Direction of pool ...

[KerriMc]

Hello ... after looking at oodles of pool homes to find one we like, we have narrowed it down to quite a few (so hard!!). Anyways, one home has a west facing pool (swears it is best), another has a Northwest pool and she too swears it is great, we have seen lots of south facing (which we always thought was best), and then some southwest ones. Does anyone know what is truly best for the longest amount of sun from morning until dusk? We stayed at a home before where we lost the sun around 3 pm, which was ok as our at the time 3 yr old was dead tired from being in the pool from 9 am on. Now though, we would like to be able to enjoy it any time of the day and get as much of the sun as possible (especially since March can be unpredictable!).

Thanks for your help!
Kerri

 

[f7prez]

Typically the south side will receive the most sun. As the sun rises from the East and works its way to the West, the Southern exposure should have sun all day. However, having a pool, I find it is nice when the sun finally goes to the other side of the house around 5 pm, giving us a break from the heat.

 

[isla bonita]

A south facing pool is what is asked for most popular. Ours is east facing but in Florida because it is so close to the equator you are in sun for longer periods of time regardless of what direction your pool is facing. Ours is in sun until about 4:00PM I am told by my aunt a true sun worshiper. Unless you go in dead of winter and you have a north facing pool that is almost the only time it will effect you very much.

 

[KerriMc]

Deb ... so a northwest pool wouldn't get as much sun in March as it would in August for example? We would be best with a southfacing one I would think? What about a pool that faces west?
Kerri

 

[BrockHouseOrlando]

Our pool is southwest facing, and we get the sun rising at the front of the house and comes over at around 11 am and then stays till sunset.

 

[isla bonita]

This was from an owners site that gave me permission to use it.

South Facing?
South facing has little significance in Florida. Florida is in the Tropics. The sun in June is 3 degrees from directly above at noon. In December it is 15 degrees off. In contrast London is 55 degrees North and casts a very long shadow even in mid summer.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mainebound]

We had north facing in March and east facing the year before that and we had plenty of sun both years. We personally don't think it is a big deal at all.

 

[perdidochas]

This was from an owners site that gave me permission to use it.

South Facing?
South facing has little significance in Florida. Florida is in the Tropics. The sun in June is 3 degrees from directly above at noon. In December it is 15 degrees off. In contrast London is 55 degrees North and casts a very long shadow even in mid summer.

Hope this helps.

Florida is not in the Tropics. Orlando is at 28.4 degrees north. The tropics extends to 23.5 degrees north. Even Key West Florida isn't in the tropics.

However, Florida is definitely subtropical. South facing would give you a few more degrees of warmth. Given a choice, I'd choose a south facing pool if I was staying in winter. If staying in summer, I'd choose a north facing pool. That said, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot.