We bought a house with a pool that had an electric heat pump. The HP is dead so we are looking at replacing for about $6k but my husband is curious what the cost would be to switch over to a propane heater? Has anyone made this switch?
Convert Electric Heat Pump to Propane Heater
- Thread starter jenjen047
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,845
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Welcome to TFP.
Do you have propane at the house?
A gas heater costs around $4K plus whatever it costs to get the propane line to your pool pad.
Your 30K pool will need a 400K BTU heater that will use about 4 gallons of propane per hour and raise your pool about 1 degree per hour.
Do you have propane at the house?
A gas heater costs around $4K plus whatever it costs to get the propane line to your pool pad.
Your 30K pool will need a 400K BTU heater that will use about 4 gallons of propane per hour and raise your pool about 1 degree per hour.
I had a pool about your size just south of you and my HP was entirely dependent on the weather for extending the season. 1/3 of the seasons it did poorly, 1/3 was so so and the unusually warm ones worked well.
Do you want to primarily warm the pool during the season (HP is king) or extend it (Gas is king).
Do you want to primarily warm the pool during the season (HP is king) or extend it (Gas is king).
We have natural gas for heat but no propane and neither out by the pool obviously.
Primarily want to warm the pool during the season.
Right now our kids are very young so the pool really only gets used on weekends so I guess we are worried we will be running the HP all the time for minimal use, versus propane we could turn down/off during the week. But we hope/imagine in a few years it will be used more during the week while they are on summer break.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,845
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If you have NG then run your NG line to the pool equipment pad.
Using propane makes no sense.
You can turn the HP off during the week too mid season. Turn it on Friday or Friday night depending on how much heat you need and it'll be good for Saturday. You aren't making up the large temp differences that you would be in late Sept or Oct. My HP did great during the regular season, that's just not why we got it. Lol.
It kind of works perfect to replace the HP right now. By the time the kids are a little older and want to have a longer season, it'll be time to replace the heater again and you can revisit the options then.
I live in pittsburgh. And had a heat pump for 4 years. It takes way too long to heat the water and does not work well when the nights get cool. I switched to a natural gas heater and there is a world of difference. The gas heater can raise the tempeture 2 to 3 degree per hour and I can start it the day i need it for a pool party.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,845
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
So you have NG at your house already and then had a line run out to the pool heater? What was the cost for that?