To extend the swimming season after summer has come and gone, many people are turning to swimming pool heaters. A pool heater is great to have, especially on cooler days. If you’ve thought about buying a heater for your swimming pool, there are probably a lot of things that you’ve found yourself wondering.

When using a pool heater, you can adjust the temperature of your pool water to virtually any level that you’re comfortable with. The recommended temperature for a pool is 78 degrees, although most people prefer to have their water just a bit warmer, around 80 degrees. The choice is up to you, as you can’t really go wrong with either of the two.

During the year, the sun can only get your pool water so hot for a somewhat brief period of time. When summer ends and things start to cool off, your heater can help you make the swimming season last longer. If you live in the north, you can actually double your swimming season. Those living in warmer climates, such as Arizona and California can actually triple the amount of swimming time by using a heater with their pool.

Even though you may be using a swimming pool heater, you should still invest in a swimming pool cover, as well. A cover can help to protect against loss of heat from the pool, holding the heat of the water inside the pool instead of letting it out. The fact is, a good cover that has plenty of insulation can actually reduce the amount of heat loss you experience with your water.

There are a few different types of swimming pool heaters available, although gas fired pool heaters running off LP gas seem to be the most common. Heaters such as this are easily the least expensive to buy and also the cheapest to run over time. Oil is another way to heat your pool and it’s common in areas where you are unable to buy gas fired heaters. Other pools owners choose to run heaters off electricity. Electricity is a great way to heat your pool, although it can easily be the most expensive to run and take the most amount of time to properly maintain.

Last but not least, there’s the solar swimming pool heater. Solar pool heaters may sound like the ideal way to heat a pool for some, simply because it uses the sun to heat the water, helping to save money. Even though it may sound like the ideal way to heat a pool, it actually has quite a few disadvantages when you compare it to other types of heaters. You’ll discover one flaw when you go to purchase one - you’ll see that they are generally more expensive.

Even though solar swimming pool heaters sound the best, they may not be. To get the most out of a solar powered pool heater, you’ll also need to have an electric pump. The pump delivers the water from your pool to the solar panels, which will in turn heat up the water. Once you’ve finished setting up a solar powered swimming pool heater, you’ll have invested more money in it to get it set up and working properly.

In the world of swimming pool heaters, gas fired heaters seem to be the best and most cost efficient ways to heat a swimming pool. These heaters can be purchased locally, or online. They won’t cost you a lot of money to purchase, and they are very user friendly. Even if you are new to swimming pool heaters - you won’t have any trouble using your new gas fired pool heater.