Looking for a pool heater and do not know which way to go

ja3372

Member
Jun 6, 2019
13
New Jersey
Pool Size
11000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
So the great northeast pool season is open unlike most of the country we got a solid 3 months of pool season and for the most part you get a solid 2 months of warm water. I'm looking to change that, with the cool nights my pool has been struggling to break 65 degrees. My wife and I are looking to purchase a heater. We are on a semi budget probably looking to go the propane route. Our small above ground pool is 11,000 gallons with a Hayward Power-Flo LX 1.0 HP pump, Hayward DE filter and inline chlorinator. Been following threads on here to learn about water chemistry for the past year and have become pretty good at in home testing and the water in my pool and spa has been cleaner than ever. Any recommendations for a good heater would be welcomed with open arms. Thank you all!
 
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I take it you do not have a natural gas line available?

Look at...


It will heat your 11,000 gallon pool about 1 degree per hour.
 
Unfortunately no we have oil heat heat here. I think propane going to be my best bet, I called my local pool store but the high school kids running the place did not have much insight. I'm also trying to find out what size propane tank I would need.
 
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Propane1 gallon = 91,452 BTU

So the 110,000 BTU heater will use about 1.2 gallons of propane per hour of running to add 1 degree of heat to the pool.

I think the larger the propane tank the better.
 
Does the heat pump run off of 220V? I have read a little about the heat pumps, BTU's look different as well
Yes, heat pumps are that voltage. The largest heat pumps are in the range of 150k BTU. A gas-fired heater will always give you its maximum amount of heat, but at a cost. Heat pumps draw their heat from the ambient air temp but are incredibly efficient.
 
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I agree that a heat pump is most likely your best option. That too won't be cheap to run, but almost certainly more economical that propane. A pool heater is going to need a pretty large tank, not just for the volume of propane needed, but also to provide enough surface area to be able to evaporate enough liquid propane to feed the heater.
 
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