My young children are begging for a heater. Although I am used to swimming in the cool ocean waters of Long Island, I have to agree that it's not fun swimming in our cold pool. In June the temperature is starts around 65 degrees and gets close to 68 degrees by the end of the month. By mid-summer, we are lucky to get above 76 degrees. We start using the pool in early June and stop using the pool about two weeks after Labor Day.

When we moved in four years ago, there was an existing 400k btu Hayward heater. I ripped it out because I feared it would cost too much to run, and because it occasionally failed to ignite. Now I wish that I had not sold it on Craigslist.

Site specifics:
- In-ground, rectangular, 20'x40' concrete pool in the western Philadelphia suburbs. Picture of shallow end attached.
- According to the original plans from 1971, the shallow end is 3.0' and the deep end is 9.5 feet.
- A a recent refill consumed 33,000 gallons.
- There is an existing 2" natural gas line from the basement meter to the pool pump area.
- The electrical supply is poor, two 20 amp, 220vac circuits, one dedicated to the 2HP Challenger pump, and the second currently unused.
- We installed an automatic cover primarily for safety and easier winterizing. The vinyl cover helps with heat retention and noticeably reduces chemical consumption.

I'm turning to the experienced members of this forum for a purchase recommendation. Please recommend a brand and model series for a natural gas heater that can be used to initially raise the water temperature in June and re-heat on demand during June-September. My children are very young, so they require adult supervision to swim. As such, we tend to use the pool mostly on weekends and during the weekday evenings during warm spells.

Thank you.
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I've got a natural gas Pentair 400K BTU Heater that I run all winter in my hot tub and use it regularly to heat the pool. My MOST expensive monthly bill for my 22000 gallon pool was $120 when we heated it up for an entire weekend. All my other monthly bills average between $30-40 per month all year. My pool here in MD is now at 85 degrees. We heated it for about 12 hours the other day to get it to that. I wouldn't have a heat pump due primarily to the fact that I have a hot tub attached to the pool and need to heat that all the time when needed. Natural gas at this time is CHEAP!!!

At 33,000 gallons you are in the 400,000 BTU range to get about a 1.5* temp rise per hour. I can't realy recomend a particular heater accept for this...be sure to get something that there is local service for. Besides calling pool stores you might also want to check with a local heating supply company. There is one here in my town that caries pool heaters and they have a good group of service techs that can fix problems with them.

You keep your pool covered basically all the time right? Do you run your pump when the pool cover has sun on it? Do you notice that the top foot of water is heating up from the sun while covered and pump not running?

In reply to harleysilo

Yes, the pool is covered unless in use, being readied for use, or when attempting to capture direct sunlight.
Yes, the pump runs when covered and receiving sun.
Yes, the top foot of water is heated to a beautiful temperature. It is the lower depths that shock the dead back to life.

My theory is that pool covered with sunlight and pump running will maximize the suns heating ability. Vs. uncovered and sunlight entering the pool, again a theory and what the coverstar person tools me. I have the opposite problem of you. My thermolayer of water is 99+....So I'm NOT running pump during day and it is helping drop temps...

Seems strange to say, but "ah, to have that problem."