Built Right Heat Pumps

[athflying]

I did a fair amount of research, spoke to a lot of installers and contractors who also do repairs....anyone I have asked about Built Right had nothing but positive things to say. So now I am between which one to choose.

They have a 115k BTU unit which is $100 less and supposed to be more efficient than the higher output 135k BTU unit.

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I just having a hard time finding some information of what the numbers translate in to real world use. The $100 upfront difference is meaningless to me, I am more interested in useability and long term electrical costs. If the 135k unit will heat significantly quicker only cost a dollar or two more a month than I am good with that. If the 115k will be only slightly slower to heat, but potentially offer a significant savings in terms of electricity than I would go that way. Just having a hard time finding that information. Any insight is appreciated.

 

[ajw22]

There is no substitute for BTUs in a heater.

Get the highest BTU heater that fits your budget. The objective of the heater is to heat your pool. If it cannot do that when you want then the fact that it is efficient is worthless.

 

[Nshuck93]

Please update how you like the heater. Go for more BTUs.

I'm thinking about purchasing one as well, but there is zero reviews on this brand which I dislike because I'm reliant on forum reviews, not the websites "reviews" that can be filtered.

 

[athflying]

I actually posted an initial review that I will update after a few months. I spoke to one of their techs and he persuaded me to go with the lower BTU 115k vs 135k. He spoke at length and the difference between the two for my size pool on average day condition would be roughly 1 degree an hour of heating (115k) vs 1.2 (135k). If your only concern is how quickly you can heat the pool, then 135k is an easy choice. If you use as recommended and set a temp and let it maintain that temp, then for my pool the smaller unit made more sense. I also use a solar cover when not in use and pool is only 10k gallon so per their specs the 115k is more than enough.

So far I absolutely love it. Install day, it took about 6 hours to heat my pool from 80 to 88 with an ambient temp starting around 83 and dropping to mid 70's toward end (was a cloudy and rainy day). I haven't touched since and with pool cover, it usually doesn't drop below 86 overnight and takes less than an hour for it to get back to 88. FPL has an energy dashboard and I can see a slight bump in electrical usage....I expect $20-30 increase based off what I am seeing. I am sure that will change as the weather cools but I won't try to maintain 88 year round.

Their customer service so far has been great. They delivered directly to my house and the built right driver helped the installer get it positioned and was very professional. The installer had it connected quickly and did run in to a slight issue (touchpad control wasn't responding). At 6 pm on a Friday, he called Built Right and a tech was on phone in seconds. He suggested checking behind panel to ensure bundle of wires wasn't applying pressure to back of display. That did indeed end up being the issue.

I got estimates from every installer in my area that Built Right listed in their site. Everyone spoke very highly of Built Right and I directly asked if they recommend any other brand over them, not one did. With a 5 year warranty and rarely if ever any call backs, they all seemed to love them.

The installer did mention that Jandy recently purchased Built Right. Supposedly will operate as they have, but being backed by a major manufacturer may see a bigger presence from them. Right now seems they really don't market themselves and really just rely on word of mouth.

 

[athflying]

Fluidra Acquires Built Right

Fluidra has completed the acquisition of all of the substantial assets of Built Right, a Florida-based manufacturer of heat pumps.

www.aquamagazine.com