I can only speak for what I have, which is a Jandy Heat Pump Model AE-Ti that also has a chiller feature. I absolutely love having it and would never want to go back to solar covers anymore. I generally have mine set at 81 and often hear it running for awhile in the morning (except for when we're in a heat wave with a few extended 90 degree days).
I must admit, though, to having used the chiller hardly at all - though did experiment with it this season for the first time since having the heat pump (12 years). I figure that if the water is around mid-80s, I'll just leave it there since it'll help slow the process of the water temp dropping lower as we move towards end of summer.
Mine is electric, so I just can't see the point of running the meter needlessly just to knock down the water temp a degree or two when, as soon as a few really hot days come along, it'll just be a constant back and forth battle. That being said, when the water's around 85 and I want to swim laps, I'd be more than content to have the water 5 degrees lower since I just think water that is too warm causes me to bog down, but, again, I just can't see the point of having it run extensively to try and accomplish that much of a drop. I think that once the shell of the pool heats up during the summer it just makes it all that much harder for a chiller to cool the water since I'm sure the coping and plaster, decking, etc. all contribute to radiating additional heat into the water. It'll run enough to try and keep the water around 80 once the really cooler nights set in!
Personal preference though as with all things. As I said, I ran it for several hours on a really hot day just to see how quickly it might lower the temp - I think it made it to one degree. I bought mine to heat the water, not cool it, so my personal thoughts are not to get too hung up on needing a chiller feature. Just my two cents though. Others here may differ. Biggest issue is, of course, to decide between propane or electric. I didn't want to mess with propane.
Then, be sure whatever you buy is big enough for the number of gallons. I don't recall doing a whole lot of research on this (and likely relied on the pool store that installed it to advise me) but I just checked and see that mine is rated at 121k BTU and I have 12,500 gallons. Always better to buy a unit that handles more water than you actually have, as opposed to one rated for less. Mine also has a feature (most likely do) whereby you can 'lock' the temperature setting so that it can't be changed without knowing which controls to press to allow one to change it. I'm sure in 12 years they have gotten far more sophisticated than mine.
Best of luck with whatever you decide.
Been a while with no replies, so we better get going. To better serve you with that question, can you give us some details on the new FB pool? Size, gallons, etc. That and any other potential new equipment could prove valuable to helping people answer your question. Thanks for posting.
