Heating a pool in late spring -- economics and comfort

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theseankelly

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Sep 29, 2019
21
Philadelphia PA
I've got a propane heater and a solar blanket on my 33kgal pool in the Philly area. I've always shied away from bringing the water up to temp until the peak summer months (like sustained highs around 85) for fear of the heating cost, but I'm wondering if it would actually be as bad as I'm expecting.

Does anyone have any experience with this? We like to keep the pool at 81-82 in the peak summer, but maybe it doesn't need to be that high for comfortable swimming if the ambient air is a lot lower? Does a propane heater combined with a solar blanket do a pretty good job at holding temperature even if the nighttime temp falls 10-15 degrees below the pool water? How can I get a sense of expected heat loss as a function of ambient temperature without running a really, really expensive experiment?

Thanks!
Sean
 
33,000 gal = 275,200 lbs of water.

It take 1 BTU of heat energy to raise 1lb of water 1°F.

1 gallon of propane ≈ 91,502 BTU

So it will take roughly 3 gallons of propane gas to raise your pool 1°F

How much does your propane cost and how big is your tank?
 
theseankelly said:
I've got a propane heater and a solar blanket on my 33kgal pool in the Philly area. I've always shied away from bringing the water up to temp until the peak summer months (like sustained highs around 85) for fear of the heating cost, but I'm wondering if it would actually be as bad as I'm expecting.

Does anyone have any experience with this? We like to keep the pool at 81-82 in the peak summer, but maybe it doesn't need to be that high for comfortable swimming if the ambient air is a lot lower? Does a propane heater combined with a solar blanket do a pretty good job at holding temperature even if the nighttime temp falls 10-15 degrees below the pool water? How can I get a sense of expected heat loss as a function of ambient temperature without running a really, really expensive experiment?
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Not sure what propane cost is versus NG. I have a NG heater, 30K pool and solar cover. I fire the heater up to 83 on the 15th of May and leave it on through September 30th every year. Last year it cost me $1300 total to heat the pool to 83 and keep it there all year. I know because the pool and my grills are the only thing on NG. Grills don't eat that much.

I'm north of you by an hours. I used 75 MCF, or 75Million BTU. One million BTUs of natural gas is roughly 11.20 gallons of propane. 11.2 x 75 = 840. Average propane is $2.4? so $2016 if your usage is similar to mine?
 
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Thanks for the links and tips, all. I've spent some time trying to calculate it out and it's proving pretty challenging -- too many variables (I have a kidney pool, so surface area is not easily measured, type of solar cover, etc). However, I think the guidance here gives me a pretty good ballpark.
 
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