Heat Pump

jr

I like Solar because it's free heat.

Since you swim in late morning, I don't think you'll have enough sun that part of the day to heat your water. But if you place a cover on your pool during the hours you are not swimming, then the heat won't be lost over night... so the pool will be warm in the morning.

-Gorilla

I'm in the Tampa Bay area and we keep our pool at 90 degrees with solar. Last year, we only had propane and it cost us a fortune to heat the pool.

You just need sunshine to heat the panels. They get hotter than the outside temperature. You do need to run your pool pump, though. So it's not completely free heat. I haven't used them in the winter, yet. Last year the pool was new. This winter I'll probably use the spa more than the pool.

I just had a heat pump installed and love it because I can heat up the pool with more control in the early morning or late evening without worrying about the sun being out. We went with Bella Pools to build the pool and install my heater because they where the best price that I could find. Their website address is www.bellapools.com be careful to do your research because there are so many different quality heaters with different warranties.

I went the Heat Pump route. It was cheaper($2800 vs $5800 for solar) so I can heat for "free" for along time before the solar becomes the better bargain. Another plus for the HP is if there is an approaching hurricane you don't have to worry - with solar you are supposed to remove the solar panels so they don't blow off. Plus the roof warranty is not voided (if you have a new roof) when you install a HP. Finally, the heatpump heats faster. It only takes a couple of hours for my 20K gal pool to go from 78 (or so)degrees to 85 (where I like it).

The downside is if you don't use a pool cover you will have to heat every morning (or leave pump running at night).The cost is about $2 per day to operate without a cover. I ran mine in March through April or early May last year. My pool was built/opened in March.

I also suggest you spend the extra $$ and get a heatpump that will cool the water too. I had many many days where the water was over 90 degrees (in Central FL) and I wished I had the means to cool it down some.

"I went the Heat Pump route. It was cheaper($2800 vs $5800 for solar) so I can heat for "free" for along time before the solar becomes the better bargain. Another plus for the HP is if there is an approaching hurricane you don't have to worry - with solar you are supposed to remove the solar panels so they don't blow off. Plus the roof warranty is not voided (if you have a new roof) when you install a HP. Finally, the heatpump heats faster. It only takes a couple of hours for my 20K gal pool to go from 78 (or so)degrees to 85 (where I like it).
The downside is if you don't use a pool cover you will have to heat every morning (or leave pump running at night).The cost is about $2 per day to operate without a cover. I ran mine in March through April or early May last year. My pool was built/opened in March.

I also suggest you spend the extra $$ and get a heatpump that will cool the water too. I had many many days where the water was over 90 degrees (in Central FL) and I wished I had the means to cool it down some."

Heliocol solar panels are guaranteed to withstand winds up to 140 mph. You do not need to remove them in an approaching hurricane. If sustained winds are greater than 140 mph, most likely your roof will blow off before the panels do.

Also, you can cool your pool water with solar by running the water through the panels at night.

A heat pump is the best non-solar method to heat a pool. However, in most areas, you can pay for the difference between a heat pump and solar in less than 18 months. After that, you are heating your pool for free. Yes, you have to run the pool pump, but you need to do that anyway to run the water through the filtering system.

I don't know of any heat pump that can effectively heat a pool for $2/day unless you live on the equator. I live in South Texas and we get a lot of sun year around. My friends and customers, who heat their pools with a heat pump during the winter months here, where the average temperature is 75 degrees, pay on average $300/month to keep their pools at 84 degrees. That is a lot more than $2/day. I think you need to check your calculations.

I don't know of any company that will void your roof warranty for installing solar panels. I've been in the pool business for over 30 years, and that is a new one for me.

Solar heat is also environmentally friendly (GREEN). To me, the fact that solar is extremely cost effective and "green" makes solar a no-brainer.

Being from Florida, you should know that Gov. Crist just had solar installed on the pool at the Governor's mansion. It is estimated that the solar system will save more than $45,000 over a 10 year period and it will eliminate over 22,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year.

I respectively think you should get your facts straight before posting misleading information.

Pilot20 wrote: I don't know of any heat pump that can effectively heat a pool for $2/day unless you live on the equator. I live in South Texas and we get a lot of sun year around. My friends and customers, who heat their pools with a heat pump during the winter months here, where the average temperature is 75 degrees, pay on average $300/month to keep their pools at 84 degrees. That is a lot more than $2/day.

Pilot20 - Are you saying that they're paying $300/month on top of their "normal" electric bill? Or are you saying they're paying $300/mo total, with everything included? I realize this is all ballpark info, but is of interest to me as I'm considering adding a heat pump in N. TX.

I'm guessing it also depends on how often they're running them, what units they have and how big their pools are.

My electric bill went up about $60 a month during the time I ran the Heat Pump. I will concede that during this same period I did not run the house AC so the actual cost of the heat pump is probably more than $2/day but the net effect was $2/day.
The cooling effect of running the solar panels at night depends on the air temp and length of time you run the pump (water contact time with the panels). If the night time air temp is, say, 82-84 degress, the water does not cool quickly enough to lower the pool temp significantly. You will also want to run the pump while you are swimming so you run the pump all night to cool the water then all day while your swimming. This adds expense too.

See link for a neat calculator for HP, Propane, and NG.

-Gorilla

Here is a link that might be useful: Heating Calculator