Pool newbie seeking pool heating advice

[heyitsal]

In ground pool, 15x35, located in east bay California. (Contra costa county). Broken heater, no solar, no cover, nothing at the moment.,

Married, kid less than a year old. Wife and I like to host and will want to use pool on weekends. Maybe the occasional dip during the week. A bonus would be to go in connected spa at night or even in colder seasons, but that’s just a bonus and would only be a couple times a month at most.

My options seems to be…

1 - get a solar cover

And/or

2 - replace heater
3 - get solar panels

Seems like getting a solar cover is something I should do regardless of whether I want to replace. Especially with spring and summer coming, where it’s consistently 90’s, sometimes 100’s, a cover would help bring up the temp and negate the need for a heater/panels.

I’m thinking I can just start with that and come late Oct when things start to cool, I can figure out what I want to do then? Wife and I will of course just have to be ok with no spa till we figure out whether we want to do heater / solar panel (or neither).

Questions:

- is it realistic to expect a solar cover to be able to warm / keep warm the pool to around 83-85 degrees from April to October?

- are reels my most compromising option between costs and conveniency? Other extremes being manual vs automatic.

- are there any other considerations I’m missing with deciding to a) just stick with the solar cover or b), deciding between heater and panels if I were to get one of those?

- is there some magical formula or website where I could get a rough idea on what gas might look like in both swim and off season? If I were to go with a heater?

Thanks so much in advance.

 

[ajw22]

Raypak Gas Pool Heater Sizer​

Raypak has a Gas Pool Heater Sizer. It tells you the Temperature Rise/Hr and Natural Gas and Propane costs to heat a pool in your local area to selected temperature by month. Adjust the natural gas cost and propane cost in the lower left to your local gas prices for accurate costs.

Heat Pump Calculator​

Pentair has a Heat Pump Calculator to determine the appropriate size Heat Pump for your location. Pentair seems to do honest calculations based on the physics and efficiencies of each type of pump and energy source.

Raypak also has a Heat Pump Heater Sizing App.

To get the most accurate cost comparison you should change the default electric kwh, natural gas price, and propane price to actual prices in your area.

 

[ajw22]

Read threads about peoples experience with a solar cover…

Google search results

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[adl6009]

Good luck with the new pool. Stay with TFP, folks here have been very helpful to me over the years.
I always wondered if there were actual tests done to verify the effectiveness of solar covers. May I offer my own experiences for the last 20 years as a pool owner? Years 1 to 5- No heater just a solar cover. Being on Long Island we have a fairly short season. The sun doesn't get warm really until May, on top of that my pool in in the shadow of a large tree for half the day. Consequently we barley got above 80F all season. I prefer 90 + so the kids were the predominate swimmers, and there were complaints sometimes.
Years 5 - 10 I added a heat pump. The sales material said it took heat out of the air and put it in the pool. Well it did do this but very slowly. After opening it would take about 1 week to get the pool up maybe 15 degrees. hover around 85 wasn't too bad. I ran the heat pump a lot to keep the temp up. I also watched the power meter spin like a top. $$$ I bought the stuff that claimed it would be frugal equipment, I don't think it was really.
Next ten years- I installed a nat gas 33000btu heater. Never been happier. I can get a 5 degree rise in just a few hours. Runs a lot quieter than the heat pump. (Blows a lot of cold air out the top of the unit, it's a little loud, but what really bothered me the house ac unit was right next to it blowing hot air out. Just didn't seem right.)
Now to the solar cover. Always had a solar cover. Always covered the pool. The first 5 years didn't see much advantage to it. Pool was always pretty cool. With the heat pump I thought that maybe it did help some. Now with the real heater my goal is to use the cover at night. Cover the water with a blanket to cut back on radiant cooling.
What I don't like about the solar cover is that it impedes water flow from the jets to the skimmers. I find my pool is just a little dirtier, stuff that doesn't skim out tend to sink. Stuff that lands on the cover gets dumped into the pool when you uncover it.
This post demonstrates 2 immutable truths about pools and their owners. It takes work to keep a clean and fresh pool, and pool owners can be long winded.