Natural Gas or Electric

[Spectrm]

New to forum, so thanks for your patience in advance.

Have an ABG Coleman 8 x 16 x 48” deep.

1. Electric or Natural gas?
2. BTU recommendation?
3. Make and Model?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bama Rambler]

As a general rule, gas is the way to go for heating a pool, however for that size pool you can consider a heat pump if all you want to do is extend your swim season a little. Do you know your cost per KWH of power? And the cost of natural gas? If you do you can compare the two and come up with an idea of which would be more economical.

I'd say that you'd need in the neighborhood of a 200,000 btuh gas heater and about 125,000 btuh for a heat pump. Keep in mind that a HP doesn't work when the ambient temp is below about 40ºF (4ºC), so if you want to heat the water in the winter, go with gas.

Those sizes may look large, but don't be tempted to skimp on the size, as you won't be sorry you went big, but you certainly will if you go too small.

 

[Flying Beagle]

I would say definitely Natural Gas. I got lucky and bought a brand new H100ID cheap on FB marketplace. It is a 100K BTU unit. It has worked perfectly, and could raise the temp of my 18' Coleman pool very quickly. It was a bit of a risk as I didn't know if it worked when I bought it, and there was no warranty. My new 15x30 above ground pool came with a 60K BTU heat pump but i am selling it and installing the gas heater instead.

H-Series Heater | Heaters | Above Ground Pool Heaters - Hayward Pool Products

Hayward's induced draft heater for above ground pools and spas combines reliable technology with ease of operation and superior performance.

www.hayward-pool.com

 

[usedtobeayooper]

One way I might look at it is: Do you plan to swim spontaneously throughout the week, or plan ahead and swim primarily on the weekends?

Basically, is your intent to KEEP the pool warm, or just warm it when you want to use it?

I ask, because I went back and forth on this same question 3 or 4 years ago, and admitted to myself that we’re usually busy all week, but then play hard Friday night through Sunday.

For a heat pump to work efficiently, the water needs to stay relatively warm, basically offsetting your overnight loss each night. If you had both units on all the time, and kept the pool warm all the time, the heat pump would generally run less expensive over time than gas, despite the higher up-front costs. But, if you let your pool sit idly by all week, and then plan to jump in Friday night, the heat pump will take FOREVER to heat the pool back up compared to NG.

My 100,000 BTU NG heater used to heat my 5200 gallon AG roughly 2 degrees an hour… it now seems to average about 1.5 deg/hour with my 7600 gallon set-up. Turned it on one Saturday morning last season at 7:00 AM (water temp 74 deg) and it was up to a comfortable 82 by Noon. Gained another few degrees throughout the day from the sun, and only had to run the heater for an hour or so to bring it to 86 Sunday morning. Then shut it back off and won’t worry about it again until next weekend if the weather looks favorable.

The last time I ran my own numbers, I believe I was at approx. $1.35-$1.50/hour to run the heater at my current gas price. The inter-webs vary by site, but seem to average on about $0.60/hour to run a heat pump. (obviously mileage will vary… probably significantly… but it’s a ball park)

 

[lager1829]

I have 20kw solar but still went with LP (NG not avail) specifically for the time to target temperature difference vs heat pump.