Natural Gas heater

[trudera]

Here is my situation. My pump room is approximately 90 feet away from the meter and is attached to my garage. I have an existing underground 1 inch gas line that is connected to my furnace in the garage. I'm in Canada and want to extend my pool season as much as possible. I have an 18 by 36 inground pool with no deep end. The pool has 90K liters or 24K gallons of water. I want to add a gas heater, what are my options?

Thanks in advance
Randy

 

[jblizzle]

To get any significant amount of heat, I think you are going to need to run a larger gas pipe. You could look at what load is remaining on the one supplying the heater, but that may limit your pool heater size. Although if you resign to not use the furnace and the pool heater at the same time, that might supply a decent sized pool heater.

 

[JamesW]

If running a new line is easy, due to no obstructions, then running a new line could work. Another option would be to switch the line to a higher pressure and then go through a regulator near the furnace and pool heater.

You also need to check the meter to make sure that it can meet the flow rate for all appliances.

I would suggest contacting a gas contractor to get an on-site evaluation.

 

[JasonLion]

Keep in mind that heating a pool full time in the spring and fall can get wildly expensive. A swimming pool typically requires way more heat than your entire house does, and that can get expensive. Gas prices are generally lower in Canada then they are here in Maryland, but we were spending over $300 a month back when we were actively extending the pool season.

 

[ps0303]

Do you have a regulator at or near the heater in the garage? If so, then the 1" line you already have could be used most likely. You would just need another regulator at the pool heater. I can tell you that heater wise, the Raypak brand is alot more forgiving on pressure than other models. I've hooked up a 400K BTU Raypak to a 40' 3/4 line and there was sufficient pressure to run it. Other units would have had issues.

Keep in mind though, your mileage may vary.

 

[JayBauman]

My pump room is approximately 90 feet away from the meter and is attached to my garage. I have an existing underground 1 inch gas line that is connected to my furnace in the garage. I'm in Canada and want to extend my pool season as much as possible. I have an 18 by 36 inground pool with no deep end. The pool has 90K liters or 24K gallons of water. I want to add a gas heater, what are my options?

I don't know the specific laws, regulations, and practices in the Great White North, but I can tell you what happens down here in The States. What size heater are you looking to install? Down here, 400,000 BTU/hr is the largest pool heater that can be installed in a residential pool. To put this in perspective, I have a 4300ft2 home, with 3 furnaces, commercial-grade gas cooktop, 2x 50-gal water heaters, gas fireplace, and outdoor gas kitchen. If I had every gas appliance in my house running full-out at the same time, I could not match the gas required to run my pool heater. These things suck a lot of gas. For your size pool, you'll need the largest gas-hog you can legally install.

I have a 1" gas line running about 150' from my meter to my 400,000 BTU/hr pool heater. This is possible because I now have 2-stage pressure regulation: The 50 lb. service pressure is first dropped to 2 lb. pressure at my gas meter. The 2 lb. service runs to my pool heater, where it is dropped to the required 7 oz. pressure. The 2 lb. pressure supplies enough gas for my heater to run correctly.

The easiest thing for you to do (if possible/practical) would be to supply your garage furnace with 2 lb. service and extend that same line to your pool heater, but you'd need to have step-down regulators at both garage and pool.