Advice on heat pump purchase

[pool812]

Looking to add heat to extend pool season spring and fall, not too concerned about spa use during winter. Leaning towards a heat pump since we have no access to natural gas and the high cost of propane although we do have a buried propane tank.

Leslie's is having a sale on their brand of heat pump which is Sunrunner which is supposedly built by Aqua Cal. Not much info turns up online for sunrunner equipment so I though I would check here.

It seems that Aqua Cal is a solid brand from what I have seen, but no clue about Sunrunner.

Advice?

 

[robl45]

I would use the propane, just my opinion unless you have a variable speed pump then it might be okay. The heat pump is very slow to heat, so in the summer when you don't need it, it works great, in times when its cooler, you will be running it 24/7 and a 2hp pump running 24/7 is going to be ridiculously expensive. I tried it first season with my heat pump heating the pool in winter, my bill was 500 plus a month on electric. Spa took an hour or so to heat up.

As for the brand, I don't know anything about it, although I believe aqua cal is supposed to be good. I had a hayward heat pump at the old house we just sold and it broke all the time. I must have had someone out for warranty repairs at least 7 times during the warranty period.

 

[pool812]

The consensus seems to be that a heat pump in my part of Florida is the way to go. The main attractions to getting a propane heater would be a lower initial cost to purchase and install and a quicker heat up time.

In our case my wife is not too keen on the spa when it is cold out so heat is mainly wanted to lengthen the swim season. Today my pool is 82 with the solar blanket which isn't bad but a little cooler than we would like. Right now 85 or 86 would be better and we would like to keep it nice for another few weeks or until the weather cools to the point where we won't want to swim.

So far I have little good info to use in which brand would be dependable or at least what to stay away from. Thanks.

 

[robl45]

The consensus seems to be that a heat pump in my part of Florida is the way to go. The main attractions to getting a propane heater would be a lower initial cost to purchase and install and a quicker heat up time.

In our case my wife is not too keen on the spa when it is cold out so heat is mainly wanted to lengthen the swim season. Today my pool is 82 with the solar blanket which isn't bad but a little cooler than we would like. Right now 85 or 86 would be better and we would like to keep it nice for another few weeks or until the weather cools to the point where we won't want to swim.

So far I have little good info to use in which brand would be dependable or at least what to stay away from. Thanks.

I"m from south florida and that was my experience, with a solar cover, probably be better, but wife through mine out as she doesn't deal with things like saving money

The heat pump is basically an air conditioner so they all should be relatively similar. I would go for the one with the best warranty. You may want to look online, thats where I got my hayward heat pump years back and it was much cheaper than local even with shipping. Also Craigslist can have some good deals I noticed recently when looking around at houses where I might have needed to add a heat pump.