Heating in Arizona

[jamiedan]

Just in the process of getting quotations for a new pool.

Keen to hear from anyone in Arizona on their experiences of heating the pool. We will not be getting a Spa so I'm keen to avoid gas which seems prohibitively expensive to run.

I'm veering towards a heat pump but I'm amazed at the lack of knowledge of the PBs on them. I'd consider solar but I'm not convinced and not sure I want the panels on the roof.

I know without gas I won't be able to swim 365 days of the year but I want the best compromise where I'm not going to be dreading opening the utility bill at the end of the month!

Obviously I know we'll need a cover whatever the option, I'd love an automatic one but they seem to be around $10k which is hard to justify.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Where in Arizona are you? In my opinion, if you live in the low desert (Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma, etc) there's no need to get a gas heater unless you have a spa. Since you won't, I'd strike it from consideration.

I have a heat pump and rarely use it. Generally, if you keep your solar cover on, the air is getting too chilly for swimming by the time the water cools too much. I've bumped the heat up to swim in March, and have heated it up at Thanksgiving once. Heating from ~60 to 90 for a week in November cost me less than $50, but it took a long time to get it up to temp.

If I were starting from scratch like you are, I'd get solar. Cheapest to run, and we get plenty of sun down here. I bet you could heat your pool to 120 degrees in July!

 

[eline65]

You might be able to mount a solar heater on a patio cover for shade, making it dual use. Or on top of a tool shed if it's strong enough for the extra weight. It doesn't have to be on the roof. Just a place where it can get the best sun exposure. Seeing how the sun is so far south in the winter, you don't need line of sight straight up since pools naturally get to around 80 during the peek summer months here (I'm in Mesa), but more toward the southern sky would be more ideal.

 

[chem geek]

If you get solar, then you can run it at night to cool the pool in the heat of the summer since the bigger problem in July is keeping the water cooler. This is one reason why pool covers aren't normally used in Arizona because evaporation is done intentionally to keep the water cooler (though that obviously wastes a lot of water). Technically, if you had an opaque white or reflecting insulating cover, you could prevent excessive heating during the day and cool the pool using solar, but I haven't heard of anyone doing that.

I've been told that cartridge filters aren't normally used in Arizona due to the large amount of sand that gets blown into the pool and clogs the filter. Sand or DE filters that can backwash are much easier to clean in this situation. Perhaps some PBs that service Arizona can chime in for their perspective.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Chem Geek,
I have a cart filter and clean it once a year; no problems here.

Evaporation really cools the water a lot, even when it's extremely hot outside. It also makes you really cold when you get out, no matter how hot the air temperature is!

 

[Kevin_ellis1]

I live in Vegas and we are just a little cooler than phoenix in the summer. I have solar on my pool/spa and we swam until about Oct 15th. When I heated the pool ( 15k gal) from 65 to 85 in
may with my 400k btu heater it cost me about $20. I have a spa that heats up from 85 to 104 in about 15 mins in the summer and use it about 4 times a week. My avg NG bill is about $55 a month. I use NG for hot water, cooking, dryer and saw a very small jump in bill this summer. I have no pool cover and my pool never got over 90 degs in the summer. The pool/spa temp is about 57 degs right now and heater takes about 40 mins to heat up. I expect a jump in NG bill but not to much. Have Suntrek solar and have been been very with it (cost $3300).

 

[chiefwej]

With solar and a cover, I can use my pool from early April until November. Since I have a spa, I also have a gas heater, but you are right that it can become expensive to heat 20,000 gallons.