So, family has me considering a heater for the pool (pool got cold in the past week or so, making swimming suddenly less enjoyable). Wanted to lay out what I've got going on and talk through it, get some opinions, etc.
First off, I have a gas heater, but it's never worked since I bought the house. Had it inspected, something about the gas line not being sized right, or the meter wasn't big enough, etc. About a $3500 fix either way, and the heater itself is probably 8-10 years old, so would have to factor replacing that unit into the cost of any heating fix if I went the gas route.
Pool is also a bit of an odd shape; not exactly kidney shaped, but sorta if the kidney had a third lobe such that there's a bigger shallow end and then a ramp leading to a large, somewhat circular deep end. Long way of saying I don't cover it, as it would be a pain, and a disincentive to go for a quick dip. That and I'd be dragging the cover through the grass, constantly getting stuff in the pool, etc.
The rest of the gear is on the older side, but all holding up ok at the moment. Controlled by a Hayward AquaLogic controller, SWG cell (T-15, likely needs replacement in the spring), big sand filter, older single-speed pump, but spins freely and never had any issues aside from a gasket I replaced last summer. Roughly 26k gallons, as near as I can determine from trial and error with chemicals and their effect on the testing. No spa or water features. Added to that, I've got 2 LED lights in the pool, but currently not working. One died two years ago, but I never use them so no big deal. Turned them on last year and now the breaker trips, so assume the one that died got water inside of it, but haven't investigated further. If the pool was heated, lights and night swims become possible, so another one for the list. Don't have much control over the lights other than on/off, and hit it a bunch of times to change the default color. Would be nicer to be part of the timer system, or have remote control.
SO... Considering a heat pump heater. Figure it'll be cheaper than the combo of new gas heater plus fixing whatever's going on with the gas line. More efficient, will maintain heat rather than having it off and then burning on the weekends to bring up again. Obviously already a spot on my equipment pad if I replace the gas heater and plumb this in, and it's got easy access to the basement where the electrical panels are. Pool sub-panel outside is fed by a 50A breaker; is that enough to feed everything if I add a heat pump? Assuming I need one of the big boys, which looks like the 140k BTU size. Panel would be running that, the pump, and then the controller and lights. Will feel good to start if I'm not already doing major reworking of the house; and my existing AC units are each running off of a 30A breaker, so if the pump should probably be sized for a 20A and then the other stuff isn't drawing much power, I'm probably close but hopefully still good?
From there, can/should I just add the heater, or am I headed down a rabbit hole of replacing other equipment? No idea if this older AquaLogic board plays nicely with a newer heat pump for control or if that will need something newer/smarter for the two to interface better. Am I good with the old single-speed pump, or is that another one I may have to consider getting 'smarter' to work with a newer control board? As mentioned, I've got a SWG, so unsure of the dynamics between the time I need to run the pump to make chlorine and the time I need to run the pump to make heat. Don't want to manually set a SWG percentage and have the heater control how often the pump runs (and vary the number), but don't want to be rigid to the SWG schedule and not have the pump running often enough to keep heat production up. Obviously if the heat is less often than the SWG needs the pump, it'll just sense temp and not run the heater, so not worried about it in that direction. In my current setup (when the SWG worked better), I ran the pump 8 hours a day, in two 4-hour blocks, and the SWG was at 50% output. Kept a nice solid 5ppm FC going.
Heater will obviously have it's own onboard controller, just unsure of whether it talks to the controller I have to demand 'extra' pump time if it needs to make heat, or if I set it to a temp it will just be cold because the timer for the SWG portion is shutting the pump off due to it's own schedule.
And then how bad am I wasting ALL of this if I don't intend to really cover the pool? Looking to really just add mid-june to early July and Mid-August to Mid-September to the 'swimmable' range, it usually sits around 80 or so as-is during the rest of the summer. Would likely use the Heat pump to bump it up a couple of degrees then, but no heavy lifting. It's about mid-70s in the water right now, so a little brisk, which sucks for August. I could get some round, smaller covers and try to do what I can for the surface, or there's the liquid solar cover stuff, although I'm not sure how effective that really is...
Sorry for the long story, but thought I'd throw out all my thoughts and see what people recommended. Don't want to spend a fortune, but if I am going to put money in, want to do it right and get the right stuff and have it last. Help?
First off, I have a gas heater, but it's never worked since I bought the house. Had it inspected, something about the gas line not being sized right, or the meter wasn't big enough, etc. About a $3500 fix either way, and the heater itself is probably 8-10 years old, so would have to factor replacing that unit into the cost of any heating fix if I went the gas route.
Pool is also a bit of an odd shape; not exactly kidney shaped, but sorta if the kidney had a third lobe such that there's a bigger shallow end and then a ramp leading to a large, somewhat circular deep end. Long way of saying I don't cover it, as it would be a pain, and a disincentive to go for a quick dip. That and I'd be dragging the cover through the grass, constantly getting stuff in the pool, etc.
The rest of the gear is on the older side, but all holding up ok at the moment. Controlled by a Hayward AquaLogic controller, SWG cell (T-15, likely needs replacement in the spring), big sand filter, older single-speed pump, but spins freely and never had any issues aside from a gasket I replaced last summer. Roughly 26k gallons, as near as I can determine from trial and error with chemicals and their effect on the testing. No spa or water features. Added to that, I've got 2 LED lights in the pool, but currently not working. One died two years ago, but I never use them so no big deal. Turned them on last year and now the breaker trips, so assume the one that died got water inside of it, but haven't investigated further. If the pool was heated, lights and night swims become possible, so another one for the list. Don't have much control over the lights other than on/off, and hit it a bunch of times to change the default color. Would be nicer to be part of the timer system, or have remote control.
SO... Considering a heat pump heater. Figure it'll be cheaper than the combo of new gas heater plus fixing whatever's going on with the gas line. More efficient, will maintain heat rather than having it off and then burning on the weekends to bring up again. Obviously already a spot on my equipment pad if I replace the gas heater and plumb this in, and it's got easy access to the basement where the electrical panels are. Pool sub-panel outside is fed by a 50A breaker; is that enough to feed everything if I add a heat pump? Assuming I need one of the big boys, which looks like the 140k BTU size. Panel would be running that, the pump, and then the controller and lights. Will feel good to start if I'm not already doing major reworking of the house; and my existing AC units are each running off of a 30A breaker, so if the pump should probably be sized for a 20A and then the other stuff isn't drawing much power, I'm probably close but hopefully still good?
From there, can/should I just add the heater, or am I headed down a rabbit hole of replacing other equipment? No idea if this older AquaLogic board plays nicely with a newer heat pump for control or if that will need something newer/smarter for the two to interface better. Am I good with the old single-speed pump, or is that another one I may have to consider getting 'smarter' to work with a newer control board? As mentioned, I've got a SWG, so unsure of the dynamics between the time I need to run the pump to make chlorine and the time I need to run the pump to make heat. Don't want to manually set a SWG percentage and have the heater control how often the pump runs (and vary the number), but don't want to be rigid to the SWG schedule and not have the pump running often enough to keep heat production up. Obviously if the heat is less often than the SWG needs the pump, it'll just sense temp and not run the heater, so not worried about it in that direction. In my current setup (when the SWG worked better), I ran the pump 8 hours a day, in two 4-hour blocks, and the SWG was at 50% output. Kept a nice solid 5ppm FC going.
Heater will obviously have it's own onboard controller, just unsure of whether it talks to the controller I have to demand 'extra' pump time if it needs to make heat, or if I set it to a temp it will just be cold because the timer for the SWG portion is shutting the pump off due to it's own schedule.
And then how bad am I wasting ALL of this if I don't intend to really cover the pool? Looking to really just add mid-june to early July and Mid-August to Mid-September to the 'swimmable' range, it usually sits around 80 or so as-is during the rest of the summer. Would likely use the Heat pump to bump it up a couple of degrees then, but no heavy lifting. It's about mid-70s in the water right now, so a little brisk, which sucks for August. I could get some round, smaller covers and try to do what I can for the surface, or there's the liquid solar cover stuff, although I'm not sure how effective that really is...
Sorry for the long story, but thought I'd throw out all my thoughts and see what people recommended. Don't want to spend a fortune, but if I am going to put money in, want to do it right and get the right stuff and have it last. Help?
