Heater type?

[mayberry32]

We are about to put in a 20x40 rectangle inground with vinyl liner. And I really want a heater to extend the season. Not concerned if It takes a few days to heat, as I won’t use it in the depths of winter, even in Georgia. I’ll only use to extend the season in April and October. I’m stuck between an electric heat pump and a natural gas heater. I want to effectively heat the pool, and control operating costs as much as possible. Can’t decide which will be the best way to go. Electric 140k BYU will definitely be cheaper, if it will heat the pool 5-10 degrees effectively. Anyone with experience that can weigh in?

 

[ajw22]

Electric heat pump will cost more initially but then may cost less to run then propane gas heater. Depends on your electrical rates. You will have to run your pump close to 24/7 to keep the HP available to generate heat when it can. HP will heat the pool slowly then maintain that heat if always left on.

You have NG or propane?

 

[mayberry32]

Right now, I have a propane tank, because they hadn't installed the natural gas line when we built. But, now it's in. The natural gas company is willing to run the line for free to my house, as I have a gas range top and gas starters on my fireplace. I would simply change out the orifice for each to use Natural Gas instead of propane. If I went with a gas heater for the pool, I definitely wouldn't go propane. The 500 gallon tank they recommend is $2000, and they charge another $300 to set it and run the line to the heater. I don't want that buried in my backyard. So, I'd definitely go natural gas, where they will only charge me $300 to drop a gas line from my house back to the pool pump. If the electric heat pump will work, I don't have to do any of that. So, the up front cost is about the same, considering I have some work to do to get the gas line back there. With electric, they can drop another wire when they hook up the pool, and it costs me next to nothing. I'm in North Georgia, where the summers run high 80's, low 90's average. So, it will only be needed in April, early May, late September and October, when the temps drop to highs in the 70's and overnight lows in the mid 50's.

 

[mayberry32]

Let me use an example, as I'm trying to learn how these pumps work and what I'm getting into. Let's say it's an average late September 80 during the day and 65 at night. So, outside, it's warm enough to swim during the day, but the cool nights chills the water to where it's too cold to swim. To get the water temp back up to 82-84 degrees, and maintain it for a week or so with these temps, will both do the job, and which will be cheaper to operate given these conditions?

 

[ajw22]

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[mayberry32]

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Thanks. That's reassuring. According to that, to do exactly what I want to do, it recommends an electric heat pump at 120k Btu's over a natural gas heater. I plan to go with 140k Btu's, if I go electric, and was worried the difference in 140k vs the 400k of gas heaters would mean the electric just wouldn't work. According to everything I've read, I can run the heat pump anytime the outside temp is over 50 and it's much cheaper to run for extended periods of time vs gas. If this is true, it's looking very promising!