this effect can actually scale. So consider what kind of impact you’d see if you were running multiple pool fountains at once. The upper limit really just comes down to the size of your pool. The larger the pool, the more benefit you’ll get from adding more fountains. This is due to the fact that a single fountain hits a greater percentile of total water volume in a small pool compared to a larger one.
You should also keep in mind that the increased evaporation from a fountain can raise pH and impact chlorine levels.
You can minimize evaporative loss while maximizing cooling by running the fountains at night. The additional chill of night air will provide a lot of extra cooling power.
Budgeting for the Ultimate Swimming Experience
You might assume that anything which adds both aesthetic value and comfort to your pool-owning experience would come at a significant cost. And it’s true that there are some important and often easy-to-miss expenditures. For example, fountains introduce mechanical parts which need to remain in operation for an extended period. This translates into increased pool maintenance costs as the machinery succumbs to wear and tear. And some types of fountains, such as fixed centerpiece fountains, are inherently more expensive than others.
But you absolutely can plan for those expenses with a pool loan. The most important point to keep in mind is that it’s important to be realistic about expenses. You want to make sure that you’re picking options you’ll appreciate long term.
Where To Go From Here
Now that you know the basic facts about pool fountains, it’s time for the next step. You need to decide whether you want a fountain and which type would be the best fit for your pool. You should also consider whether or not you need heating as well as cooling options.
