New large pool -- heat questions

[NewToPoolsAndSanDiego]

Hi we are in San Diego (north east of the city -- Rancho Santa Fe/Rancho Bernardo area) and building a new large pool in a new build home (dirt lot back yard). The property is .7 acres and the pool is approx 55x32 feet (~60k gallons). We have never owned a pool before and we are new to San Diego. What is the best heating option for us? We will like to be able to use the pool virtually year round and I would like to be able to get the pool up to the low 80s when family vists for the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas for us). The kids (and visiting family kids) are older and swim team kids so we don't need a cover for safety. We are looking at:
solar heating
auto cover
heat pumps

Any guidance -- all these options are quite expensive but I want to pick the best option for value and success. Thanks!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hi there! Welcome to Trouble Free Pools

I like the idea of a heat pump in your situation. Since you live in a fairly warm climate and can run it almost year round, I think that would be the most economical. Alternatively will you have access to natural gas? That alone may make your decision.

Of course putting some sort of cover over the pool at night will help maintain the heat your pool is holding.

Your pool is going to be big!.... please <on knees pleadingly> please start a build thread and share the process with us. And lots of pics.... we *drool* over pics.

Maddie

 

[NewToPoolsAndSanDiego]

Hi there! Welcome to Trouble Free Pools

I like the idea of a heat pump in your situation. Since you live in a fairly warm climate and can run it almost year round, I think that would be the most economical. Alternatively will you have access to natural gas? That alone may make your decision.

Of course putting some sort of cover over the pool at night will help maintain the heat your pool is holding.

Your pool is going to be big!.... please <on knees pleadingly> please start a build thread and share the process with us. And lots of pics.... we *drool* over pics.

Maddie

Thanks for the quick response and welcome! I will start a build thread once I get the updated xls of the (current) plan. Yes we will have access to a gas line.

 

[ajw22]

You have a large pool at 60,000 gallons.

Pentair has a Heat Pump Calculator to determine the appropriate size Heat Pump for your location. Pentair seems to do honest calculations based on the physics and efficiencies of each type of pump and energy source.

To get the most accurate cost comparison you should change the default electric kwh, natural gas price, and propane price to actual prices in your area.

I did a run of the calculator and it looks like you would need two 120K or 140K BTU HPs for your size pool.

We have other calculators for heating sizing at Calculators - Further Reading

How do you intend to chlorinate that large of a pool?

 

[Tres Gatos]

Are planning an integrated spa? If so you probably need a 400k Btu heater to heat the spa up quickly. Heat pumps are very slow.

 

[NewToPoolsAndSanDiego]

Thanks the spa will be separate if we do an auto cover but if not it will have a waterfall into the pool (do we call that integrated?). We plan to use a Premier Eclipse Ozonator & Premier Mineral Pure System for chlorine. Thanks for the calculator I need to get some details on our rates (we move in next week so have no bills at this point).

 

[ajw22]

We plan to use a Premier Eclipse Ozonator & Premier Mineral Pure System for chlorine.

We really don't recommend ozone for an outdoor pool and a mineral system for any pool. They do not provide proper sanitation for the water and minerals will accumulate in the water and eventually lead to staining. The minerals probably add copper and silver to your pool. Copper can stain your pool and turn hair green.

Please read...

Alternative sanitizers and "chemical free" pools--The Truth!

Pool owners frequently seek out "Chemical Free" alternatives to pool water sanitization. Many claims in favor of these systems and methods have been made (usually by the manufacturers of such systems) often without adequate scientific proof of their efficacy. Let's take a look at them and see...

www.troublefreepool.com

Ozone Systems - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Newdude]

According to google, San Diego high/low temps in December usually range from the 60s to the 40s. That isn’t anywhere ideal for a heat pump and with 60k gallons to heat it may not be able to make a difference well into the 70s. Even with a solar cover, the 20% of evaporation and heat loss that ensues will be considerable with 1760 sq ft.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

the pool is approx 55x32 feet (~60k gallons). We have never owned a pool before and we are new to San Diego. What is the best heating option for us? We will like to be able to use the pool virtually year round and I would like to be able to get the pool up to the low 80s when family visits for the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas for us). The kids (and visiting family kids) are older and swim team kids so we don't need a cover for safety. We are looking at:
solar heating
auto cover
heat pumps

all these options are quite expensive

You are planning a huge pool. IMHO, you can have a big pool or you can have a warm pool. You cannot have a big warm pool unless you are very wealthy and can afford to run a gas heater year round.

My climate in the SF bay area is probably similar to yours. My pool is ~41 kgal with an auto-cover and I cannot heat it year round. It's just not affordable to use so much natural gas, and solar (which I also have) doesn't work in the winter. Just heating the relatively small spa in winter consumes many dollars worth of gas. Definitely get an auto-cover. But your passive suggestions like solar and heat pump won't make a dent.

If such a huge pool is not a necessity, think about going smaller if you want to keep it heated.

 

[wireform]

Ther are two ways to look at your project. If money isn't an issue a big pool with gas heater will hit the sweet spot. On the other hand If you must have that size pool you may not be able to use it once the temps rely on the heater as the cost will be up there. If a long swim season is important then size the pool more economically so heating won't kill you.

 

[Tres Gatos]

To put this in perspective a 60K gal pool has 500,400 lbs of water (1 gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs). It takes 1 btu to raise a lb of water 1 degree/hour. Thus you would need under ideal circumstances 500,400 BTUs to raise your pool by one degree in an hour. Large gas pool heaters are 400,000 BTU so you would ideally need to have 2 gas heaters to overcome overnight temp/evaporation loss.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Is natural gas available on site? I agree with what's said thats too big a pool to heat economically. Only a gas heater will heat that for special occasions when its 60 and below. That's a huge pool in my area a 20x40 is a huge pool and a 400k btu struggles to heat them in cooler weather.