> Thought I would ask if anyone here knows about swimming pool heaters.
I've got one, know a little bit about them.
> Our regular gas heater for our inground "liner" pool has died after 18 years
> of use.
What failed ? If it's just that the burner doesn't come on, it may be more
economical to repair what you've got. Old ones do tend to be less efficient, so
it's worth doing some calculations to see what the payback period would be on a
new one ... but new heaters are way expen$ive (as you've already noted) so it
may make more sense to repair the old one. If the heat exchanger is leaking,
though, you'll definitely want a new one.
> Now the gas heater will run in the $1200 range. We have a 19 foot by 43
> foot pool...with a 8 foot deep end...so it is no small. We have a 3/4 inch
> gas line feeding the pool heater. ( well the one that was there).
Your old heater should have a plate on it somewhere giving both input and output
in Btu/hr. The output number tells you how big a heater you need (assuming the
one you have is the right size for your needs), the ratio of output to input
gives you it's efficiency. On my old Teledyne, the plate is inside the front
cover : 250,000 Btu/hr in, 175,000 out for about 175/250 = 70% efficiency.
> Does anyone know about heat pump pool heaters.
Only in general ... the idea is that they *can* be more efficient since they
suck some heat out of the air. Problem is, in colder climates, they can't suck
much heat out of the air, so there's not much gain. To counterbalance that, in
most places electricity is quite a bit more expensive (per Btu) than natural
gas. They're also dang expensive both to buy and to maintain. And the worst
part, IMO, is that their performance varies so much with the weather. When it's
chilly out is just when you want the most heat, but heat pump output drops
considerably with colder air temps. A chart for one brand at
http://www.warmwater.com/pool_heat_pumps.htm
shows output at 50F to be roughly 2/3 of the output at 80F. Mind you, you're
paying just as much for 1/3 less heat.
Oh yeah, you're also going to need a sizeable electrical service for them, and
of course your pump has to run at the same time. The biggest unit listed on the
above site is only rated for 117,000 Btu output (at 80F air temp), which is
quite a bit smaller than mine, and requires 50 amps @ 240v. I've only got 200
amps total for the pool & the house, so I'd probably need a bigger service.
That heat pump sells around $3300, plus maybe another $500-1000 for electrical
service and whatever installation of the heat pump costs ... gonna have to save
a whole bunch off my gas bill to have any hope of paying for itself before it's
10 yr warranty is up.
> We cant do solar...we are in Buffalo NY and besides we have no place to put
> the panels...
Your house doesn't have a roof ? Assuming you only heat in the spring & fall,
solar may still be an option for you. Even as just a booster to a NG heater, it
might be worth investigating.
Randall
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