As the weather warms, you may notice your ice bath isn't as cold as it was in winter.
A chiller that held a steady 8°C might now be in the double digits, especially by the afternoon.
There are a couple of reasons for this, but the most significant is the outside air temperature.
A chiller's job is to extract heat from the pool water and transfer it to the outside air.
Many cooling units sold as "chillers" are fundamentally heat pumps, which are not designed for this kind of workload.
Their cooling capacity drops significantly as outside temperatures rise above 20°C.
This just doesn't work in a hot climate like Australia's.
A chiller needs to be able to perform reliably even when the ambient temperature is high.
Over the next few weeks, it's a good idea to monitor your pool's actual water temperature.
The reading on the chiller's display can be misleading.
For an accurate measurement, use a kids floating bath thermometer. Most others fail at reading colder temperatures.
You may be surprised to find your ice bath isn't reaching the temperature it's set to.