Pool lighting: How to create an effective lighting design
Your pool's beauty and functionality are greatly influenced by your pool lighting. They both make your swimming pool a magnificent aesthetic element in your garden and allow you to utilise it safely and leisurely at night. But how do you design a pool lighting scheme that works, and what kind of pool lights should you pick?
Here, we provide our comprehensive guide to pool lighting so you can get it correctly the first time.
When should your pool lighting be planned?
When you buy a swimming pool, planning the lighting is a crucial step in the process. Before beginning any construction work, it is crucial to have your lighting design fully planned out because the lighting must be placed at the same time as the pool.
As you will have a clear sense of how the backyard will appear once the pool is installed, now is also the perfect time to arrange the lighting for the rest of your landscaping. When the pool is finished, your backyard will have a magnificent new look because the rest of the lighting can be planned at the same time as your pool lighting and installed all at once, saving time and money.
When planning your pool, it is crucial to speak with an expert electrician. They will be able to assist you in developing an efficient and secure lighting plan and ensure that your lighting is installed in a way that allows it to be plugged into the mains. To guarantee that your pool conforms with safety rules, any work must be performed by a licenced professional.
Which kind of pool lights need to you select?
1. Candle-style pool lighting
The conventional sort of pool lighting that has been in use for a long time is incandescent lighting. However, because it is costly and damaging to the environment, it is now viewed as outdated. The expense of lighting a swimming pool can be very costly because a lot of incandescent bulbs are required, especially because they often need to be replaced two or three times per year. Pool owners may find this task challenging and time-consuming, which adds to the hassle.
Due to the bright yellow illumination produced by the bulb filaments, incandescent lighting also has the undesirable side effect of making your pool water appear green at night. This detracts from the aesthetics of your pool and makes it appear dirty.
2. Halogen pool lights
Since halogen bulbs can save up to 20% on electricity, they are both more affordable and environmentally friendly than incandescent bulbs. They also last longer, which reduces the amount of time needed to maintain your pool. Halogen bulbs have mostly taken the role of incandescent lamps in more recent years due to these factors.
Cost is the biggest drawback of halogen lighting. Halogen bulbs cost roughly twice as much as incandescent bulbs, but they use less energy, saving you money on your household bills. They also frequently give your pool's water the same green appearance, so they don't really enhance the beauty of your pool at night.
3. Pool LED lights
The most cutting-edge, effective, and beautiful option to illuminate your pool is with LED lights. Due to its excellent energy efficiency, which converts all of the energy it uses into light instead of heat, it is both environmentally friendly and economical. As a result, a six-watt LED bulb can produce the same amount of light as a 100-watt halogen bulb, saving you a sizable sum on your energy costs. As a result, LED pool lights are currently included in the great majority of new swimming pools in Australia.
Additionally, compared to conventional pool lighting options, LED bulbs last significantly longer, saving you time on pool upkeep. Additionally, because it emits pure light without utilising a filament, your pool water won't seem green, giving the water a cleaner, better-kept, and more appealing appearance.
Pool safety and illumination
The fact that pool lighting makes your swimming pool safer after dark is one of the most significant benefits. This makes it possible for you to enjoy your pool for longer in the evenings and ensures that the pool is always a safe place for kids. To reduce the possibility of accidents, your pool should be sufficiently illuminated at night so that it can be seen clearly.
As a result, the size and shape of your pool as well as the area in which you live will have an impact on the quantity of lighting you use. A crowded city or town will have plenty of ambient light at night, making your pool more noticeable. However, as these locations are much darker at night, if you reside in a more rural area, you probably need additional pool lights.
Additionally, you must ensure that the lights are positioned such that they can illuminate the entire pool. To ensure that everyone can enter and exit the pool securely at night, it is especially important to highlight the pool stairs. Water features or spa areas should also be well-lit, as well as any curves or dark corners, to ensure that everyone can swim comfortably and unhindered after dark.
Designing a beautiful pool lighting scheme
It's critical to develop a lighting plan that highlights your pool at its best because your pool lights must improve the aesthetic of your pool. Since the pool is typically the focal point of your backyard design, the lighting should draw attention to it and showcase its beauty at night. Your entire backyard stands out as opulent and attractive by making the pool a true focal point. Water features always look amazing at night with the correct lighting, so you might want to highlight some specific regions of the pool.
If you want to create a cohesive design, you can then plan complementing lighting for other areas of your backyard after the lighting around your pool is just right. In order to design a useful lighting scheme, you must consider how you will utilise your pool and the spaces around it throughout the planning stage. For instance, if you intend to have numerous outdoor gatherings, you'll want the poolside area to be carefully lighted so that everyone can see well while also fostering a sense of ambiance.
You may increase the enjoyment you get from your pool and increase the value of your property by adding to the aesthetic and functionality of your pool and your entire backyard.
Pool lighting options in terms of colour
The way we light our swimming pools has been transformed by LED technology. You may light your pool in any colour you like thanks to cutting-edge red, blue, and green LED pool lighting systems because these three hues can be mixed in various ways to create every hue in the colour wheel. You may quickly modify the system to illuminate your pool in a different colour whenever you feel like it.
Numerous LED systems can also be set to produce a series of colours, making the pool illumination change colour constantly. This gives your pool design some genuine flair and is perfect for setting the correct mood lighting for a pool party.
The light from LED pool lights is so pure that your pool's colour will remain true to how it appears in the daylight, even if you pick simple white illumination. Once the sun has set, white lighting may give your pool a sophisticated and fashionable appearance, making your house stand out significantly.
Pool illumination for small pools
We at the Little Pool Co. have made every effort to simplify the installation of your pool. We made sure Little Pools included with everything you need, including LED illumination as standard, as they are intended to be instant solutions that you can plug in and use right away.
Nevertheless, we think that even though a pool is prefabricated, it should still be as customizable as possible to suit your individual preferences and make you appreciate your pool even more. To make your Little Pool more of a focal point, you have the option of upgrading your pool lighting to a multicoloured LED system.
We are also delighted to provide guidance on designing effective, secure, and useful lighting schemes for your poolside areas. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this subject or any of the other customization choices Little Pools provides. Our staff would be happy to assist you.
