People from cooler climates are always surprised when Mackay families ask us about pool heating. Isn’t it always warm here?
Almost. But not quite. And the difference matters.
“Do I even need to heat a pool in Mackay?”
Mackay water temperatures unheated:
- Peak summer (Dec–Feb): 29–31°C. Genuinely warm, sometimes too warm to be refreshing.
- Autumn (Mar–May): 26–28°C. Perfect.
- Winter (Jun–Aug): 19–22°C. Swimmable if you’re hardy, not comfortable for kids or long stays.
- Spring (Sep–Nov): 24–27°C. Great again.
So the question isn’t really “do I need to heat in Mackay”. The question is: do I want to extend the swim season into June, July and August? If yes, heating adds three months a year. If no (you’re happy with 9 months of swimming), skip it.
The three options
Same three options as everywhere in Australia: solar, heat pump, gas. But the ranking is different in the tropics.
Solar heating — the Mackay favourite
Solar heating means running pool water through a series of black polymer collectors on your roof. The roof surface heats the water directly, and the system pumps warmer water back into the pool.
Why it works in Mackay: we have more sunshine than almost any Australian city. Mackay averages around 300 sunny days a year. Even winter days here have solid solar gain. A well-sized solar array can lift pool temperature 4–6°C in winter — enough to take a 20°C pool to 25°C, which is comfortable for family swimming.
Running cost: essentially zero. You’re running the pool pump anyway. The solar collectors are passive — no gas, no electricity, no bills.
Install cost: $4,000–$7,000 depending on system size and roof access. Payback: never, in a strict sense (there’s no comparison — the running cost is zero regardless), but it adds meaningful weeks of swim season for the outlay.
The catch: requires a north-facing roof area of 100–150m². If your house is a pole home, a Queenslander with limited roof pitch, or your roof faces the wrong way, solar won’t work well.
Heat pumps — for shaded blocks and consistent temperatures
A heat pump works like an air conditioner running in reverse — it extracts heat from ambient air and transfers it into the pool water. Since Mackay’s ambient air is warm year-round, heat pumps run efficiently here.
Running cost: $800–$1,200 a year to run in Mackay, depending on how much you use it. A good coefficient-of-performance (COP) heat pump gets 5–6 units of heat energy for every 1 unit of electricity it consumes.
Install cost: $4,500–$7,500 for the unit and installation.
Where it beats solar: shaded blocks, unsuitable roof orientation, or families who want thermostat-controlled water temperature that doesn’t depend on the weather. A heat pump will hold your pool at 27°C in July regardless of what the sky does.
Gas heating — rarely the right choice in Mackay
Gas heating burns LPG or mains natural gas to heat the pool via a heat exchanger. It’s the fastest heater — can lift a pool 5°C in a day — but the running cost is dramatic.
Running cost: $3,000–$6,000 a year for consistent use in Mackay. Genuinely expensive.
Where it makes sense: pools that are used intermittently — a holiday home you want to bring up to temperature the night before you arrive. Gas can do that in hours where a heat pump takes days.
Where it doesn’t: everyday pools. Solar and heat pump both cost far less to run.
What we recommend for most Mackay families
Solar first, heat pump second, gas third. If your roof works for solar, that’s usually the answer — Mackay’s climate is engineered for it.
If solar isn’t practical, a heat pump is the next choice. Consistent, controllable, moderate running cost.
Gas heating in Mackay makes sense only in narrow use cases — mostly holiday homes and very intermittent-use situations.
Combining heating with a pool cover
Whatever heating you choose, a floating thermal blanket doubles its effectiveness. In Mackay’s climate, most heat loss from a pool is evaporative — water evaporating off the surface takes heat with it. A cover cuts that dramatically.
Every heated pool we install gets recommended a solar cover, and most owners take us up on it. Adds $300–$800 to the setup and pays for itself within the first year of heated use.
Book a site visit and we’ll walk through whether your block suits solar, sub-optimum solar plus heat pump, or heat pump only.
