Jandy JXi verus older MiniMax NT

[jeffbg]

I have an in-ground spa but no pool in my current house. Came with all Pentair equipment, with a MiniMax NT heater. Takes quite a while to heat the spa. Of particular note is that my heater is a LONG ways way from the spa itself.

I have been considering swapping this older heater for something like a Jandy JXi, but don't want to sink in the cost of the upgrade unless it will make a notable improvement in the time to heat the spa.

Any opinions on the gains I might see if I swap the two heaters?

Thanks!

- Jeff

 

[setsailsoon]

400K for any typical sized spa should be plenty and heat it up very quickly. How big and old is your spa? What area do you live in? If you use TFP methodology your heater should last 15+ years or more with good maintenance practices. Before you ditch the heater I'd do some trouble shooting to be sure it's not something easy to fix. Could just you need to clear obstructions to airflow or clean or something like that.

If you do switch out and you do it yourself I would avoid Jandy. Most major brands reduce warranty periods for DIY and for heaters that's OK with me since if they fail it's almost always very early. Jandy cuts your warranty to zero - not acceptable to this DIYer. Pentair and all majors (including Jandy) make great equipment. Rapak also has a great reputation on this forum. Several experts have good commentary on this product.

I hope this helps.

Chris

 

[jeffbg]

Chris,

Thanks for the reply. My setup is probably 12 years old give or take, and I live in Southern California. As far as I know, there are no obstructions or bubbles. I guess I'm trying to estimate the improvement in functional, not "rated" efficiency between these two heaters. A quick calculation says that I'm getting around 70-80% efficiency. I'm estimating my spa at 1000 gal, maybe a bit more. Takes around 1-1.5 hrs to heat it 30+ degrees. So I need around 240K BTU to heat 1000 gal of water 30 degrees if I did my math right, so around 1 hr or a bit more makes sense, and since my spa is a long ways from the heater, I have to have heat loss during transmission.

If the new heater is 10-15% more efficient, I use less gas and save maybe 10 minutes off the time to heat. Maybe not worth it all things being equal.

I probably would not DIY, especially with the integration with older automation and instead have an installer do the work. I too have heard great things about Raypak, but the installer that was recommended really likes the Jandy.

Thanks again!

- Jeff