I had a pool installed last year, approx 15k gallons, 33x17 sport pool 3.5-5-4 ft and at the time did not think I would need/want a heater. Now I am thinking I may want to have one added. How difficult is this to do and what might it cost? I don't know what peoples thoughts are, but I would like to get something oversized so that if I decide to in the middle of the winter want to go swimming I could get it up to a decent temp with a solar blanket on it.
Adding a NG heater
- Thread starter jamie1983
- Start date
Kind of hard to answer this. You can find the equipment costs online. Then you have to figure out the distance and the size of the gas pipe that will have to be run to the equipment pad (this may not be cheap). You may need another equipment pad to set the heater on. And then the plumbing should be pretty easy depending on your pad setup ... at a minimum cutting 1 pipe and adding a few 90s to and from the heater, or you could add valves to bypass the heater when not in use.
Get as large a heater as you can afford (and remember this affects the gas pipe size and thus cost). It uses the same amount of gas to raise the pool temp, but a larger heater will do it more quickly.
Get as large a heater as you can afford (and remember this affects the gas pipe size and thus cost). It uses the same amount of gas to raise the pool temp, but a larger heater will do it more quickly.
I specifically had my pump station added to the side of the house with the gas and fairly close by. Will have to add a new pad that is not under my deck stairs, but the run of gas line will only be 20-25 ft.
Would probably like to stick with Hayward, they have 150k-400k btu...what size would be large, but not overkill?
There is no such thing as too large. At my previous house I had a 400k BTU Hayward that I only used for my hot tub ... just let me heat it up quickly ... depends on how fast you want to heat up your pool.
Even at your low rates, you may be surprised at how much heating your pool is going to cost you in gas.
Even at your low rates, you may be surprised at how much heating your pool is going to cost you in gas.
My plan is to hopefully warm up the pool a month or so before/after the season and be able to heat up once or twice over the winter for a swim. I will look at some prices and see what I can come up with.
So the H400FDN is the largest Hayward I see and I see prices online look like 1500-2000, any idea on what an install may cost? I am going to call my PB this week to get an idea. Maybe catch him over the fall/winter when he is not too busy and get a deal.
Some calculations for you:
400k BTU at 85% efficiency puts out ~340k BTU/hour
15000 gallons * 8.33 pounds/gallon = ~125,000 lbs of water
To raise the pool 10 degrees requires 125000 * 10 = 1,250,000 BTU
This will take 1250000/340000 = 3.6 hours (neglecting heat loss due to evaporation and maintaining the temp) ... faster than I thought
And cost 1250000/100000*0.55 = $7 (neglecting heat loss due to evaporation and maintaining the temp) ... less than I thought.
But maintaining the temp when the air is colder than the water is going to take a lot more gas.
400k BTU at 85% efficiency puts out ~340k BTU/hour
15000 gallons * 8.33 pounds/gallon = ~125,000 lbs of water
To raise the pool 10 degrees requires 125000 * 10 = 1,250,000 BTU
This will take 1250000/340000 = 3.6 hours (neglecting heat loss due to evaporation and maintaining the temp) ... faster than I thought
And cost 1250000/100000*0.55 = $7 (neglecting heat loss due to evaporation and maintaining the temp) ... less than I thought.
But maintaining the temp when the air is colder than the water is going to take a lot more gas.
- Jun 20, 2012
- 439
jamie1983 said:
You'll find that the difference in cost between, say a 250,000 BTU heater and a 400,000 BTU heater, is pretty insignificant. Same with installation costs and the larger gas line required for the bigger heater.
What is more of an issue is whether or not your gas meter can supply the required amount of gas, and still run the rest of your house.
Go with a 400K BTU unit. Anything smaller and you will be waiting longer to get the pool warm. Difference in cost shouldn't be much.
Have your gas company come out and look at the meter to make sure it can handle the extra equipment.
Have your gas company come out and look at the meter to make sure it can handle the extra equipment.
- May 4, 2011
- 634
From my experience: Our gas line that runs roughly 120' or so cost just under $1k installed. The 100k btu heater was roughly $850. Running the heater with a solar cover and keeping the water above 86 overnight cost me around $5/day when the overnight temps were in the mid 50s and 80s during the day. Our NG price is slightly higher around $0.67/therm I believe.
This might not be 100% precise, but should give you a good idea.
In general I expect around 1 degree/hr, this is 100k BTU on a 24' AGP. Once the pool starts losing more than a degree per hour, my heater won't be able to keep up - but by that point I'll be done swimming for the season.
This might not be 100% precise, but should give you a good idea.
In general I expect around 1 degree/hr, this is 100k BTU on a 24' AGP. Once the pool starts losing more than a degree per hour, my heater won't be able to keep up - but by that point I'll be done swimming for the season.
Thanks everyone for the input. My PB said he will let me know what the cost will be by Monday. I checked, we just relocked our NG for 12 months its actually 52 cents per therm. I'm hoping all in for 2500-3000. Its a 20-25 ft straight shot from the gas meter to the pump/heater location. I cannot imagine it will be difficult to run the line. I hope there will not be too much digging involved other than running the gas line.