New heater advice

[sblattert]

I am in need of a new heater. Mine never fired last year, but we were lucky to have a warm summer and never needed it. My pool is a 20x40 igp, with around 35,000 gal, and I do use a solar blanket. I live in Michigan, so could use the extra help when pool drops below desired temps. My current heater is a 220,000 btu Laars lite 2.

I am most likely picking between Raypak and Pentair heaters. What size should I go with? The price difference is not that big so if 400,000 is best, than thats fine. But, if the 336,000 btu Raypak is good enough, than don't need over kill. I just want to make sure I am getting the correct one, because it is a lot of money, and don't want to waste it.

Also, from what I have read the cuproNickel is not necessary, but doesn't add too much to the price, so is it something I should get for another $100? Any other advice welcome! Thanks for any help!

Steve

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Also, do I need to be worried about the size of the gas line when increasing to ofrom my smaller heater?

 

[ps0303]

Raypak always gets my pick. If you can swing the 400K BTU, go for it. The 336K unit is what I call an oddball size. With the 400K you will obviously get a faster heat up time.

Cupro nickel? Well I don't think it is necessary as it doesn't buy you much other than a little bit more time if you don't maintain your pool chemicals correctly. The choice is yours.

 

[pooldv]

Yes, you need to make sure you gas service can support the larger heater. The bigger the heater the faster it will heat your pool. It doesn't cost any more to heat your pool with a bigger heater.

 

[sblattert]

Not sure on how large of a supply pipe I have now. How big would I need for a 400k heater? Thanks

 

[kadavis]

http://cdn.globalimageserver.com/fetchDocument.aspx?id=9858dad5-021a-4216-b0d5-1e29edd2f913, this will have the information you need

 

[borjis]

How far away is your heater from the gas meter?

 

[sblattert]

Approx. 40 ft or so

 

[sblattert]

Here is a pic of the gas line coming in. Looks like at least an inch -1.5 " black pipe, tappered down to maybe .5" or .75" going into the heater. Is this sufficient?

 

[CJadamec]

If you have 40ft (equivalent length which includes pipe and fittings) of pipe you will need 1-1/4" pipe to supply 400kbtu of natural gas. Most likely you have 1" pipe installed currently for your 220kbtu. 1" pipe at 40ft is rated for 273kbtu of gas flow.

 

[sblattert]

Here is the pic. Think its 1.5" looks to be the same size as the return lines from my pool. Will that be enough?

 

[CJadamec]

I can't tell what pipe size that is from here. Look on the fittings to see if they have a size marking some of them do. You need to verify with your gas company that your meter can handle enough flow if you haven't already. Looking at the size of the pip feeding it is only part of the answer you need to know what your meter and supply service is rated for.

 

[sblattert]

So I guess I'm kinda stupid. Upon closer inspection, the black pipe is like my pool line, but has a yellow gas line inside of it. I still can't quite see what size the line is, so will have to get more into it this weekend. I guess the good news is that if I need to pull a larger size pipe, I should be able to snake it through the existing black pipe. I spoke to a guy at inyopools yesterday to get some more info and he said with my length run, I would be fine with and 1 1/4" gas line.