I have an old unheated pool in the coastal area of San Diego. I'm planning to add heating, but have to decide what type of heater is most cost-effective.
Pool size is about 15,000 gallons and there is no spa. Temperature runs between 50-75 deg throughout the year and humidity averages around 50%. There is sunlight on many days, but due to the marine layer it may be partial. One well-known pool builder recommended a combination of a solar heater loop combined with a Pentair gas heater. The gas rate has gone up in 2022 to $2.38/therm. Since I already have a decent PV setup on the roof, I am now considering installing a heat pump instead of a gas heater as the backup to the solar heater.
Questions:
1. Can the combination solar loop and a heat pump keep the pool warm enough to swim on most (all?) of the year?
2. How do I estimate the power usage of a heat pump? Does anyone have any real-world numbers of KWh from their meter/bill? I don't want to install a heat pump that draws more than my PV panels can produce on average because electric prices are very high in this area.
I tried the Pentair calculator but has too many invisible assumptions.
Thanks for helping me.
Pool size is about 15,000 gallons and there is no spa. Temperature runs between 50-75 deg throughout the year and humidity averages around 50%. There is sunlight on many days, but due to the marine layer it may be partial. One well-known pool builder recommended a combination of a solar heater loop combined with a Pentair gas heater. The gas rate has gone up in 2022 to $2.38/therm. Since I already have a decent PV setup on the roof, I am now considering installing a heat pump instead of a gas heater as the backup to the solar heater.
Questions:
1. Can the combination solar loop and a heat pump keep the pool warm enough to swim on most (all?) of the year?
2. How do I estimate the power usage of a heat pump? Does anyone have any real-world numbers of KWh from their meter/bill? I don't want to install a heat pump that draws more than my PV panels can produce on average because electric prices are very high in this area.
I tried the Pentair calculator but has too many invisible assumptions.
Thanks for helping me.