Why not reduce the utility load with a simple passive design? Recalled reading online where several owners used lengths of black rubber hose to let the sunshine do the heating chore. With a little bit of planning I'd bet most people could find a method to blend those lengths into the area landscaping.
A pool heat pump should be cheaper to run than gas, especially if the ambient air temperature is over 60F. At some point below 60F, it would be cheaper to kick in a gas heater. If the "maintenance" heat is electric resistance, then I completely concur that in no place I know will it be cheaper than gas.
Thanks for the advice Mark. This person who is supposedly using this new type of heater is in a house near Jacksonville, Florida. What would pool heat pump for a 25,000 gallon pool cost?
Bill
Like nobody has thought of that?
Costs are high, effectiveness low, lifetimes short.
South Florida used to be full of roofs with solar collectors from the
1980s. As they wear out, they are generally not replaced. Owners who experienced true costs/benefits don't want them.The problem is not so much the collectors as the fact that any heat added to a pool is lost in a matter of hours.
Norfolk & Waay:
Many $1000s.
Exactly. The best thing you can do is a solar blanket. It takes 160,000 BTUs to raise the temp of my pool water 1 degree.
Depends on how fast you want it to heat... Generally, the largest pool heat pumps I've seen at the online pool stores are just over 100K BTU. These cost around $3K. You can get an 85K BTU for around $2K, but prices don't go much below this.
Compare this with gas heaters that typically begin around 100K BTU and get up to the 500K BTU range.
What you really need is some tolerance for cold water, else you can go bankrupt. I live in the Seattle area (not hot), and can keep the pool around
70F with a cover, and maybe reach 80F on the hotter weeks. Water that is 80F seems quite warm to me, especially when the outside temp in near 90F.If you want to keep your pool like a hot tub, then its going to cost a lot of money no matter what source you choose. A cover, especially at night, will save quite a bit, but could also be a major hassle depending on how easy the cover goes on and off.
Augmenting the pool with solar heat is probably the cheapest method, but you need a lot of roof area.
Thanks! I'm gonna actually use that solar blanket this season to see how much it helps me maintain the temperature in the pool. I suppose it works.
Bill
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