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Real UK running costs, heat pump vs electric, and how much a solar cover actually saves.
A typical UK garden pool heated with an inverter heat pump costs around £300 to £600 per season in electricity. The same pool heated with a standard electric immersion heater can cost £1,500 to £2,000 or more over the same period, several times as much for the same result. Pairing a heat pump with a solar cover cuts running costs further still, since covering the pool overnight tackles evaporation, the single biggest source of heat loss.
Extending your swimming season from a few warm weeks to a full six months almost always comes down to one purchase: a properly sized heat pump. But “how much will it actually cost to run” is the question that decides whether that purchase makes sense, so here’s a straight answer, with the numbers behind it.
An inverter heat pump uses roughly 1 kW of electricity to deliver around 5 kW of heat, making it by far the most efficient way to warm a UK swimming pool. In practice, that means a typical pool costs around £300-£600 per season to heat with a heat pump, compared to £1,500-£2,000 or more with a standard electric immersion heater over the same period. Heat pumps cost more upfront, but for most UK gardens, the running-cost saving alone pays that difference back within two seasons.
Getting the size right matters as much as the running cost, an undersized heat pump will run constantly and still struggle to keep up. As a rough guide:
Add roughly 30% extra capacity if you’re not using a solar cover, since an uncovered pool loses heat faster and asks more of the pump to compensate. Get in touch with your pool’s dimensions for an exact recommendation.
Evaporation is the single biggest source of heat loss from an outdoor pool, and it happens fastest overnight when a pool’s left uncovered. A 500-micron solar cover can raise pool temperature by 4-8°C on its own and cuts evaporation by up to 95%, which is why pairing one with a heat pump makes such a difference to running costs rather than running the pump against an uncovered pool losing heat as fast as it’s added.
A few habits make a real difference to running costs beyond the equipment itself: cover the pool whenever it’s not in use, not just overnight, run the pump during the day when air temperature is highest rather than overnight, and keep the pump’s filter clean, restricted flow makes it work harder for the same result.
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