Heating my Above Ground Pool

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joseywales

LifeTime Supporter
Jun 11, 2009
276
Exton, PA
Merged all your heating your AGP topics into one so it's easier to keep track of what's being recommended. Lets keep the replies here. Bama

Look at my signature and please recommend a heater, @ $1000 is the budget.

No solar heat.

I do have a gas, so we could run a line if that makes sense.

The kids are young, so we have at least 8 years left on using a pool and I am NOT a fan of cool water.

Thanks
 
Gas/Propane, or Electric heater for 255 sqf AGP?

I have an 18' round pool and am wanting to have it heated for almost daily use, after work, etc. So, I'll use my cover at night, but still want to maintain 75-78 degrees. What research I've done tells me I have 255 sqf of pool surface. Manufacturers seem to recommend a 200 BTU unit and say I could expect a 1 degree increase per hour. However, I was thinking that using a thermostat and maintaining a 78 degree temp might be more effcient.

Also, not sure whether Gas/Propane make sense for such a small pool.

Any thoughts, recommendations, etc. would be welcome.

Thanks
 
Re: Gas/Propane, or Electric heater for 255 sqf AGP?

How far away would your heater be from your electric panel or Natural Gas meter or Propane tank?

There could be a significant cost to running the appropriate power or gas line to your heater depending on heater size and distance.

Electric (resistant) heaters generally seem to be the most expensive to run.
Natural gas seem to be the cheapest to run.

Although of course it depends on your local rates and you have to realize that you are paying $$ every time you have the heater running.

Are you hoping to heat the pool all year? Or just have warmer water in the summer?

Have you considered solar? In combination with your solar cover, it could be the easiest to implement and maintain a warmer pool in the summer months. There is only the initial installation cost and then it just uses your existing pump.
 
Re: Recommend a heater for my AGP

If you don't already have a solar cover, that is by far the cheapest and most effective thing you can get. Besides that, I think you'll have a hard time getting anything under $1000, except for a small solar installation.
 
Re: Recommend a heater for my AGP

There are no electric heaters, other than heat pumps in the 3k range and gas heaters will run iver $1000 unless you find a used one on CraigsList. What is your aversion to solar
 
Re: Recommend a heater for my AGP

I do have the solar cover to retain heat. But we just don't have the room, etc. for panels. Even if we were to mount them on the roof, it just doesn't seem to be an option.

I some research and figure I have 255 sqf of water surface. I alos realize we're talking more like $3,000 with either gas or electric installed. I need to find out locally what all is involved with tapping in to our natural gas. I know we can do the work, I just need to know whether we need a meter, etc. Electric, I need to check the box, but I thought I planned ahead on that.
 
Re: Recommend a heater for my AGP

Gas wull run quite a lot to operate. Heat pumps are very inexpensive to run but expensive investment. Ever thought of a standing rack for solar? We have just 5' of space aling the north side of ours with no room to the south and mounted standing panels
 
Re: Gas/Propane, or Electric heater for 255 sqf AGP?

jblizzle said:
How far away would your heater be from your electric panel or Natural Gas meter or Propane tank? about 35' for either one. We can run the gas line ourselves, just not sure if a second meter would be required

There could be a significant cost to running the appropriate power or gas line to your heater depending on heater size and distance.

Electric (resistant) heaters generally seem to be the most expensive to run.
Natural gas seem to be the cheapest to run.

Although of course it depends on your local rates and you have to realize that you are paying $$ every time you have the heater running.

Are you hoping to heat the pool all year? Or just have warmer water in the summer? Just warmer in the summer. We used a solar cover last year and it was noticibly warmer water. We're really looking for warm water during the May to September timeframe, not necessarily wanting to extend the season.

Have you considered solar? In combination with your solar cover, it could be the easiest to implement and maintain a warmer pool in the summer months. There is only the initial installation cost and then it just uses your existing pump.
Click to expand...
I just don't think I have the room for the panels on my roof and I know there's no room on the ground. The roof is also 2.5 stories above the pool. We had considered adding roof, or roof like structure, above our deck to provide shade, so adding solar to that could be worth considering. I didn't remember that until just now.
 
Re: Recommend a heater for my AGP

I'll look at solar again, having just realized tow things:

1 - Saturday, our neighbor really trimmed back the trees along the NW wall of the house. Not great, but need to check the exposure and time.

2 - We were considering putting up a roof-like structure over our deck to provide shade, so maybe I can combine solar panels with that.
 
Re: Gas/Propane, or Electric heater for 255 sqf AGP?

Around here, the gas company will just install a larger meter if you add appliances (free I think). A pipe for a 400k BTU heater can be pretty big, although your run is pretty short. The big gas heaters are GREAT for quickly heating a hot tub, but will cost $$$ to heat a full pool all the time.

To try to maintain a "warmer" pool during the summer (not a hot pool or year round), I think solar or a heat pump would be the way to go.

If you were going to add a covered area, that would be a really good place to put up the solar panels. Just be sure to consider the direction the roof faces.
 

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Ever added a "roof" to your deck that doubles as solar rack?

Members are advising to give solar another look and I have a 16'x15' deck right next to my pool. We had considered adding a roof, or roof-like structure to provide shade to the shed. Now you all are making me think that hanging solar panels there could work. And we get a ton of sun on that deck.

If you have done this, please thoughts and pictures if you can. I'd just like to see how they turn out.

Thanks!
 
Re: Ever added a "roof" to your deck that doubles as solar r

It would be a little more helpful if you would keep all your post together. This is now the third thread on a similar subject. I realize this is a different question, but keeping everything together keeps your story intact.

If you have any kind of solid roof covering you can put solar panels on it. How far away from your pump would the cover be? Many solar panels are 4'x10' or 4'x12.5' or 2'x20'. Sounds like the later may not work (although you could oversize your cover), but you should be able to fit 4 of the 4' wide panels.
 
Re: Recommend a heater for my AGP

I just bought our first solar cover this year. I installed it on April 1st and we swam all weekend in 87* water. All our friends and neighbors pools are still about 75*. So solar cover are a great bang for your buck.
 
Re: Ever added a "roof" to your deck that doubles as solar r

Thanks. No one responded to the first one, until after I reposted my question in a differet manner. But I get you. Any way for me to close the other threads?

When I get home, I can even post pictures.

The pump is @ 15' from the deck. Honestly, I'm thinking I could put the panels on the new roof, run the pipe down like a gutter and 15' to the pump.

I was figuring on at least (3) of the 4'x10' panels. 4 might be tight, because our splash deck is 4' into the main deck and we probably wouldn't cover that. So I might end up with only 12' or so covered, could be tight, but I can adjust that if I have to.
 
Re: Ever added a "roof" to your deck that doubles as solar r

People who come here often use the Active Topics and Unanswered Posts links (upper left). Sometimes other threads "OMG my pool is BLACK" get a little more attention than "Thinking about a heater" type topics ... but eventually yours would get a response :)

The panels are 4' wide and you need a little space on the sides to run plumbing (1-2') so keep that in mind. Some pictures and/or a sketch could be helpful for us to make suggestions.
 
Re: Ever added a "roof" to your deck that doubles as solar r

I'll get some pictures up tonight.

Touch wood, as I lay my hand to my head, I've never had black water. Or even green, thoguh just a hint this year. Opened pool late and pollen was a killer, but no big deal. This is year 4 and I have never had any water quality issues. This was my first pool in 09', and the day they installed it I found TFP. The pool guy dumped some shock in the pool, but I went with bleach from thereafter and never an issue. I bought the large test kit here and couldn't be happier. Not sure if it's just dumb luck, or what, but I'm riding the wave.
 
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I don't understand the need for a 400,000 btu heater on an 18 ft pool?? I have a 21 ft round and heat with a 150,000 BTU heater. It does quite well. Gas bills are nuts, but that is part of the price I guess. You could look around EBay as well as Craigslist for a used heater. Mine is like 12 years old and is a Millivolt system so no added electrical.
 
Discobrian24 said:
I don't understand the need for a 400,000 btu heater on an 18 ft pool?? I have a 21 ft round and heat with a 150,000 BTU heater. It does quite well. Gas bills are nuts, but that is part of the price I guess. You could look around EBay as well as Craigslist for a used heater. Mine is like 12 years old and is a Millivolt system so no added electrical.
Click to expand...

150k BTU or 400k BTU ... you will use the same amount of gas to heat the same amount of water the same number of degrees (or at least close to it). The larger heater will just heat faster (desirable like in spa applications where the water is not always kept hot) ... if speed is not an issue (like you are going to keep it heated all the time), then a small gas would be fine ... or for more efficiency a heat pump.
 

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