Am considering purchase of a heat pump, but know very little about what to consider when making such a purchase, so am open to comments by anyone who knows more than I. Thanks very much.
Heat Pumps
- Thread starter Henry M
- Start date
We've got a small Hayward heat pump, HP50HA, to supplement our solar panels. It works great and has added lots of swimtime for us. We like our pool warm, 88-92. We now swim from mid-march to the end of October in 85+degree water. We do use a solar cover in March and April to keep the heat in over night.
There really isn't a lot to a heat pump. Get a good name brand, Hayward, pentair, Raypak are all good, and make sure you can support the electric service needs for it, the bigger the heat pump the faster it will heat and the bigger the electric service needs. Our small,heat pump needs 20 amp electric service and the biggest heat pumps need 60 amp electric service.
I also recommend plumbing in a bypass for the heat pump so you can bypass it in the winter and summer or if it needs service.
There really isn't a lot to a heat pump. Get a good name brand, Hayward, pentair, Raypak are all good, and make sure you can support the electric service needs for it, the bigger the heat pump the faster it will heat and the bigger the electric service needs. Our small,heat pump needs 20 amp electric service and the biggest heat pumps need 60 amp electric service.
I also recommend plumbing in a bypass for the heat pump so you can bypass it in the winter and summer or if it needs service.
I believe that some heat pumps can act in reverse and act as a water chiller, but not all. Since you are in FLorida, this might be something that you want to consider or when the Air Temp gets your water too hot that you dont like to swim in it.
If I can ask, how efficient is combining the solar panels and the heat pump? How has this affected your electric bill? We live in Southern New Mexico and it is s unny and hot here just about year round. We are still in the planning stages and I want to go for a cost efficient heating option that lets me keep the water around 88-92 as well, I do aqua jogging as a form of non impact exercise. Any recommendations?
Yes, the HP50HA heats and cools. Cooling is great. We usually can cool the pool enough by running the solar panels at night, but sometimes it is good to have air conditioned water.
Having solar and a heat pump is great! Ultimate control of the water temp. We use as much free heat as we can get from solar and then use the heat pump to get us there as needed. It is especially great having the heat pump when cloudy or rainy days are leading up to a nice, sunny weekend. Our electric bill in the spring and fall is still less than it is in the summer even though we run the heat pump a lot sometimes, especially in March and April if the weather will be nice for the weekend.
Having solar and a heat pump is great! Ultimate control of the water temp. We use as much free heat as we can get from solar and then use the heat pump to get us there as needed. It is especially great having the heat pump when cloudy or rainy days are leading up to a nice, sunny weekend. Our electric bill in the spring and fall is still less than it is in the summer even though we run the heat pump a lot sometimes, especially in March and April if the weather will be nice for the weekend.
Are heat pumps more efficient as the temp differential increase? For example, water is 75 and there is a stretch of days in the high 80’s.
They are more efficient as ambient air temp increases. The hotter it is outside, the higher the temperature the water coming out the pump will be. When it gets down to around 55 degrees they stop working altogether.
We have a Pentair pump, just our first season with the pool, but it works great. It does cost money to run though. We figure about $20 a day at our energy rates. We don't have a cover or anything, we have just run it on weekends we wanted to swim in May and early June before it warmed up. Also really nice for night swimming when it cools down outside. We have some sheer waterfalls and it's so nice sitting under them and having the warm water come down, or cool water in chiller mode.
