What Does a Pool Aerator Do? Defeating Your Hot Water Blues

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you get your pool you may be told that it has an aerator installed, this may lead you to wonder what the aerator does and what its purpose is. Well, I went and dug around to learn myself and these are the details to help you understand why you have or want one! So, what does a pool aerator do?

The purpose of your pool aerator is to take the water from the pool return line and spray it into the air, this act of aerating the water serves to cool the water through the air. This helps make a warmer pool start to cool down to allow for more relaxing swimming.

Since you now understand what the pool aerator does we can look a little bit more at how it works and who needs one along with when it is most helpful. Then we will discuss some simple and quick install options you can look at to add to your pool if you don’t have one!

How Does a Pool Aerator Work?

Your pool temperature will be changed based on the ambient temperature but it will typically be far behind the actual weather. This can lead to pools that get very warm which just aren’t enjoyable to go swim in.

What’s interesting to learn is that your pool temperature is a balancing act of the previous weeks’ worth of weather. If you have long-lasting warm weather your pool will generally increase in temperature but in cold weather, your pool will lose heat.

For a standard pool aerator, you will be connected to the pool return line to help the water get the maximum air interaction as this is what can help the water cool.

Is Aeration Good for a Pool?

While aeration is amazing to help you drop your pool water temperatures down a few notches it also can help with other issues that can impact your pool water.

By aerating your pool you can stop your water from becoming stagnant and not flowing enough. When this stagnation happens it helps algae form, or bloom, in your pool which can lead to needing a large-scale cleaning or shocking.

When to Run Your Pool Aerator?

Once you have a pool aerator installed you want to run it frequently and preferably at night when the air temperature will be the coolest. This will help it to cool down as it will allow water to interact with the coolest air available during your summer days.

If you have more than one return line to maximize cooling you would want to install two pool coolers or more, the more that are installed the better overall cooling you will achieve with your aeration cooling.

Who Needs a Pool Aerator?

For someone like myself who lives in Texas, you MUST HAVE to have a pool aerator to hopefully drop the temperatures of your pool water. If you live in someplace in the south with humidity this really is an important part of your pool.

If you don’t you may end up with a near hot tub heat, I’m not joking but my pool can reach 89-90 degrees with ease and is more akin to a bathtub than the pool.

High Average Air Temperature

Should you live in a state that has warm overall temperatures then you will more than likely enjoy the benefits of an aerator. This will ensure the overall water temps can drop and you can have much cooler water in your pool.

In addition, if like myself you have high humidity levels this can drop the levels of water in the pool while also imparting heat into the water in addition.

I turn on all my water features at least 30 minutes before I want to go enjoy the pool so that it starts moving and dropping the temperature level at least a few degrees.

Now also understand me when I say this isn’t going to get your pool to “refreshing” levels of cool, it will just help to move the dial into “comfort” as opposed to “bathwater”.

Shallow Water

Many old pools used to have a “shallow” end and then a “deep” end, this would be like 3-4′ and then down to 8-10′. While these still exist the standard pool people have has started to change to a set depth throughout.

The issue that you will experience with this is that there is no deeper, cooler water to rotate when the pumps run and to help cool your pool. Instead, you pull warmer water through which at best keeps the pool close to the same temps.

Above Ground Pool

If you have an in-ground pool you will gain warmth slower to your pool as the sides are facing into the earth. For an above-ground pool though the sides are exposed to the sun and heat also adding additional heat into the pool.

This can make an above-ground pool warmer than an in-ground pool of the same size and volume. If you run an above-ground pool in a hot area you really may want to look into a pool chiller to drop that temperature 10+ degrees for use.

How Do I Make My Pool Water Colder?

You can purchase an aerator to help in dropping the temperature a little bit but the changes won’t be drastic, similar to a pool heater you would need to look at a pool chiller to significantly drop the pool temperature to hit real colder values.

What is a Pool Chiller?

Let’s face it, aerating the water can help you lower the temperature of the water but for many, it may not lower it enough for total enjoyment. If you are in this camp then it may be worth looking into purchasing an actual pool chiller from Amazon.

Make sure that the pool chiller you purchase comes with a pump and if not then you want to make sure to order the pump to manage the water. The chiller only cools water passing through it isn’t a pump also as you may wonder.

If you look to get a pool chiller I would ensure that it works for your pool as I found out firsthand, I have a saltwater pool which means I need to ensure any chiller I purchase works on a saltwater pool or it could face corrosion and less lifespan.

Final Thoughts on What Does a Pool Aerator Do For Your Pool

I honestly never knew that a thing like a pool aerator existed prior to our home purchase, being a first-time pool owner along with it being in some of the hottest and most humid has been eye-opening!

Slowly I have learned what this system can do to help me enjoy the pool with my family and friends. I now know from my enjoyment that the purchase of my pool chiller was more than worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Hopefully, you have learned something from this and it helps you on your pool ownership journey, comment or hit me up through my contact page if you have any feedback!