Heat Pump Advice

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I made a calculation last year with the rates in Ontario and my natural gas heater costs something like $3/hr to run... it's a 250k btu hayward and with a ~20k gallons pool (if I remember correctly), it raises the temperature by just a bit more than 1 degree / hour.

Here's the calculation I had sent to a friend and why a pool cover was needed:

2.77m3 of gas = 100,000 btu, so roughly 7m^3 of gas every hour.. and each m^3 = ~$0.30 which means $3 / hour to operate the heater.

let's say that you need to raise the temperature of the pool by 15 degrees:
8.3 btu are needed to raise 1 gallon of water by 1F, so for 20k gallons * 15 degrees, it's a 2.5M btus needed and the heater is 80% efficient, so 3.1M btu are needed. 3.1M btu = 86m^3 of gas.. so ~$25. if you raise it by 20 degrees F it's $32. I guess that's not too bad.. but add thermal loss and I'm sure the number shoots up.

thermal loss: for low wind, ~7 btu / sq ft per hr per degrees F difference between water & air.. at night, let's assume 20 degrees (water at 85F, night = 18C). So for a 500 sq ft pool, it's 7 * 20 * 500 * 12 (12 hours) = 840k BTU every chilly night that you lose.. so $7 per day just to compensate for the loss. ouch. if it gets windy, it's even worse.
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ponti3900 said:
Anyway, I just ordered AquaPRO® PRO500 50,000 BTU Pool Heat Pump for $1700+HST. I am planning to open the pool by beginning of May and have a HP installed by that time. Will post my results, I promise.
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Here is my little report: it is installed, I had to run extra wires for HP, existing ones were too small. Pump is running, water from return is noticeably warmer. It +20C day it will warm up the pool by 3C. Not bad.

Pros:
Great price
Quick delivery by Costco (1 week, straight into my garage)
heats up 3 degrees for 12 hours run

Cons:
Manual is "one size fits all" kind, lots of irrelevant info and not enough of relevant
electrical panel is not water-proof enough
bottom pane has no drain hole, had to drill one
pump has 5 min delay to start, almost gave me heart attack watching mine brand new pump refusing to start. Delay is not mentioned in manual of course.
soldering on electrical board could be better, broke off and almost lost capacitor while connecting power
contact "pump" has no voltage until flow sensor detects water flow. Chicken and egg situation, manufacturer has no idea how to use "pump" contact.
routinely temperature goes above set temp and pump would not stop until temp will go 0.3 degrees or so above
 
Hey Ponti,
Just reading your post and had to laugh at how you crapped all over the owner's manual for the Pro500 heat pump. I installed mine last night, and found the manual so bad that I wasn't even sure I had the correct manual. It mentions the 1100, 1300, but nowhere in the manual is the 500 even mentioned. It is indeed a USELESS manual.

How is the pump working out for you? Just wondering if you've had any troubles. Also, what's the difference if you switched to SPA setting. I've never figured that out. I have it on POOL setting but what difference would it make if I had it on SPA?

One more question. My heater seems to work normally. But if I change the temperature setting up or down, before the display toggles back to actual pool temperature, an "E" code flashes. I've googled this to death and can't find any information, and I sure as heck ain't gonna find it in the manual!! Thanks for any info you can provide.
GC
 
Hello Acadian,
I didn't have much time to use the heat pump last season, as I didn't buy it til mid august, and had the pool down again in mid september. I'm just east of you in Newfoundland, so our swim season ain't that long. For the time it had it up, it worked flawlessly, and I was quite pleased. Of course, depending on the size of your pool, it may or may not be sufficient. Feel free to ask any more questions.
 
I was just wondering if these Costco Heat Pumps are of good quality. I don't find lots of reviews online.

Either way, I'm not even sure if they sell one big enough for my pool. I have a 20x38 IG pool.

It might be enough though, because it would only be used to keep the water a bit warmer for the evenings later in the season or to warm it up when i have a bunch of people coming over.
 
I have also been wondering about the current heat pumps that Costco is offering. It seems that my 16x32 might be the max size for what they have. I wish that they had more options.


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My buddy has the 50,000 on his 13'x23' and it heats it fine. They also sell the 83,000 and the 112,000, supposedly good up to 28,000 gallons. Can't vouch for that, but maybe someone else here with the bigger heater than mine may chime in.

As for quality, I haven't had mine long enough to state anything for certain. Only used it a month last year and all I can say is during that time it worked flawlessly.

GC
 
Hi Everyone, I live on the eastcoast as well. I just ordered the AquaPro Pro500 from costco last week, I have a 13'x23' AG pool that I will be heating with the new heat pump. Based on the reviews I have seen on this model , I have high expectations... I will let you know how it works out for me when its all hooked up.

Tk
 
I went with a 130k btu Summit 8TA heat pump and then found a open box MasterTemp 400k btu natural gas heater. If I want quick, i go gas. In mid-april, the water was 53F. I got the temp up 30F within 16 hours (19,000 gallon IGP). I cover at night to minimize loss.
 

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Heat Pumps gradually increase temperature(Air to Air or Air to Water) over an extended period of time. Once the temperature is where you want it , the heat pump will have no trouble maintaining set point.
 
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