Recommendation needed: Reliable and quiet heat pump

[usfmagic]

Hi everyone!

I'm in 'need' of a pool heat pump and would like to get your thoughts on a quality heat pump for an in-ground quartz pool. I've asked a few contractors and they have each disparaged certain brands (like Rheem and Pentair) so I'd rather here the opinions of the community.

My main concerns are:
1: Reliable
2: Noise level
3: Cost... I know these can be pricey but spending 7k+ seems like a bit much for my needs as I'm in central Florida.

Luckily, I have a slab and electrical ready to go as the family who we purchased the home from once had a heat pump.

I don't have a huge pool (roughly 14k gal) but was thinking of going with the highest btu variant of whatever is recommended (typically 140k btu from what I've seen) for efficiency and speed.... but I'm no expert.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[1poolman1]

Hi everyone!

I'm in 'need' of a pool heat pump and would like to get your thoughts on a quality heat pump for an in-ground quartz pool. I've asked a few contractors and they have each disparaged certain brands (like Rheem and Pentair) so I'd rather here the opinions of the community.

My main concerns are:
1: Reliable
2: Noise level
3: Cost... I know these can be pricey but spending 7k+ seems like a bit much for my needs as I'm in central Florida.

Luckily, I have a slab and electrical ready to go as the family who we purchased the home from once had a heat pump.

I don't have a huge pool (roughly 14k gal) but was thinking of going with the highest btu variant of whatever is recommended (typically 140k btu from what I've seen) for efficiency and speed.... but I'm no expert.

Any help is appreciated.

Everyone has a preferred brand. Rheem is a company that is in the HVAC business so they have experience with heat pumps. Pentair in in the pool-parts business, so they are "newcomers" by comparison. You also have a very large pool heat-pump manufacturer in Florida, AquaCal. They make a line of heat pumps.
That price doesn't seem out of line as the units themselves, for one as large as you want, are over $5K.

 

[pjt]

Do you have automation? Fill out your signature when you have a minute.

Rheem/Raypak and AquaCal make good heat pumps, although you'd be fine with most major brands as well.

 

[usfmagic]

Do you have automation? Fill out your signature when you have a minute.

Rheem/Raypak and AquaCal make good heat pumps, although you'd be fine with most major brands as well.

I have a basic 18 year old pentair panel but an automation system will definitely be part of this so I'm not sure which way to go yet. I keep reading that Jandy's auqalink is the way to go so not sure what heaters work with it. I have a pentair intelliflo variable speed pool pump and was looking into the pentair intellibrite architectural series color leds so I need to take that into consideration.

I was honestly thinking of just keeping everything simple and going with pentair everything and calling it a day

 

[1poolman1]

I have a basic 18 year old pentair panel but an automation system will definitely be part of this so I'm not sure which way to go yet. I keep reading that Jandy's auqalink is the way to go so not sure what heaters work with it. I have a pentair intelliflo variable speed pool pump and was looking into the pentair intellibrite architectural series color leds so I need to take that into consideration.

I was honestly thinking of just keeping everything simple and going with pentair everything and calling it a day

Virtually any brand of controller will work with any brand of heat pump. The difference is in how much control you want over the actual heater. All will control the temperature that the heater heats to, either by direct control (and feedback) or just by using the heater's own controls.
I'm not a big fan of totally integrated equipment as it is more difficult to troubleshoot when there is a problem, and I'm in the repair business more than the sell new business. Also don't like being locked into one brand.
My experience tells me that once the "newness" of a system wears off, most are content to set and forget what the pool does. Having all the same brand of equipment does look nice, but how often do you showcase the pool equipment.

 

[rcs29]

I have a Rheem R8450Ti-E-Hc. This is only my 2nd season with it but it's been exactly what I had hoped for. It's a heat pump and chiller. With my 10/11k gallon pool it does an amazing job heating up rather quickly. So far I'd give it a big thumbs up but, like most things, time will tell if it holds up.