Heat pump heating much less than expected - but maybe normal?

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Ticojpunk said:
It's just be a frustratingly cool start to the pool season here in NY, and NE US in general.
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It’s been the same here (coastal mid Atlantic). Today was the first day since we opened in early May it was warm enough to use the pool (air in mid 80s, pool temp hit 79 [no heater]). This is the first season since 2004 that we weren’t swimming daily by mid May.
 
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Saturn94 said:
It’s been the same here (coastal mid Atlantic). Today was the first day since we opened in early May it was warm enough to use the pool (air in mid 80s, pool temp hit 79 [no heater]). This is the first season since 2004 that we weren’t swimming daily by mid May.
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Yeah, unfortunate that of course the year I put a pool in it's a challenging beginning to the season weather-wise. I remember June's of past being really hot the last few weeks of school. Normally, I'd be loving the 70s days and cool nights, but once you're a pool owner, you want that heat!
 
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sktn77a said:
The heatpump is undoubtedly working at its rated capacity. My 250,000 BTU gas heater raises my 15,000 gal pool temperature by about 1 degree per hour.
Residential heatpumps are typically half this output (or less, for an above ground).
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VERY helpful. Thank you! I do realize a more powerful heater would be doing more, but as long as what I've got is doing what it's normally capable of, then I'm happy. And it sounds like it is. You have 5x the BTU so I think considering what I've got mine is doing a decent job.
 
The high vs low flow of the water through a heater (HP or gas) has a minimal effect (not enough for anyone to tell) on how fast the pool is heated. From a thermodynamic and engineering point of view faster flow (with a smaller temp rise in return water) would be faster (as long as there is no cavition). Heat moves better the bigger the difference between hot and cold. For a pool heater this does not make a difference as most pool heaters have features to limit the flow to the best range for working heating equipment. On gas heaters the flow is generally limited from getting too high to keep prevent condensation from forming in the heater (i am not aware of any condensing gas pool heaters). At the same time if the flow is to low the heat being produced in the heater is not removed quick enough and at some point the heater will turn off the burner till the internal temp drops before turning the burner on again. In this case you will not be getting the full output potential of the heater. On a heat pump i would guess a similar is does to limit dissolved solids from being precipitating out.
 
Finally worked out how to deal with a solar blanket, so I picked up an undersized one, 18' cover for my 21' pool. Makes it much easier to deal with by myself, and wow, made quite a difference. We had some really, really breezy pool-heat-stealing days that inspired me to go out Father's Day morning and grab one. Now I've got my pool up to a little over 83 F (still hasn't gotten much past 75 outside lately, and my pool only has direct sun for 2 hours a day max). I can really feel the pump working when the water temp is now up over 80. Still haven't gotten an 80+ degree day but looking forward to seeing how the heat pump operates once we're up over 80 air temp and humidity gets up a bit.

Bottom line, I've accepted solar blanket is a must with a heat pump (it's not a replacement for one!), unless you live in super warm climate and have tons of direct sun. Sadly, even my local pool store said "don't bother" when I asked about a solar cover when I was purchasing the pool. Bad advice for sure. The cover is definitely a bit of a chore to put on and take off, but I am getting some hooks for the side of my little pool deck. Should work just fine for keeping the cover off the ground and in the shade 100% of the time when not on the pool.
 
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MITBeta said:
I cut my 24' round pool cover in half. It's much easier to deal with that way. The two halves generally sit nicely together without much movement or overlap unless there's considerable wind.
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I had definitely considered that. On a calm night I can see that working just fine. Less so though on a windy night. I like to keep my cover on during the day when I’m running the heater and the current makes it spin round and round and round. I can imagine two haves could potentially overlap.
 
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