Effect of the carbon tax on pool heating in Canada - should you still buy a gas heater?

[wayner]

But in general, if the cost of NG in $/Therm is >6x the cost of electricity in $/kwh, then the HP will win. Assumes a COP of 4 and NG efficiency of 85%.

My current NG price is $1.36/Therm and electricity is from 7.2-31.4c/kWh.

Now I have to try to figure out how many Therms of NG I use per year. I didn't have a solar cover until this year - but I bought one this summer and used it during the week, except for the hottest week or two of the summer.

 

[rubanp]

My current NG price is $1.36/Therm and electricity is from 7.2-31.4c/kWh.

Now I have to try to figure out how many Therms of NG I use per year. I didn't have a solar cover until this year - but I bought one this summer and used it during the week, except for the hottest week or two of the summer.

@wayner - I am in a similar situation. Enbridge price is ~ $1.51/Therm and Toronto Hydro average electricity ~13c/kWh.
Definitely cheaper to go HP but its the efficiency that I am unsure about, along with the ability to maintain pool temp at 85F with an ambient / air temp of 55F.
Curious what you conclusions you've come to?
Things only going to get worse for NG here.

 

[wayner]

Thanks for responding! I still have a gas heater but I am just doing this exercise for when it is time to replace my heater. What Hydro pricing plan are you on? I am on ULO which has prices of about $0.03/kWh overnight? Assuming that I can put some sort of a switch on the HP I would happen to run it mainly during cheap power times. That also assumes that I don't lose too much heat when the pump is off.

The HP will be slow to heat up the pool, but I assume that if you keep it covered that maintaining the temp shouldn't be too hard. It will likely take many days to heat the pump up at the start of the season, but hopefully that is just a once a year issue. I like my pool at 86 while swimming, but I sometimes turn it down during the week when we don't swim much, if at all. I have had my pool for about 16 years but never had a solar cover until last year. In some ways I hate the cover as it is a pain to take on and off, but it does keep the heat in, plus helps to warm it up a bit during sunny days. Last year the temp would stay in the 80s even with the heater turned way down or off.

In terms of whether things get worse for NG - I guess that depends if PP gets elected in 18 months (highly likely) and if he does "axe the tax". He probably will, but you never know for sure.