I wont get in my pool unless it is at least 82 so you are not the only wimp!

A while back there was a thread about what swimming temps people liked and I was surprised at how many people like their water in the 85+ range, some even prefer it in the 90's. For me 80 to 85 is the perfect range, any warmer than 85 and it just doesn't feel refreshing. I don't think you're wimpy for wanting to raise it about 79, that is maybe just a little chilly :-) Now if you're heating it when your water is already 83 or 84, then yeah, I'd call that wimpy ;-)

I'm the biggest wimp! I have my heater set to kick on if it goes below 87. We swim alot at night and in the mornings (too hot and usually windy during the day) so we like it warm. Actually 88-90 is my favorite! I've turned the kids into wimps too. They got in when it was 86 the other day and complained for me to turn the heater on.

No, you're not a wimp. If so, I'm joining your gang!! My perfect temp is 86-88. I'll get in at 82, but not for long!

I'm an 86er too!! Power to the wimps:)

My heater is cranking as we speak! Finally the weather is going to break today and the sun will be out with a high of around 85. Water temp was 79 this morning, I usually only run the heater for about an hour and half. We probably have used it a half a dozen times this season and I only noticed about a $50 rise in bill. It's sooo worth it!

Another wimp checking in. My pool is tee-niny and in the sun all day, but we still got a heater. We haven't used it yet, but only because I haven't been getting in it that much.

I can't stand cool water!

I don't have a pool yet, and haven't signed a contract, just researching and love this website.
I know I will be a pool wimp, so I am wondering, in the opinions of other pool wimps, what is the best heater to get.
One of the PB's has mostly convinced me an electric heat pump will be best for me. He says the first gas bill I get will cause me to turn the heat off, then I know I wouldn't want to swim because the water is too cold. Also my sister is stingy with her heat(gas) and makes the kids wear rash guards if it is cold water, and the adults(me) don't want to get in much.
But I wonder if a heat pump can get the water warm ENOUGH for me.
I also wonder.....is it possible to have both a gas heater AND an electric heat pump(or is that totally silly?)

Don't do what I did......

Last May our pool was finished. It was too cold for me and I was so anxious to swim we started heating it to boast it a little.

We heated it until our warm So. Cal sun kept our pool heated. I think we turned the heater off when he reached 85. Swam all summer without the heater running and with the water temp between 86 - 90 (90 too warm for me) with the sun and beautifully warm summer nights. If I needed a burst of heat, we ran the spa with the spill over into the pool.

Every month we got the gas bill, I kept asking my husband how the gas bill was and he had no complaints.
During the summer our normal bill was around $40.00. In the winter $80.00.
Around September the nights were starting to cool down and so was our pool, so we started heating the pool to where it would stay at about 88 degrees. We were swimming all winter! Great...no change in bill. I couldn't figure it out. I thought "wow" it's not expensive to heat a pool at all. It was very cool to wake up in the morning and see the steam coming up off of the pool on crisp cool mornings. During around Oct. - Feb we kept the pool at 90 degrees. Laying out on the floats in the sun soaking up the rays and keeping my So. Cal tan.

After heating the pool for 6 months we got "THE BILL" of $3985.00. We didn't open the bill for a few days and then 3 days later we got another bill over $1,300.00 because "they didn't calculate it right!!" We knew it had to be a huge mistake! We called the gas company and asked what the deal was. Well....apparently because they couldn't get into our yard they were calculating for 6 months. They used to go to our next door neighbors and read our meter with a special binoculars (whatever you want to call it) but, what we didn't know was the neighbor started locking their gate for mos. so the weren't able to read the meter. They were calculating.
The gas company knew we had a pool because we had to change to a bigger meter so it could handle the big heater we got for the pool.

The gas co. did take $1000.00 off of the bill but, that's it!

The gas co. showed my husband how to read the meter so he could keep an eye on things. We now only heat the spa (usually 6 days a week) and our bill is about 200.00 a mo. which is do-able.

So don't do what we did...receive a bill of over $5,000.00 from the gas co. YIKES!

Stuntchik, Ouch! What a hit. I would call that a scared straight story for new pool owners who like warm water. Thanks for sharing that one.