Is there anything better than chainsawing with a brand new chain? I think not.
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Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
Agreed, good ideas from many people but spending $2k on heating a $300 pool isn’t really a very viable option for me at this stage considering how little the pool gets used.
Looking for lower cost options at this stage as we are not a pool type of family. Not yet anyway.
You have a bit of a catch 22 if the pool is warm it will get used all the time
Sent from the future
When we switched to the heat pump so it was warm all the time from the gas heater where I heated it up if we wanted to use it, usage definitely went up a lot. Also because the heat pump is slow to change temp, it runs at 85 now so kids stay in it for many hours.
I keep ours just above 90 full season and it gets used way more because it's easy just to jump in at any time
Sent from the future
My wife would be happy at 90. I think it feels like pee. Not refreshing when it's hot as pool gets full sun. I'd run cooler but 85 is our compromise that seems to work.
Correct. For now it's not a priority project, but one thing I do want to do in the future is build / buy a surface pool and dig it down about 1/2 the way. Build a deck around it, and have that as a 'pool'.
Option #2 is get an excavator, and dig my own damn pool. But that's a way away.
Option #3 is to just flip this house for another one with a pool.
so glad i looked in here... been on the fence about a pool heat pump for my 16x32 in ground but seeing the temps people are running... really looking hard to get one for this season. brand new at about 100k btu is 4850+tax from the local pool shop... been trying to find a used one of marketplace though... not very easy.
I took scuba's advice and undersized the heatpump. Ours is about 13x32, 14000 gallons. Every recommendation says I need 100K plus btu. I put in a single 50K btu. It has zero issues maintaining 85 through swimming season running during off peak times only (and not even all of those times). After labour day, the temp slowly drops through the week but catches up on the weekend. Warming up pool in the spring takes a while (if it was cold with little sun probably 1-2F per day). I opened the pool nine days ago, the heat pump has run for maybe 65 hours and temp has gone from 47 to 67. I could run the heat pump more and speed things up but I am targeting long weekend swimming so no need to waste a ton on electricity keeping it hot long before.
A 50K BTU was ~50% of the price of a single 100k btu. I plumbed to allow another 50K btu on top if I thought it was needed. That would give me heating redundancy at almost zero cost (some plumbing and valves). Smaller is also logistically convenient as it is 115 lbs instead of closer to 350 for a 100k unit. To get to install location, I need to go over the pump and some plumbing. 350 is too much for me.I went with variable speed as it was outside our bedroom and in case noise was an issue I wanted to be able to quiet it down. I would go single speed next time. No issues with the variable but upfront cost was a few hundred more and it will never save a few hundred in electricity (although COP for variable speed heat pump is much better than the single speeds so maybe?).
I bought from pool supplies canada. Most of the local shops were crap when it came to heatpumps. Delivery time of months, higher cost, no idea what they were talking about. PSC had one in my garage in a day.
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I went with this one. Only surprise was the colour. The colour on the website is strange and interesting, the colour in real life is forest green.
NorthFlo 50,000 BTU Variable Speed Inverter Heat Pump | Pool Supplies Canada
All new NorthFlo 50,000 BTU Variable Speed Inverter Heat Pump features modulating operating speed capabilities to save you up to 50% on electricity and running costs! Exclusively available online at Pool Supplies Canada.
www.poolsuppliescanada.ca
If I wanted a baller pool I would have a single 50K heat pump and a gas heater. Use the gas heater to change pool temp or when air temps are more than ~30F below pool temp.
I replumbed my pad with 2" and heater bypass at the same time. Old heater had no bypass which made its death a much more urgent problem. I also bypass to vacuum as the 50k heat pumps are only 1.5" inside.
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My pool's about the same size as yours 50K is no problem if you use a solar blanket The clear ones work much better than the blue ones
I have the heat pump similar to the one I linked earlier in the thread then running for 7 years now no issues. Actually there is one issue The fan capacitor seems to only last two to three years they cost about $4 on Amazon and are easy to change
Sent from the future
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Mad Mike
Well-known member
I keep mine at 80. I have a Raypak 250K boiler - brings the thing up 3C/hr, Im in full sun, so I'm only on the gas in the spring and when the wife wants a 20'000 gallon hot tub.
I'd much prefer to spend $40 a month on electricity and just keep it at 90 neighbor tore out his gas heater after 1 year and put in a heat pump figures he saved the cost in a year
Sent from the future
I need dirt to level so f you need to get rid of some after digging I’m a bit of a drive but you can raid my booze collection while here
I'm assuming he was propane which makes the economics 100% worse.
After the first 2500 dollar month he decided it wasn't the way to go.
Sent from the future
Some neighbours kept their pool open and hot for october a few years ago. That was over $1000 in nat gas for the month. They didn't use the pool. Not doing that again.
That may work a little but you're only adding <16 sq ft of solar collection to 150 sq ft the pool already collects. It would make a bigger difference if heater was exposed to sun and pool wasn't. Friends have solar pool jester on their garage. Approximately equal to area of pool. It helps but I don't think they have ever gotten to 85.
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