Heated pools, do they exist here? If not, why?

[jimi]

Hi,

Does anyone here know about a hotel, condominium or "bath house" (or similar) with a heated pool, in Chiang Mai? It's just that over the years I have stayed at quite a few different hotels and condominiums here, and come winter time, each and every swimming pool I have tried has been slightly too cold to be fully comfortable for me. And I just can't really understand why heated pools seem to be unheard of here.

Surely I can't be the only one who preferes swimming in near 30 C (~87 F) water? I can find pools of that kind super easy in most modern western countries, and several asian ones too (do I even need to mention Japan?). Not only small private family pools, but also hotel pools and public pools, and both indoor and outdoor pools.

What could possibly be the reason for the seamingly total absence of heated pools in Chiang Mai? "Unheated pools are warm enough" is not really a valid argument, since it makes assumtions about personal taste, or forgets that the winter time is the most likely time for visitors to come here. Not everyone likes cold pools, around 20-23 C (68-73 F). And belive me, this is not uncommon temperatures here this time of the year. At the condo I'm at currently, I took a swim a few weeks ago, and it felt really cold, and I wanted to get out after only about 5 minutes or so. Today it was a little bit better, but still not as warm as I want it to. I actually bought a thermometer today, just to check how cold it was, and it showed me that the water was 23 C.

Another possible argument could maybe be that it is too expensive to install and run a heating system. That is also somewhat of an invalid argument, if you ask me, since not even higher priced hotels here seem to be able to afford what low budget hotels and simple public bath houses can afford in western countries. Also, with all this sunny weather here, solar heating is a perfect solution, making the running cost very low. So even if one would think that the initial installation cost is too high (I can't really see why, though), the total cost per month over a longer time period would be very low.

Am I missing something?

P.S. I know I could buy a house and have my own heated pool. But I'm a city guy, and a nice house in the area I like seem to go for 15+ million baht, which is too high for my budget, considering it wouldn't be my primary residence. D.S.

[SwimmingPoolsThailand]

We offer solar swimming pool heating systems at prices comparable to those of traditional electric or gas-fired pool heaters.

Solar pool water heating costs nothing to run because it works off the existing pump although larger pools may need a small booster pump. We offer battery-free LORENTZ solar solutions for that too .

Check out the pool heaters on our web site and don't hesitate to contact our SwimmingPoolsThailand Chiang Mai branch for more details.

[IMHO]

I'm also like you - anything below about 28c and it's getting uncomfortably cold for me. My pool only went below 28c for 6 days this year though. I suspect that most pools in Thailand are like mine - maybe 1-2 weeks per year they drop into uncomfortable temps.

In Chiangmai/North maybe that's up to 4-6 weeks/year - even then, I guess it's hard to make a case for heating for such short durations of the year.

[Naam]

heated pools do exist in Thailand, e.g. mine is heated since years

-by using waste heat from an aircon which cools my pool area

and

-solar panels on the roof.

[sappersrest]

I agree especially here in the north, but, I get the impression talking to people they would rather not swim for a few weeks than lay out the money.Even though it is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of the pool. For those in the north I would ask your pool builder of the additional cost of a heating system at time of construction.

Don't forget pool heat retention covers as well.

A bonus with solar panels they can be used to get rid of heat at night if your pool gets to hot as Naam has stated in a previous article.

[SwimmingPoolsThailand]

Our Heliocol solar pool heating system can be installed in less than a day (for a medium sized domestic pool) by anyone who is agile enough to climb on the roof - if that's where the panels will be installed - and use a cordless power drill. No pool-specific or any other technical knowledge is required. See the installation video and discuss your requirement in our Chiang Mai store.

Edited February 20, 2016 by SwimmingPoolsThailand

[Naam]

Our Heliocol solar pool heating system can be installed in less than a day (for a medium sized domestic pool) by anyone who is agile enough to climb on the roof - if that's where the panels will be installed - and use a cordless power drill. No pool-specific or any other technical knowledge is required. See the installation video and discuss your requirement in our Chiang Mai store.

use a cordless power drill

...to drill holes in concrete roof tiles?

this is Thailand Dorothy, not Arkansas. but no worries! mounting the panels on a tiled roof can be done much easier than on a shingled US-roof by using stainless steel hooks (Ø 5mm, cost 60-80 Baht per hook) which go under the tile and hook into the steel structure. attaching a hook takes 25 seconds. required are 3-4 hooks per horizontal meter of panels.

Edited February 20, 2016 by Naam

[curtklay]

Dorothy was from Kansas, not Arkansas.

[Naam]

Dorothy was from Kansas, not Arkansas.

the Dorothy i referred to hails from Little Rock, AR. she's the wife of Bubba who owns the tire shop on the road leading to Fayetteville and not related to Dorothy from Kansas.

p.s. she's also better looking and has bigger knockers than the Kansas Dotty.

[fredge45]

Chiang Mai Solar has installed many very simple systems in the area... it isn't rocket science fr sure!

https://www.facebook.com/chiangmai.solar?fref=ts

[Naam]

On 2/20/2016 at 10:00 PM, curtklay said:

Dorothy was from Kansas, not Arkansas.

not the Dorothy i meant

[Naam]

On 2/21/2016 at 11:27 AM, fredge45 said:

Chiang Mai Solar has installed many very simple systems in the area... it isn't rocket science fr sure!

https://www.facebook.com/chiangmai.solar?fref=ts

these are hot water systems for homes. heating a pool with them is too expensive plus the panels can't take aggressive pool chemicals.