Gas or Electric Heater?

[Bucky63]

Hi Gang,
I am hoping to extend my pool season with a heater. I would love to hear pro, cons and opinions on gas or electric heaters as well as manu and model recommendations. Thanks for any assistance!

 

[Chickinvic]

We have a natural gas water heater. I would imagine electric would cost a lot more to run.

 

[jblizzle]

Gas is probably cheaper and faster.

 

[Bucky63]

We have a natural gas water heater. I would imagine electric would cost a lot more to run.

We have a natural gas water heater. I would imagine electric would cost a lot more to run.

Can you recommend a model?

 

[borjis]

A lot of us here, have found the Raypak line of heaters to be the least problematic
and if repairs are needed, tends to cost less, due to less components.

I have the PR266AEN (266k btu) model, you would probably be best off with the 400k btu model.

So something like the PR406AEN.

Cupro-nickel heat exchanger is an option on these but most of us agree it is unnecessary. Check with local
codes to see if you need the low-nox model or not.

Also need to make sure your gas line/meter can handle a 400k btu heater.

 

[HeyEng]

Can you recommend a model?

I think a lot of the members here use (and like) the Raypak brand. We have a Hayward, but I can't speak to the longevity as we have only owned the house/pool for about 6 months (and the heater is 11 years old) but it has worked for us well this season. I do on occasion have to reset it though because it will indicate a communication error, but I haven't had anyone look at it yet.

I would consider how much your natural gas costs. We have a 400,000 BTU heater and it works pretty fast (averages 2.5-3.0 degrees increase per hour) but the gas meter is as loud as a KFC with 4 fryers going! Thankfully, NG is pretty cheap here, so it's not that big of an expense for us.

 

[Bucky63]

A lot of us here, have found the Raypak line of heaters to be the least problematic
and if repairs are needed, tends to cost less, due to less components.

I have the PR266AEN (266k btu) model, you would probably be best off with the 400k btu model.

So something like the PR406AEN.

Cupro-nickel heat exchanger is an option on these but most of us agree it is unnecessary. Check with local
codes to see if you need the low-nox model or not.

Also need to make sure your gas line/meter can handle a 400k btu heater.

Great help - Thanks!!!!

 

[Chickinvic]

Can you recommend a model?

Ours is a Hayward Universal H Series 250K. It works pretty good. Our pool is 20' x 40' holding about 21K Imperial gallons (or about 25K US gallons). When it craps out I will probably go for a 350K or 400K model, as I do feel ours may be slightly undersized for the pool (but still does an adequate job).

I can't really compare other models since I didn't purchase this one (we've only owned this place since September 2017), so this is the only one I've known.

 

[Bucky63]

T

I think a lot of the members here use (and like) the Raypak brand. We have a Hayward, but I can't speak to the longevity as we have only owned the house/pool for about 6 months (and the heater is 11 years old) but it has worked for us well this season. I do on occasion have to reset it though because it will indicate a communication error, but I haven't had anyone look at it yet.

I would consider how much your natural gas costs. We have a 400,000 BTU heater and it works pretty fast (averages 2.5-3.0 degrees increase per hour) but the gas meter is as loud as a KFC with 4 fryers going! Thankfully, NG is pretty cheap here, so it's not that big of an expense for us.

Thanks so Much!