Question about Teledyne Laars heater

[txgal]

I am heating our pool for the first time this season. We have only owned the pool/house for a year and heated the pool on a couple of occasions and we heat the spa regularly. When I heat the pool or spa I turn on the heater and set the temperature from our Aqualink system in the house and I don't do anything with any of the equipment outside. So looking at the heater today, I noticed a dial for "spa, off, pool", and currently it is set to "spa". When I am heating the pool, as opposed to the the spa, should I go outside and turn the dial to "pool"? Will this heat my pool faster? I have tried to look online for a manual for this heater (Teledyne Laars Series 2, Model ESC), but all I can find is the blown up parts diagram.

Thank you as always for your help! I really don't know what I would do without all of the help from this site!

 

[launboy]

I'm not 100% sure because I don't own one myself, but the knob may be so you can set one temp for the spa, and one temp for the pool, then just switch between modes without messing with the temps. This probably only applies if you control the heater using its panel.

My other guess is that it is a limit. The Spa side might have the limit set to 104 and the pool side might have it set lower, like 90-92 or something.

HTH,
Adam

 

[JasonLion]

The AquaLink is over-riding the thermostat in the pool heater, turning the pool heater on and off based on it's own temperature sensor. The heater should be set to a temperature a little hotter than you would ever want, so that it heats any time it has power, unless the water gets too hot (which will only happen if the AquaLink is malfunctioning).

 

[txgal]

Thank you! I won't touch anything on the heater then. I started wondering because when I felt the water coming out of the returns in the pool it didn't feel as hot as the water coming out of the returns when we are heating just the spa. It seems to take about 1 hour per degree to heat the pool. Is this about normal?

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, slow heating is normal. Pools require huge amounts of heat to change temperature.

 

[jkalan]

1 hour per degree is what I usually plan on when heating mine. I suspect most pool heaters are sized for that, or close to it.