Heat Pump Woes

[Jake&Clan]

Hello all

I'm stuck. We have a 13,000 gallon above ground 24' pool in Southwest Ohio that gets direct exposure to the sun for every second the sun is out (which is a lot in the summer). Last year we had an unusually hot summer and we sat in the upper 80's. This year is a different story. We're camping around the low to mid 80's and with the solar cover (16mil gray) we're floating 75-77 degrees.

Our goal for a heat pump (propane is not an option - too expensive to run) is to be able to get the pool to sit at 80 degrees or higher for ALL of June through September. Hayward indicates that I need a pump around 65,000 BTU. Unfortunatley, the only ones I can get my hands on are 47,000 (for $2,299) or a 90,000 (for $4,000). I really would prefer ot not spend the extra $1,700 (especially since it's 4-6 weeks out on delivery and the smaller one is in stock).

Anyone have any experience trying to heat a larger body of water with a slightly undersized heat pump? If I could get my hands on the HP70HA2 (70k btu unit) I would but I can't find it in stock anywhere.

 

[PoolGate]

Since you are ok with 80 degrees, have you considered solar?

 

[1poolman1]

Hello all

I'm stuck. We have a 13,000 gallon above ground 24' pool in Southwest Ohio that gets direct exposure to the sun for every second the sun is out (which is a lot in the summer). Last year we had an unusually hot summer and we sat in the upper 80's. This year is a different story. We're camping around the low to mid 80's and with the solar cover (16mil gray) we're floating 75-77 degrees.

Our goal for a heat pump (propane is not an option - too expensive to run) is to be able to get the pool to sit at 80 degrees or higher for ALL of June through September. Hayward indicates that I need a pump around 65,000 BTU. Unfortunatley, the only ones I can get my hands on are 47,000 (for $2,299) or a 90,000 (for $4,000). I really would prefer ot not spend the extra $1,700 (especially since it's 4-6 weeks out on delivery and the smaller one is in stock).

Anyone have any experience trying to heat a larger body of water with a slightly undersized heat pump? If I could get my hands on the HP70HA2 (70k btu unit) I would but I can't find it in stock anywhere.

Smaller one would give you about .6 degrees per hour. Keep the cover on and heat loss will be minimal. Larger one will heat about 30% faster. All depends on the air temp and humidity. Those are optimal numbers. Larger just equals faster, it takes one BTU to heat one pound of water 1 degree, regardless of the size of the heater. Your biggest concern is heat loss from the top and sides of the pool, which should be negligible in full sun and a solar cover.