Get more from your pool
Pool lights are a great way to get more out of your pool. They can:
- allow you to use the pool day or night
- provide a nighttime entertainment area
- change the mood, go from relaxed to entertaining with the touch of a button
- Add elegance to the whole deck area
- They can dramatically improve safety around the pool at night
There are many different types of pool lights available on the market today. When you have decided on the ambience and how you want to use your pool there is a pool lighting system to fit what you are looking for.
There are two main types of pool lights: underwater and above-ground.
- Underwater lights are generally more expensive but they offer a more sleek, elegant look to your pool area.
- Above-ground lights, on the other hand, can be cheaper and provide an attractive lighting effect that is perfect for parties or nighttime swimming sessions with friends.
Best Practices for Pool Lighting
– What You Need to Know about pool lighting systems
- Call a professional. There are a lot of options to consider for pool lighting, including colored lights, or white lights. How bright you want the lights. Placement of your pool lights if you have a new installation. Do you want automation and does that automation work with any existing automation?
- Avoid the DIY mentality. Installing a pool lighting system means you will be putting electricity and water together, and then jumping into it. So it has to be up to code, and done correctly to be safe.
- Buy from brand names, we are certified dealers for Hayward, Pentair two of the top manufacturers of pool lighting systems. Looking at off brand names or low quality alternatives may save money in the short run, but repair of a lighting system is expensive if even possible. So the money you save in the short run may end up costing you more, maybe a lot more in the long run.
- Budget for lighting, If you’re building or designing your pool, make sure lighting is in the budget. This is the best possible time to install or at least prepare the installation for the system you want. Once the pool is built adding another light is usually not an option.
- You can have too many lights. Think about the atmosphere you would like to create. You can have soft lighting, lighting that is more geared to safety, think about how you will use your pool at night. If you have too many lights, the pool can feel uninviting, producing a glare that is annoying to you and the neighbors. On top of that you’ll be wasting energy. Where a pool is concerned, don’t go for overkill, less is often better. This leads into the next point.
- Use the right strength of light. Depending on the position of your pool’s lights requires different power levels to do an adequate job of lighting the pool. In general if lighting the length of the pool use a more powerful light at least 65 watts. When lighting steps or the width, use a less powerful type of light around 17 watts. Using less power will result in your pool light creating too many shadows and dark areas. Using too much may produce too much glare, and is a waste of energy.
- Exterior lighting, take the exterior lighting around the pool into account. You want to be able to find the pool, without tripping over something, but that lighting should not detract from the lighting in the pool. Exterior lighting can have a huge impact on the feeling and look of your pool’s lighting. It can wash it out, diminish the effect you’re going for.
- Indulge yourself. There are some ways to cut back on lighting expenses, but putting in the pool lighting package you want will allow you to enjoy your pool more, create your backyard oasis and feel like you’ve made a great decision over the long run.
The Top 5 Features to Consider When Buying a Pool Light
- How will you use the pool
- How do you plan to use the pool and who will use the pool? If you are planning for kids or a lot of guests, then safety lighting should be a priority over ambience.
- If the pool will be used at night as an accent to the patio, or a quiet place to relax, choose pool lighting that will produce that feeling of relaxation and calm.
- Entertaining the lighting should include automation to be able to change colors, work with music, and still provide a level of safety.
- Features You Want to Highlight
- Do you have a specific feature in the pool that you would like to highlight, something that just pulls the whole area together. It might be something you’re not thinking of right now. For instance, maybe the pool deck is somewhat plain, but outside the screen is a palm, adding a light to the palm could change the whole feeling of the deck at night.
- Coordinate Colors
- What colors and where. Even if the lights can change color you’ll want to think about how that will affect the look and feel of the pool deck area and the pool.
- Automation
- Depending on the brand, automation can be simple or very involved. Today most new automation systems can connect to your phone and provide instructions, ideas how to light your pool. They can run on timers, be accessed from off site and include other features like waterfalls or fountains.
- Energy Efficiency
- The more efficient your system is, the cheaper it will be to operate. In most cases the lights offered from the major manufactures will be LEDs Many of the older systems still use incandescent lighting, and this is something that can be changed. A big advantage of the LEDs are they produce more light at a much lower energy cost. They also tend to last a little longer.
How Much Should You Spend on Your Pool Lighting System?
A pool lighting system can cost as much as 10,000 with all of the bells and whistles, including automation or it can cost in the hundreds. Like almost everything it comes down to what you want and can afford. Most anything you can think of is available or can be done.
When considering your budget and this includes renovations or new installations a key determinant of the cost is how many lights you will be installing. Short of the automation this is the biggest cost for the pool lighting system.
Labor to install or replace tends to be a low percentage of the overall cost. Most of what you will pay for in labor is replacing the power wires to the light. If you are just changing bulbs then this is not a factor and usually you will not be charged more than one hour to replace a lamp.
Keep in mind that changing a lamp on a pool is more involved than changing a light bulb in the house. The lamp in the pool has to be unsealed and then resealed to prevent water from entering the connections. In most cases the pool will need to be drained to allow changing of the fixtures, none of this is very hard or complicated, but it takes time. This is why the minimum charge for changing a bulb is usually 1 hour. And of course the cost per hour of labor is dependent on your location. $150/hour is a good working number though.
Automation can also be a big budget item. The more features the more the cost is a good rule of thumb.
Pool Masters is an authorized warranty and service center for Hayward and Pentair Manufactures
Pentair LED pool lights add inviting elegance to your swimming pool or spa
