Pool Heating – What’s the Difference?

One of the biggest mistakes guests make when shopping for an Orlando vacation rental is assuming that all properties are the same.

“It’s just a place to sleep,” some will say. “Why worry about any differences?”

There is some truth to this, if you’re never going to spend any time at your vacation rental. But even if you’re only sleeping there you still likely want it to have good quality beds, sheets and blankets; and above all else, be clean.

Speaking from decades of experience, when it comes to vacation rentals, many of the things that are important to guests aren’t noticed or needed, until they’re not there! It’s when a vacation rental doesn’t have the things a guest expects, or is below standards in one way or another, that they become important.

Vacation rentals actually can be very different from each other, in many ways, and inevitably the quality of what a guest experiences all comes down to the owner, the standards they set for their properties, and what they want for their guests.

Perhaps this is best explained with an example. Here is a great one for this topic… pool heating.

“Pool heating is pool heating, isn’t it? The pool is either warm or not, right? How can pool heating be different between properties?” a guest may ask.

A great question! Let’s take a look at Pool Heating at Breezy Oak Villas, and compare it to the norm for Orlando Vacation Rentals.

Cost

The average charge for Pool Heating in Orlando is $25 per night. As of this writing, we charge $22 per night. Some places charge as much as $40 to even $60 per night. The rates have nothing to do with the cost of providing the service, but are often based on what the owner or manager thinks they can get the guest to pay for it per night. Having high pool heating rates is one way that some make up for having lower rental rates than they want. Usually it’s part of having a low room rate, but then making it up with exorbitant extra fees and charges.

Seasonal Rates

Just as we do for our rental charges, our Pool Heating Charge varies with the season. During winter months, it is $22 per night, but during summer months, it’s half price; $11 per night. Why? Because it is easier and less expensive for us to heat the pool during the summer months, so our rates reflect it. That can save you almost $100 per week on your summer stays with us. (Or you can choose to not have the pool heated at all if you prefer.)

Performance

It is impossible for anyone to guarantee a particular pool water temperature, as the temperature the water can get to is dependent upon a variety of factors, aside from the pool heater. One of the most important is the outside air temperature. If it is only 40º outside the pool is likely not going to be comfortable to swim that day. This is usually never an issue, as just about no one wants to go swimming when it is 40º outside!

The vast majority of pool heaters in the Orlando area are heat pumps. These are very energy efficient units which gently warm the water by concentrating heat out of the air. But if there is little heat energy in the air, there isn’t much to concentrate, making it much harder for the heater to warm the water. What this means in practice is that most heat pump pool heaters can warm the pool water to a maximum of 15º above the air temperature. In fact, if you check, you’ll see that many Orlando vacation rentals state this in their fine print.

At Breezy Oak Villas, all of our pool heaters are the same brand, type and model. It makes it easier for us to maintain them. They are manufactured in Florida by a great, reputable company, and parts are always easily available. Most importantly, our pool heaters are oversized – meaning they are rated to heat a pool twice as big as our pools. Sure this costs more, but it makes our guests happy. It means that our heaters can heat more water faster.

And they can warm it up to 30º F above the ambient air temperature. That’s twice as much as most vacation rental pools!

Daily Operating Window

Because pool heaters concentrate heat energy from the air, it makes sense to run them when the air is the warmest… between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. So this is when many Vacation Rental Pool heaters are scheduled to run.

Our pool heaters start running at 8:00 AM and finish at 6 or 7:00 PM each day. That means the pool eater will be at temperature sooner during the day, and stay warm longer into the evening, so you can enjoy a nice evening swim when you get back from the theme parks at night.

Professional Maintenance – Times Two

Our pools are serviced weekly by companies that only do pool service.

Many Orlando vacation rental pools are serviced by their property managers, and that’s not the best approach. We want our pools serviced by technicians who only have one focus – the quality of our pool water. If you have a thousand other responsibilities all vying for your attention, like all property managers do, at some point somebody’s pool is going to lose out to an emergency situation that requires handling now!

Not only do our pool techs get to focus on what they do best, we have more than one company that services our properties. Why? So that we always have quick access to a backup if one is needed. The truth is, over the long term, something bad is bound to happen some time. Smart managers understand this, and have bench strength. We have good, ongoing relationships with multiple trades who are working for us all the time, so we always have someone available to call when we need them. This means that service issues are going to be handled in a way that minimizes guest inconvenience.

Heater Temperature Setting – 89º

Pool Heaters are on thermostats, so they heat the water until it reaches the temperature the thermostat is set to, and then hold it there by coming on to add more heat only when needed. They keep working to heat the water, and then hold it at that temperature, until the scheduled time for them to shut down for the night. Setting the pool heater to a higher temperature will NOT make the water heat up faster! The heater always heats as much as it can, until the desired temperature is reached.

Many area pool heaters are set to a maximum temperature of 78º. Other’s are set to 82º because that is the temperature that Walt Disney World sets their resort pools to.

We set our pool heaters to 89º and they reach it faster than most others. Why? Because I’m not well insulated, which makes me a sucker for warm pool water and that’s the way I like it. And I think that our guests will like it too.

When a guest arrives at the villa for the first time, and walks out on our beautiful pool deck, bends down and puts their hand in the water, it feels absolutely fantastic! It puts a smile on their face. And that’s what I want.

Pool System Control

The vast majority of pools in the Orlando area run on an electric mechanical timer, like an old clock. Assuming the power hasn’t gone out (so the clock still has the correct time) a switch gets clicked and the pool pump and heater fire up in the morning, and then click off in the afternoon.

Breezy Oak Villa Pools are controlled with a lot more sophistication. The timing isn’t mechanical, it’s an electronic clock which keeps the correct time (verifying it using the internet) even if the power goes out. The system controls the temperature the heater is set to. It also controls and monitors the pool pump, the majority of which at our properties are ultra-high efficiency variable speed pumps which actually run a variety of different cycles and speeds during the day.

This is done to ensure the pool water gets properly churned, (even if no one is using the pool) making sure any dirt gets sent to and caught by the filter, and that the entire pool water volume runs through the filter four times a day. These are ‘smart’ pumps which actually monitor water flow, and will increase the rate if it drops for any reason. This means, for example, if the filter starts to get clogged, affecting the flow, the pump will increase the volume of water running to compensate, ensuring all of the water gets filtered as desired.

The system monitors the water and air temperature and can show me a graph each day of the water temperature as it changes. At any time, I can look on my personal phone, no matter where I am in the world, and see how the system is performing, with detailed reporting; like the actual speed (RPM) of the pump, the flow (gallons per minute) it is moving, and electrical consumption in watts. If needed for any reason, I can change the pump programming and heater settings remotely. And the system sends me text message alerts if it detects anything going wrong. This allows me to monitor, and take action if needed, so that our guests enjoy the most carefree pool experience possible.

But wait! There’s more! (Just like an old-style infomercial… remember those?)

Even with the sophisticated pool control systems we use, they have their limitations. They only provide data in real time, and while they may control what the pool heater is supposed to do, they can’t report back on the performance of the heater. This means they could be telling the heater to heat the water, but there would be no way to immediately know if the water actually is being heated until later when it is discovered that it hadn’t actually warmed up. This limitation in monitoring affects almost every pool in Florida.

In order to elevate the level of reporting for our pool systems, and especially the heater, we decided a better monitoring, reporting and recording system was needed. So we adapted technology created for the retail and food services industry for mission-critical control and monitoring of refrigerators and freezers to ensure food is being kept at the correct temperature at all times. With the addition of digital sensor probes strategically placed in the pool system pipes, these high-tech systems record the pool water temperature, the outside air temperature, and the temperature of the water coming out of the heater that is being supplied to the pool. It is displayed online for us in real time, refreshing every three seconds. In addition, these three data points are logged every fifteen minutes, every day, 24 hours per day. The system gives us remote access to download the log from anywhere so we can review exact historical weather information and performance of the pool heater for up to eight months into the past!

If there is a problem, we can often be aware of it and take action on it before the guest is even aware of it!

Does this all make a difference?

Our high end pool systems provide a wide range of benefits, both for ourselves and our guests. Truthfully, most guests will never be aware of them. They’ll simply enjoy a great experience where “everything just worked as it was expected” and “the pool heating was great!” without knowing everything that went into making it happen.

The same care, planning, preparation, work and investment has gone into our pool systems has been applied to as many aspects of our vacation rental villa experience as possible. There are so many things that we do that are above and beyond the norm, because it provides our guests with a better experience. Plus, after setup, it almost always means less work, hassle and problems for us, so it becomes a win-win for everyone.

We have made significant investment in our properties in order to provide our guests with the best, most reliable and enjoyable experience possible. Does it cost more? Yes! The bottom line is that it all makes a real difference in the quality of what we can and do provide for our guests.

We’re not out to be the most expensive, or the least, but instead to provide a quality experience at the best value. Our guests repeatedly tell us on their guest exit surveys that we do that all the time. It’s gratifying for us to have our efforts rewarded by their kind words.

I hope it is something that you can experience yourself soon as well!

Robert, your host at Breezy Oak Villas