Heater only for spa?

[nemeth8]

Good afternoon.... I have an in-ground 10k gallon pool with a spill over spa. I bought the house last year with a broken poll heater (I knew it was broken). Now, I am starting to look into possibly getting a new heater and had a few simple questions. FYI- the old one was natural gas and there is still a hookup, although the heater is currently disconnected.

-Does it cost a lot to have the old one removed? It is located in a difficult spot with a fence around it. My guess would be that we'd need a boom of some sort to lift it over the fence, into the alley.
-I would more than likely only want it for use of the spa. Can I just turn it on and give it x amount of minutes and get in?
-If I did want to warm up my pool for a random weekend during a warmer winter weekend, does that take a while and cost a lot?
-I'd imagine I could basically turn it off during the summer months?


Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[homegameroom]

Your setup sounds a bit like mine. WE NEED PICTURES!!! I'll give you some very basic answers; smarter people than i will chime in.

I replaced my old heater myself. I tore the old one apart to dispose of it, but the new one will probably need a gorilla or 2 to help get it in place (to lift it over the fence). Your replacement contractor won't have any issues removing it if you hire it out.
Your heater probably has an automatic remote feature that turns it on when the spa is turned on. Yes, you can probably only use it for "Spa Only" assuming you have a check valve or 2 to eliminate the flow-over into the pool.
The cost to use it to heat your pool depends upon a bunch of things. What is your gas cost? How big is your heater? What are you heating it to? Will your plumbing allow it?

 

[ajw22]

Good afternoon.... I have an in-ground 10k gallon pool with a spill over spa. I bought the house last year with a broken poll heater (I knew it was broken). Now, I am starting to look into possibly getting a new heater and had a few simple questions. FYI- the old one was natural gas and there is still a hookup, although the heater is currently disconnected.

-Does it cost a lot to have the old one removed? It is located in a difficult spot with a fence around it. My guess would be that we'd need a boom of some sort to lift it over the fence, into the alley.

Have to see pics to understand your situation.

-I would more than likely only want it for use of the spa. Can I just turn it on and give it x amount of minutes and get in?

You can just run your heater when you turn on your spa. What type of pool and spa controls or automation do you have?

How long it takes depends on the gallons in your spa and the BTU output of the heater. Neither of which I know.

-If I did want to warm up my pool for a random weekend during a warmer winter weekend, does that take a while and cost a lot?

Depends on the BTU output of the heater you get. BTU of heaters can range from 200K to 400K.

1 BTU can heat 1 lb of water 1 degree. 10,000 gallons = 84,000 lbs.

A 200K BTU heater can heat your pool about 2 degrees and hour.

A 400K BTU heater can heat your pool about 4 degrees an hour.

-I'd imagine I could basically turn it off during the summer months?

Jus set the heater temp lower then the water temp and it will not turn on.

 

[Neto]

Warming the SPA would probably take less than 20-30 minutes with a 400k BTU heater. You can only use the spa if you can close your valves so that your pump only feeds the SPA jets and takes water from the SPA drain. I suggest you get a 400k BTU heater just in case you ever want to heat up the entire pool maybe for an event... Sometimes having it warmed up for a birthday is cheaper than having a birthday somewhere else..

Usage of your heater would depend on ambient temperature, set temperature and cost of gas. For example, it would be cheaper to heat up a spa from 80-100 than from 50-100 (duh). Once your heater detects your set temperature, it should turn off automatically. Once it detects temperature below the set temperature it will automatically turn back on.