Advice for Heater

[tvassas]

New member here so thanks in advance for any replies.

Our pool guy came and opened our pool on Tuesday and mentioned he had a "good deal on a heater for our pool. We found out it was one bought for someone else that didnt use it so they screwed him over. It was a Hayward H200 PROPANE Heater, which puts off 200000 BTU. Cost to us to buy it would be like $850. Our pool measures 36x44, more like an L-shaped pool, deep end is 8ft and we run a salt system. We live in Richmond VA, and we would like to open the pool in end April versus end May, and keep it open through end Sept/early Oct. Would like to keep pool temp around 80-82 if possible.
My question- would we be better off going with a heat pump or going with this pool guys deal? I am not familiar with a heat pump, do they run off my electric?

I was thinking in the long term i would spend more on propane, but i am a bit confused with all this about pumps and heaters. We already have a propane tank for our house. Or would we be better to just buy a 400000btu system and that would work better? I mean our savings from buying a cheaper 200000btu system would be eaten up by having to buy more propane.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Dave R]

Don't know much about heat pumps. The price of the heater seems real good from here. You already have a propane tank? Unless propane is expensive and electricity is cheap where you are, sounds like a good deal. OTOH, that heater might be a bit small for your pool. Mine is 18x36 and we use a 266k btu heater. Smaller heater shouldn't take more propane, just might be running longer.

 

[ps0303]

That heater is to small for your pool. A larger 400K unit would better. What is your cost of propane in VA?

 

[cjd3060]

We picked up a heat pump based on a neighbors recommendation who has gas. He turns his on to heat up the pool... we keep ours on to maintain the temp. Two different strategies really. The heat pump works slowly, took three days to reach the correct temp this April, but I it also ended up being colder than I expected. Now, the temp is maintained with just periodic runs. It is hard to determine the actual cost for the electricity, but it seems fairly moderate. Certainly our central AC makes a much greater dent in the pocketbook when it kicks on.

Sent from my SM-P605 using Tapatalk

 

[danpik]

I will assume you do not have natural gas service there.

A heat pump works like a central air conditioning system only it is capturing the heat from the air to put into the pool, not removing it from the air like in a home. A heat pump for a pool works more efficiently when the weather is warmer. They also take a bit longer to warm the water. A gas heater has a more efficient energy transfer which means they can warm the water faster. As was mentioned, a 200,000 may be too small for your pool. I did not do the math to calculate the volume(gallons) but knowing the dimensions, the 400,000 will work better. However, a 400,000 heater will drain a 100# propane bottle in about 5 hours

 

[tvassas]

Thanks for the advice. The pool is like 40000 gallons. I think propane in Virginia from the place we get it is like $3.50 or so a gallon(but ill have to call and find out). Currently our propane tank runs our Insta-hot(instead of hot water heater) and runs our auxiliary heat in winter when temp drops below 32 degrees. We do not have natural gas available in my neighborhood.
I am gonna pass on the deal the guy has and see what he has for a 400k unit and a heat pump as well and compare prices. If the better investment over time is heat pump we will go with that.