Sorry edited my post, my pool pump was on a timer turning off. the heater was still on but shuts off due to no flow. My bad!
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Think my pool heater might not be working so good
- Thread starter craig johnson
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 62,719
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
What is the ambient air temperature and humidity? A heat pump starts to lose efficiency rapidly below ~75F air temperature.
About 45 degrees outdoors, and very high humidity/rain at the moment. Maybe that is what's happening
Heat pumps lose efficiency at lower air temperatures. Your BTU/hr rating is based upon what it can output at 70 degrees, but at 50 degrees it's about 1/3rd less and falls off a cliff as it gets cooler than that. Between the cold air and likely still very cold ground this isn't a surprising result.
Heat pumps are efficient and great for slowly heating and maintaining water temperature, but heating nearly freezing water quickly in nearly freezing weather is still a job for gas heaters.
As an aside: why are you trying to heat the pool right now? If you won't be swimming then it's going to take a lot of energy to warm it and warmer water will allow faster algae growth so it will use more chlorine than cold water.
Heat pumps are efficient and great for slowly heating and maintaining water temperature, but heating nearly freezing water quickly in nearly freezing weather is still a job for gas heaters.
As an aside: why are you trying to heat the pool right now? If you won't be swimming then it's going to take a lot of energy to warm it and warmer water will allow faster algae growth so it will use more chlorine than cold water.
