Heating entire pool for 1st time

[travelfeedsthesoul]

@travelfeedsthesoul, @PoolGate

You guys are confusing the heck out of me. One of y'all needs to take a new avatar pic. Like a different light color or something. I'm sitting here scrolling through reading, not really paying attention to the names, just seeing the pic out of my peripheral thinking "why does he keep responding to himself?" Then I actually read the names!

--Jeff

I'm gonna change my pool light color just for you Jeff. Hang tight!

 

[travelfeedsthesoul]

Couldn't find another night shot with better lighting so just changed to this. No more confusion!

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Ha! Looks great!

--Jeff

 

[trafficdoc]

Hello all,

We're in the Houston area and with the weather warming up slightly, I'd like to test out my pool heater to ensure it works before my PB warranty expires in August. We've heated the spa but it usually only requires 45 mins max to heat it from like 55 degrees to 100. I'd like some advice on how to go about heating the entire pool.

1) Any specific steps I need to follow to heat the entire pool. I'm trying to get the temp to 88-90 degrees. Any lower feels too cold for us with the evening air temps getting down to 60s.

2) Do I need to adjust my pump schedule to run for 24 hours so the pool keeps heating?

3) Currently, pool temp is 60 degrees and air is 75, assume I'm okay with heating the pool. I heard somewhere that at low water temps, a pool should not be heated as the heater will be damaged. Is this true? I'm just curious about this for future winters so would like to get more advice on when not to heat a pool.

Thanks!

We are a first year pool owner and used our heater a few times this winter here in Florida. It brings up the water temp approximately 2 degrees/hour and costs me about $20 in electric costs for the first 24 hours, then less the following days once I got the water temp initially high (88 degrees). I switch my pump to manual (instead of a "schedule" run) and set it at 1500. My heater has a set point that it will shut off when the water temp gets to my desired temp of 88 degrees. I probably would not do this more than a couple times a winter as it can be costly, but since we had a run of air temps in the 80's for a few days we wanted to swim! Pay attention to your chlorine levels because when the water temp is cold, the pool uses less chlorine...but once you heat the water and start swimming, the chlorine level will drop.