Heat pump dilemma - repair and recharge, or replace?

[Melt In The Sun]

Hi TFP
My 2005-era Pentair heat pump has leaked out all of its R-22. To repair the leak would be a couple hundred bucks, then to recharge would be 15 lbs of R-22 at....about $150/lb. Paying about $2500 to repair a 12-year old HP seems like a poor decision.

We use this heat pump a couple times each spring and fall, just to bump the temperature up a bit. We don't have a spa.

So I have a few options:
1) pay for the repair/recharge on the existing HP
2) get a new HP (Raypak seems to be recommended around here)
3) switch to a gas heater. (much cheaper to buy but needs gas line)
4) suck it up and learn to enjoy a pool cooler than 85 degrees.

I'm thinking option 2 or 4 but would welcome other opinions. Running a new gas line would be a big ordeal - pulling and replacing a bunch of pavers and working around existing AC compressors in a very narrow side yard.

 

[pooldv]

1. No
2. Yes
3. No
4. Terrible idea!

Since you barely use it and barely need it, get a small cheap heat pump. I added a Hayward HP50HA last fall. It is 50k btu and "only" cost 1500 bucks. It has bought us a lot of swim days. 3 out of 4 weekends last October and we started swimming March 13th this year. It would add about a degree every 2 hours or so to your pool. There are pics in my pool thread, link in sig.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Thanks...kinda what I thought!