Nighttime swimming should be pleasant in the coming weeks and months now that summer has arrived, and heating your swimming pool shouldn’t be a problem. However, if you want to see what’s in your pool at night, you’ll need to ensure it’s well-lit.
Adding a swimming pool is a great way to improve your home’s aesthetic appeal. Furthermore, it’s a great place to spend quality time with the family. It’s also perfect for throwing a pool party or hosting a BBQ for your loved ones. Having a swimming pool also means you may spend as much or as little time as you want exercising your whole body.
Knowing that you may swim whenever you choose, day or night, is important to get the most out of your pool. Choosing the right lighting fixtures for your pool area is an important part of this.
There are both direct and indirect advantages to properly executing the lighting. Find out what they are and receive some helpful pointers on designing and installing lighting for both above ground pool and in-ground swimming pool.
Light the Pool Deck
Removing footwear and laying down a towel on the patio or pool deck before a nighttime swim is common practice. For this reason, it is important to have enough lighting all around your patio or deck. Ground lighting between the deck and the pool area improves safety and convenience. In addition, it aids in preventing anything from being accidentally bumped, walked on, or pushed over. Steps on your deck or patio should be well-lit to prevent visitors from falling.
Add Lights Around Your Pool
Putting up lighting fixtures around the pool’s perimeter is another option for enhancing safety. It improves safety by making it easier to see any debris or stray toys that could have been left behind. The pool’s periphery may be better lit with the aid of wide-angle lights. In addition, if any of your guests would rather not swim but still participate in the conversation, you may make them feel more included by placing lights around the perimeter.
Internally Light Your Pool
An LED light installed within the pool is a need. An LED light may illuminate the pool’s interior without being too harsh on the eyes. Much more customization is possible with the addition of colored lighting. You may divide up your pool into smaller areas. Highlight the shallow end with one hue, the deep end with another, and the hot tub with still another!
Use Different Types of Pools
The advancement of lighting technology has resulted in many alternatives for consumers. There are two primary lighting options to consider when designing a swimming pool. Cost and energy efficiency are always at the forefront when deciding on the ideal lighting fixtures for a pool.
Incandescent bulbs were the standard for interior and external lighting in homes for decades. Nevertheless, recent research has shown they are wasteful due to their high energy use and limited lifetime. With their introduction, more energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs quickly replaced incandescent lights as the industry standard.
Two newer forms of pool lighting, however, have caught on:
1. Using halogen bulbs
When halogen lights were introduced, they quickly became the industry standard for pool lighting, replacing incandescent lamps. Compared to traditional incandescent bulbs, halogens are superior in terms of efficiency, lifespan, and benign environmental impact.
Nevertheless, they are twice as costly as standard fluorescent lights, which is a drawback. Its usual lifetime is between 2,000 and 4,000 hours, which means they need to be replaced often while being more long-lasting than incandescent bulbs. Because of these drawbacks, they are no longer a recommended method of lighting for pools.
2. The Use of LEDs
LED, or light-emitting diode, lighting has changed the illumination landscape, not only in the pool industry. LED light bulbs are the most cost-effective option since they last the longest (sometimes more than twice as long as CFLs) and use the least energy per unit of light produced.
A LED light uses just six watts of power to create the same amount of light (in lumens) as a 100-watt halogen bulb. Due to the use of heat sinks, LED lights may be operated while still feeling cool to the touch. They are safe to use since they do not contain mercury and can withstand freezing temperatures.
Energy-saving accessories like dimmers and sensors can be added to LEDs in the same way that they can to CFLs. Because of this, they may be used effectively as both interior and outdoor illumination. They have a low total cost of ownership because of their long service life (average of 50,000 hours) and low replacement frequency. This is why LED pool lights have become popular and are considered the finest option for brand-new pools.
Keep Your Pool Lighting Clean
After making sure the lights are on, examine their quality. The illumination ought to be crisp and brilliant. If this is not the case, a good cleaning is in need. The lens cover and light fixtures may collect chemical residue, germs, and algae. Cleaning may save you a ton of money and time. You can easily clean the area by taking off the light fixture.
These are the easy procedures you need to take to clean your pool lights:
- Turn off the light’s power source entirely.
- Take the lamp down a notch and unscrew the screws.
- Raise the illumination to the water’s surface.
- Remove the lamp from the water and clean the lens. Make sure the lens is clean and free of any buildup. Take care to avoid spoiling the lens.
- Reconnect the electrical components, reattach the screws, and reinstall the light in the fixture.
- After cleaning, you may turn the lights back on and enjoy them.
How to calculate how many pool lights you’ll need
Take into consideration the following to determine the precise number of lights required for the pool area of your home:
- Size and form of the swimming area.
- What do you have now for lights around your pool?
- What do you envision in terms of color scheme and pool design?
More lighting would be needed for a larger pool than a smaller one. More lighting, not only around the pool, may be necessary if your home is in a forested or rural region with fewer natural light sources. If you have small children, pets, and elderly relatives living with you, this will help limit the number of incidents that occur in your home.
It is also important to consider the pool’s design so that all areas are adequately illuminated. The same holds for a shower area and spa. Put some additional bulbs near the pool’s walkways and stairs for safety.
Make sure the pool area is well-lit at night, especially if you want to emphasize certain architectural details or water features.
Conclusion
So long! Clear optics and water will make your pool sparkle like a crystal during those late-night summer swims. You may enjoy your pool’s illumination features even if you don’t swim at night throughout the summer. If you’re confused about how to keep your pool well-lit, you could even consider hiring a pool company.
