Gas heater

[Mik]

My 7,500k gallon pool currently has solar heating which was damaged (leaking) when we bought the house.

I am considering replacing with a gas heater. A gas heater seems ideal for us. Our pool is small so loses temperature quickly but it would be nice to be able to hit a button and a few hours later have nice warm water.

We have a gas water heater not too far from the pool equipment which seems to have a 3/4 natural gas line going to it. Would this be sufficient to run a heater if the installer tees into it? I don't want to have to run a new pipe from the meter which is on the other side of the house.

 

[jblizzle]

Only a very small heater ... maybe ... not sure they make them that small.

Pool heaters generally use much more BTUs that your entire house. They use a tremendous amount of gas.
Likely the water heater is a 40-50k BTU heater ... pool heaters are 250-400k BTUs.
I have a 3/4" pipe running to my entire house (water heater, furnace, dryer, cook top) and a 1.25" pipe running to my pool heater.

 

[stebs]

Gas pipe sizing is dependent on total length from meter or pressure regulator, number and types of fittings used along that path, and total worst case btu load... I'm guessing 3/4" is going to be too small though...

 

[jblizzle]

That is a good point, I do not know if the pressures used are the same in OZ as they are in AZ

Likely need to talk to an installer.