Electric heaters.

[bbohica]

I have a gas heater for my spa and pool which is about 12000 gallons. We have "deregulated" energy in my part of TX, and many of the plans available to choose from are creative, with zero cost energy on weekends or nights.

I'm thinking of switching to an electric heater, so I can heat it all winter during the free hours of these creative plans.

How do I pick an electric heater that will work for me? From googling I see they vary greatly in cost and power consumption and I don't know where to start narrowing it down.

 

[ajw22]

You mean a Heat Pump?

You want the largest BTU HP you can get. That is 120,000-140,000 BTUs.

You have any automation on your pool?

You planning to DIY install or use a local contractor?

 

[bbohica]

I have an older Jandy Aqualink RS6. Heat pump is an option, and of course, the most energy efficient, however that is not a priority for this application as described above.

I'm leaning toward keeping my gas heater, and adding something like an electric spa heater, or the Pentair Aqua Logic inline heater that I can run in my free hours. I'm planning to DIY, I'm fairly handy, but a bit of a noob on pools, this is my first pool and I've had it only a year.

 

[ajw22]

I'm leaning toward keeping my gas heater, and adding something like an electric spa heater, or the Pentair Aqua Logic inline heater that I can run in my free hours.

How many BTUs do you think you can get from those heaters?

 

[IL_WS]

I'm not at all familiar with how TX and the creative plans,but in Illinois, I'm on the hourly pricing plan. I pay whatever the spot price is plus delivery fee. Most of the time, delivery fee is ends up being more than half my bill. I have to be about -$0.03/kWhr to actually be free. Just keep an eye on that if it's comprable in TX.

 

[KellyAH]

I'm also looking at complete replacement of pool equipment and wondering about going electric vs keeping the gas with an upgraded Hayward 400BTU unit. I'm in California with mild temps, never/rarely freezes. But I've heard that electric heaters just don't do the job of heating a spa efficiently. I've been thinking of a heat pump for my house. Hadn't thought of it for a pool until I read this post.