Villa Pool Heating @ Highlands Reserve

[Harry and Jayne]

On the subject of pool heaters. We were lucky enough to have a home in the UK with a pool. The heater was gas powered and extremely efficient, it would heat pool as required on demand. I have stayed in about a dozen Florida villas all with electric heaters which is the norm and have found the heaters to be pretty inneficient. They take a few days from switching on to get temperature up and during the winter months when we normally holiday we find that we can never quite get the pool warm enough (yes we are wimps). Apparently this is due to the way the heater works. It extracts heat from the surrounding air and converts to energy to heat pool, a bit like a fridge in reverse. Problem is the colder the air temp is the less efficient the heater becomes.
I also believe that if the air temp drops below around 52 degrees they don't work at all!!! So the colder it gets the less efficient the heater is, seems to defeat the object to me!!!
I suspect that this is probably one of the most commom complaints to management companies and owners, that the pool heater did not appear to be working properly, understandable really when you have paid out good money for heated pool and it still seems cold.

Harry

[Cruella DeVilla]

What month are you actually going in, Pool heat is recomended from November to April really.
100 pound per week seems about the average. I would imagine TCD make a little out of it.

[heathercobbett]

Harry, we have an electrically heated pool that positively steams in thr winter.We set our heat higher than the norm all winter as I am a wimp and like my pool really warm

[ringwood1]

If you don't have the heating it could spoil your enjoyment of the villa which would be an awful shame when you have spent so much on your holiday. Saying that is it possible for the heating to be turned off and your money refunded if the pool is too warm. We stayed in a villa in February and had a gas heated pool and it was the best thing we did, the children spent all their free time in the pool and we even swam late at night. Fiona

[rogergood]

jaycee,

We charge £90 per week for pool heating in our villa and that does include spa(Jacuzzi) heating. The pool may take about 8 hours to heat up but it is very warm. The jacuzzi is brilliant and takes about one and a half hours to reach the optimum temperature. We have just come back from our villa and the pool was nice and warm and the outside air temperature was mostly in the 60's. However, £120 sounds expensive to me but I suppose if you go through a travel agent there will always be people taking their cut!!

Roger

[caroline]

Harry, like you we're wimps - like many other owners we have a gas heater on our pool in the US and it's gets lovely and warm, touch wood w've never had a complaint about it being too cold in 4 years, although one family did say they were tempted to take soap and a face flannel in[msnwink]

[Madabouttigger]

I have just returned form Regal Palms resort, the resort accross the road from Highland Reserve, the 2 complexes have an agreement the guests from both complexes can share the facilities from both resorts, Regal Palms has a very warm pool with lazy river and slide, so if your pool is too cold you can always go over and use theres!

Diane.

[brazie]

Diane,

I am not sure where your information came from about HR sharing its facilities with Regal Palms.

I own a villa in HR and my guests can only use the Regal Palms at a very substantial cost (it is not free, costs approx $100 a month).

Regal Palm guests are not allowed to use HR communal facilities at all.

Thought I would clear this up before HR guests get thrown out of Regal Palms.

[Madabouttigger]

I was swimming in the pool with guests from HR, they were telling me they could use the facility at Regal Palms free, and prefered the pool to the one at the villa because it had a slide? I was also having a meal in the bar when some guests came in and said they were from HR and could they use the facilities at Regal Palms.....the bar man said "yes, no problem, you can use them free....". Perhaps it was because it was March and a quiet time?
I don't know all the in's and out's of it but can only tell you what I experienced.

Diane.