Propane Use in Spa

[Henry121083]

I have a spa and pool - spa is raised and overflows into pool.

I'm curious to hear how often or how much propane is used in setups similar to mine.

Heater is a mastertemp 400, only used to heat spa

What kind of set ups do you have and how much propane do you use ?

I'd like to hear scenarios on how often propane is used etc

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I have a natural gas heater, but whether the heater is NG or propane, calculating the amount of gas needed is the same for both. You simply need to know what your desired temperature rise is, the volume of the spa and the efficiency of the heater (you can assume 85% if you don’t know). The DOE even has a website dedicated to pool heaters and uses regional utility costs.

Heating a spa is easy and low cost as the volume of water is quite small. Heating a pool is entirely different as the water volume is a lot larger. In the case of a propane heater, heating a pool is not always practical given that propane typically costs 3X what natural gas does. Even with NG, heating a pool only makes sense if you can cover the pool to avoid overnight evaporative heat loss.

I rarely heat my pool using my gas heater as it would simply cost too much. The spa costs nothing to heat so I spot heat as-needed rather than try to maintain a specific temperature.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

It takes about 3 beers to heat a spa...

& that is a legitimate measure of time.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

It takes about 3 beers to heat a spa...

& that is a legitimate measure of time.