Running Your Pool on Solar in the Northern Rivers: Pump Timers, Solar Pool Heating, Pool Heat Pumps and How Much Solar They Need, With a Calculator

Checked and updated by our licensed electricians: October 2026

A pool is the one big load in a Northern Rivers home that wants to run in the middle of the day, which makes it the easiest thing on the property to power from your own roof and the worst thing to leave on an overnight timer. This guide, written by local electricians who size solar for pool homes every week, covers what the pump really uses and how to put it in the solar window, the three ways to heat a pool and what each asks of the electricity supply, how pool heat pumps are sized and what they draw, why the cover matters more than the heater, how we size solar for a pool home, where a battery fits (and does not), and the circuit and BASIX points for a new pool. We do not sell pool pumps, pool heaters or solar pool heating; a pool company does, and we make the roof carry them. The calculator at the top turns your pool, pump, hours and heating into kWh a day and the solar that covers it. No dollar figures: the kWh and your tariff give them.

On this page: The calculator: what your pool asks of the roof · The pump: the easiest solar load in the house · Timers, variable speed and the solar window · Heating a pool: solar collectors, heat pump or gas · Pool heat pumps: output, input and sizing · The cover · Sizing solar for a pool home · Where the battery fits (and does not) · New pools, BASIX and the circuit · What we do, and the referral · Questions we get asked

Pool on solar: calculator

Six or seven taps: pool size, pump, hours, heating (and how many months), cover and your solar. The result shows on screen straight away with the kWh a day and what it asks of the roof; sending it to your phone is optional.

The pump: the easiest solar load in the house

A filtration pump runs for hours every day of the year. A common single-speed pump of about 1 kW running six hours uses about 6 kWh a day, roughly a quarter of a typical household’s use, and consumer tests put average draws at about 0.5 kW for a 35 to 55 kL pool rising to about 1.6 kW for very large pools at six hours a day. The thing that makes it easy is that filtration depends on the total hours the water passes through the filter, not on when: a pump that runs at midnight and one that runs at midday clean the pool the same, and only one of them is paid for. On a roof making 3 to 6 kW at lunchtime, the pump disappears into the solar output.

Timers, variable speed and the solar window

• Timer: 10am to 3pm, or 9am to 4pm in summer if the pool needs the hours; SolarQuotes suggests running close to midday (about 11am to 1pm in winter, 10am to 3pm in summer), and a 6 kW or larger home system carries a typical pump except on heavily overcast days. That is also the off-peak window on Essential Energy’s time-of-use tariff, so even the grid share is cheap. Overnight running on an old off-peak circuit belongs to the era before solar.
• Variable speed: a variable-speed pump turning slowly for longer filters the same water for a fraction of the energy, because pump power falls with the cube of speed. A 5-star variable-speed pump can use about 55 per cent less than a 1-star single-speed pump; the Australian Government’s voluntary pool pump energy rating goes to 10 stars and the pool industry suggests 8 or more. Run it on low for the whole solar window.
• Export-triggered switching: a Sigenergy or GoodWe system can switch the pool circuit on only when the panels are exporting, so the pump follows the sun rather than the clock.
• Controlled load: Essential Energy’s Controlled Load 2 gives daytime windows at a low network rate for pool pumps in homes without solar; with solar, the normal circuit on a timer is better. See controlled load and time-of-use in the Essential Energy area.

Heating a pool: solar collectors, heat pump or gas

Many Northern Rivers pools run solar heating plus a cover and no heat pump and are comfortable from October to April; pools swum through the shoulder months usually want a heat pump. SolarQuotes’ view, which we share, is that where active heating is wanted, a heat pump has replaced gas as the sensible choice, and that the heating load belongs on the roof.

Pool heat pumps: output, input and sizing

Two numbers describe a pool heat pump. The heating output (kW of heat into the water) is what the pool company sizes; the rated power input (kW of electricity) is what we design the solar for, and it is the output divided by the coefficient of performance, which makers publish as a range (for example 0.28 to 1.55 kW of input for a 9 kW unit, 0.72 to 3.81 kW for a 24 kW unit, with COPs from about 10 in warm air down to 4.5 in cool air). Published COPs are at the maker’s test conditions; the pool industry’s own calculators warn they are often optimistic, so we plan on about 5.

Sizing rules of thumb disagree, which tells you how much climate and cover matter: about 0.4 to 0.7 kW of output per 1,000 litres with a cover and roughly double without, holding 28 degrees for about 10 hours a day (27 kW for a covered 40,000 L pool in Melbourne), or volume divided by 2,500 for extending the season with a cover (16 kW for the same pool). The Northern Rivers is warmer than either, so the lower figures apply here, and a draft Australian standard (AS 5352) is in the works for the sizing. For the roof, the arithmetic is simple: the heat the pool loses each day divided by the COP, which for a covered family pool here in the shoulder months is roughly 10 to 15 kWh of electricity a day (about double without a cover), run in daylight. The heat pump should run in the warm afternoon air (highest COP, quietest) and hold 27 to 28 degrees rather than 30.

The cover

Evaporation is the biggest heat loss from a pool, bigger than the walls or the night air, and a cover cuts it dramatically. That is why every heater sizing rule roughly halves for a covered pool, why BASIX certificates in NSW routinely commit an outdoor pool to a cover and a pump timer, and why the first question any pool heating company asks is whether you will use one. A cover also keeps leaves out, so the filtration can run fewer hours. If the choice is between a cover and a bigger heater, buy the cover.

Sizing solar for a pool home

1. Add the pool’s daytime kWh (pump kW x hours, plus heat pump input x hours in the heating months) to the house’s daytime use.
2. Size the roof for midday. Each kW of panels makes about 3.8 kWh on an average day here, about two thirds of it between 10am and 4pm; a pump alone is a kW or two of panels, a heat pump 3 to 4 kW more. Pool homes with a heat pump usually land on a 10 kW or larger system.
3. Put the pool on timers in that window so it never touches the battery or the evening peak.
4. Size the battery for the house, not the pool: the evening load is lights, cooking, screens and air conditioning.
5. Check the inverter and the phase: a 3 to 4 kW heat pump plus a pump plus the house is fine on single phase; add ducted air conditioning and an EV charger and it is worth a conversation.

Background: how big a solar system do I need?, the solar and battery price calculator and running air conditioning on solar and a battery.

Where the battery fits (and does not)

The battery’s job in a pool home is the same as in any other: carry the house through the evening and keep it running in a blackout. The pool should never be on the night schedule (a 1 kW pump overnight takes 8 kWh out of the battery for nothing) and rarely on the backup circuits; our whole-home backup installs can leave the pool circuit out so a storm does not drain the battery into the filter. What the battery does give a pool home is freedom: with the evening covered, the whole midday output can go to the pump and the heater without worrying about the export rate. See {a(“/whole-home-vs-essential-circuits-battery-backup”, “whole-home vs essential-circuits backup”)}.

New pools, BASIX and the circuit

In NSW a new swimming pool of 40,000 litres or more needs its own BASIX certificate, and the certificates we see commit the pool to being outdoors with a cover and a pump timer, often with no heating system or a capped volume. On the electrical side a pool needs a dedicated circuit with safety-switch protection for the pump (and another for a heat pump of 15 to 20 A or more), an isolator by the equipment, equipotential bonding of the pool shell and fittings, and the timer or the export-triggered contactor; we run these when we install the solar or at the switchboard upgrade. BASIX, solar and batteries for a new build covers the certificate.

What we do, and the referral

Sun Connect Solar is a solar, battery and EV charger electrical contractor. For a pool home we size the solar to carry the pump and the heat pump in the daytime, run the circuits, timers and bonding, set the battery to leave the pool alone and set up export-triggered switching where the system supports it. We do not sell or install pool pumps, pool heat pumps or solar pool heating; a pool company supplies and fits them and sizes the heater. If you tick the box in the calculator we pass your details to a local pool heating company we work with so they can quote, and we may receive a referral fee for the introduction, which does not change the price you pay. If you do not tick it, your details stay with us and we only send you the result and this guide.

Questions we get asked

How much electricity does a pool pump use?

Pool pumps run for hours every day, so they add up. A common single-speed pump of about 1 kW running 6 hours uses about 6 kWh a day; 8 hours, about 8 kWh. A variable-speed pump turning slowly for longer does the same filtration for a fraction of that: a 5-star variable-speed pump can use about 55 per cent less than a 1-star single-speed pump (Energy Matters), and consumer tests put typical draws at about 0.5 kW for a 35 to 55 kL pool rising to about 1.6 kW for very large pools. The filtration result depends on total daily hours, not when they fall, which is what makes a pool the easiest load in the house to run on solar.

When should the pool pump run if I have solar?

In the middle of the day. Set the timer for about 10am to 3pm (9am to 4pm in summer if it needs the hours), so the panels run the pump directly and nothing is stored or bought for it. A variable-speed pump on a low speed can run the whole solar window at a few hundred watts. On the Essential Energy time-of-use tariff the 10am to 3pm window is also the off-peak, and a Sigenergy or GoodWe system can switch the pool circuit on only when the panels are exporting. Never run the pump off the battery at night: it is a daytime load.

Can my solar panels run a pool heat pump?

In the middle of the day, yes, if the system is sized for it. A pool heat pump is a 1.5 to 4 kW electrical load (its heating output is several times that) running six or more hours a day in the shoulder months, so a medium family pool with a cover adds roughly 10 to 15 kWh a day of daytime load while it is heating, more without a cover. That is about 3 to 4 kW of solar on top of what the house needs. The calculator on this page gives the figure for your pool; the pool heating company sizes the heat pump, and we size the roof.

Solar pool heating or a pool heat pump?

Different tools. Solar pool heating (roof collectors or mats) uses the sun’s warmth directly: a small circulation pump of about 0.3 kW pushes water through the collectors while the sun is out, so it costs little electricity and warms the pool a few degrees for free on sunny days, but it cannot hold a temperature and does little in cloud or cool weather. A pool heat pump moves heat from the air into the water at a ratio of about 5 to 1 and will hold 28 degrees for a long season, at the cost of a real electrical load that your solar should carry. Many Northern Rivers pools use solar heating with a cover and no heat pump; pools swum from September to May usually want a heat pump. A pool company supplies and fits either; we make the roof carry it.

How big a pool heat pump do I need?

The pool heating industry uses rules of thumb that disagree: about 0.4 to 0.7 kW of heating output per 1,000 litres with a cover (roughly double without), or the simpler volume divided by 2,500 for extending the season with a cover, which gives 16 kW for a 40,000 L pool against 27 kW from the first rule in a Melbourne climate. The Northern Rivers is warmer, so the lower end applies here, and a cover matters more than any other choice because evaporation is the main heat loss. The electrical input is the heating output divided by the coefficient of performance (about 5 in warm air), so a 16 kW heater draws about 3 kW. A pool heating company does the sizing; we take the input kW and the running hours into the solar design.

Does a pool cover really matter?

More than anything else. Evaporation is the biggest heat loss from a pool, and a cover cuts it dramatically, which is why the sizing rules roughly halve the heater for a covered pool and why BASIX certificates in NSW routinely require an outdoor pool to have a cover and a pump timer. A cover also keeps leaves out, which lets the filtration run fewer hours. If you heat a pool without a cover, the solar system that carries it is noticeably bigger.

Should the pool be on the battery backup?

Usually not. A pool pump and heater are daytime loads with no need to run in a blackout, and a 1 kW pump running overnight would take 8 kWh out of a battery for nothing. Our installs back up the whole home by default and can leave the pool circuit out; on a time-of-use tariff the pool runs in the midday off-peak window on the panels and the battery is kept for the evening.

Does Sun Connect Solar install pool pumps or pool heaters?

No. We are solar, battery and EV charger electricians. We size the solar system to carry the pump and the heat pump in the daytime, run the dedicated circuits and timers, set the battery to leave the pool alone, and set up export-triggered switching if your system supports it. Pool pumps, pool heat pumps and solar pool heating are supplied and fitted by a pool company. If you tick the box in the calculator we pass your details to a local pool heating company we work with so they can quote the heater, and we may receive a referral fee for the introduction, which does not change your price; otherwise your details stay with us.

Sources

SolarQuotes, “How do I run my pool pump on solar power?” (timer close to midday; grid-connected solar vs a dedicated DC pump), “Solar tips to stop pool pumps draining money” and its pool energy article (filtration vs heating, heat pump over gas); Energy Matters, solar pool pump guide and “Can you power and heat your pool with solar” (1 kW pump for 4 hours about 4 kWh; 5-star variable speed about 55 per cent less than 1-star; filtration depends on total hours); Canstar Blue pool pump energy table (17 pumps, four makers, September 2024); Astral Pool and Zodiac pool pump and heat pump sizing guides (volume / 2,500 rule; volts x amps method; 8-star recommendation); Heater and Spa Parts pool heat pump size calculator (0.4 to 0.7 kW per 1,000 L covered, 10 hours a day, Melbourne example; COP caution); Madimack published specifications (InverECO Plus and InverElite V4 input power and COP ranges); Australian Government pool pump voluntary energy rating; NSW BASIX sample certificates (pool cover, timer, 40,000 L threshold); Clark Rubber on how solar pool heating works; AS/NZS 3000 as applied by licensed electricians (pool circuits and bonding); draft AS 5352 (heat pump pool heater sizing). Full list in our research note. Checked October 2026.

More from Sun Connect Solar

• More free solar and battery guides
• All our free solar and battery calculators
• How big a solar system do I need?
• Running air conditioning on solar and a battery
• Smart meters, controlled load and time-of-use in the Essential Energy area
• BASIX, solar and batteries for a new build
• Northern Rivers home battery buyer’s guide
• Residential solar in the Northern Rivers