Heat pump dealers for direct purchase?

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I'm finding this thread especially interesting because I'm considering adding a heater to extend our swim season. Here in northern Kentucky (just south of Cincinnati, OH) our frost date is May 10 so there is a possibility we can still get really low overnight temps through mid-May. We've been comparing heat pump vs propane. We heat our home with propane so already have that on the property to tie in to. Our kids get out of school the last week of May/1st of June and go back to school the last week of August. So that's our "summer" where we use the pool the most, but the water is still uncomfortably cold in early June! We're hoping we can get some weekends of swimming during the end of May/early June that aren't frigid! And also afternoons/weekends through September because it's still quite warm during the day. Using the same comparison calculators that 1Tara1 is using, we changed our initial gut instinct to use propane to getting a heat pump. But now I'm back on the fence again after reading this thread! Any further comments any of you can add would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
 
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Hey miss. Some people only have access to one of the energies and their decision is made for them. For the rest of us in the top 2/3 of the country it comes down to how you plan on using the heater.

A heat pump excels at heating an already warm pool when the air temperature is also just as warm. Below 70 degrees in air/water temp it loses efficiency quickly and may not be able to keep up at times.

With up to 3X the BTUs. a gas heater excels at raising the pool temp quickly when it’s cold and you decide the kids schedule/weather allows for a weekend swim early/late in the season.

If you run either heater 24/7 it will cost you a car payment. How nice of a car depends on your local utility pricing and how far north you are.
 
Another thing to keep in mind, if you have hot water central heating, you can run a heat-exchanger off your boiler to heat the pool. This can be especially useful if that boiler supplies domestic hot water, and your paying to keep the boiler at 180F all summer anyway. The biggest need is at the start of the season, when your trying to get 50F water to 85F, once it gets there, sunlight and a solar cover, should keep it there most of the summer.
 
wogster said:
Another thing to keep in mind, if you have hot water central heating, you can run a heat-exchanger off your boiler to heat the pool. This can be especially useful if that boiler supplies domestic hot water, and your paying to keep the boiler at 180F all summer anyway. The biggest need is at the start of the season, when your trying to get 50F water to 85F, once it gets there, sunlight and a solar cover, should keep it there most of the summer.
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I disagree. The indirect boiler you speak of is only going to heat what it takes for the water in the house to be hot. To say now heat the pool because it's on anyway is not the same. It is the same car payment trying to heat the pool this way except if we're talking high efficiency boiler as in 98% efficiency then it would be a drop smaller of a car payment and then the heat loss would need to be calculated due to longer pipe runs to the pool and back.
 
AveMaria472 said:
I'm finding this thread especially interesting because I'm considering adding a heater to extend our swim season. Here in northern Kentucky (just south of Cincinnati, OH) our frost date is May 10 so there is a possibility we can still get really low overnight temps through mid-May. We've been comparing heat pump vs propane. We heat our home with propane so already have that on the property to tie in to. Our kids get out of school the last week of May/1st of June and go back to school the last week of August. So that's our "summer" where we use the pool the most, but the water is still uncomfortably cold in early June! We're hoping we can get some weekends of swimming during the end of May/early June that aren't frigid! And also afternoons/weekends through September because it's still quite warm during the day. Using the same comparison calculators that 1Tara1 is using, we changed our initial gut instinct to use propane to getting a heat pump. But now I'm back on the fence again after reading this thread! Any further comments any of you can add would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
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LOL - I was just coming here to tag you, @AveMaria472 after reading your build post!
 
I'm so on the fence regarding which heater would best suit us... if we want to warm the water when the air is colder (earlier/later in the season and overnight) then it seems propane is better at that. But if we want to just maintain water temps when the air outside is warmer and the water not quite warm enough, then a heat pump is more efficient. I'm trying to determine which we will do more of and so which would be the better option for us.
 
Any heater decisions/purchases yet for anyone? We had a nearby neighbor that had a NG heater and didn’t use it because of the cost. Fast forward. He built a new home and put in a new IG pool and did not get a heater of any sort. Second story. Next door neighbor bought the home four years ago. IG Pool had a NG heater. The previous owner did not use and the new owner did not use because of the cost. He next door neighbor did install a new heat pump last summer and loved it. Here in Dayton/Cincinnati, Ohio, the weather can be unpredictable. I think people in this area try to extend their swim season about six weeks. Three weeks in May and three weeks in September. Typical public pool season here is Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.
 
JW1 said:
Any heater decisions/purchases yet for anyone? ... Here in Dayton/Cincinnati, Ohio, the weather can be unpredictable. I think people in this area try to extend their swim season about six weeks. Three weeks in May and three weeks in September. Typical public pool season here is Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.
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We are 15 minutes south of Cincinnati. We just purchased a 400k BTU RayPak propane heater in hopes of extending our swim season to May thru September. It was just delivered Friday and we haven't installed it yet. We went with propane (and a much larger unit than the minimum recommended size) in order to get a quicker temp rise on those sudden warm days during the extended season. Can't wait for that first string of warm days to warrant the first swim!
 

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