I'm on the fence between solar and heat pump. Right now we can't afford both. We live on the treasure coast in FL and our roof faces due south. We have an attached spa, so either way we need an electric heater. we bought the house two years ago and it had an older Hayward electric spa heater in use (we still have it). Last year we gambled on a used Heat pump (gulfstream) and this week it died:grrrr:. We loved the heat pump last winter for it's ability to quickly heat the pool and spa on mostly weekends. The costs were so much lower than the spa heater we used the year before. Our son is getting older and we would like to use the pool more regularly, compared to just weekends last winter.
So the questions...
Thanks so much in advance. Love this forum.
So the questions...
- With the higher cost of heating the spa with the electric heater, am I really going to save that much more money with a solar/spa heater combo over a heat pump in the long run?
- Will running the solar to bring the spa up to temp during the day help a lot, reducing the cost of the spa heater running? But then I'm losing circulation in the pool?
- I assume that I will lose 3 maybe 4 months of swimming with the solar option?
Thanks so much in advance. Love this forum.