Heaters For Pools

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Dolphin Pool and Spa ยป Heaters

Heat Your Swimming Pool Effectively With Gas Pool Heaters

Author: Brenda Masten

Swimming in your private pool is truly a great way to have fun and enjoy life. By keeping your pool water warm and welcoming, you will be creating an even more enjoyable environment for your family and friends. Gas pool heaters provide a great way to heat your pool and keep the water at a comfortable temperature in order to maximize every swimming experience. With their cost and efficiency benefits, swimming pool gas heaters are a great alternative to more costly electric heaters and come with many outstanding features. Considering today's economy and the current cost of electricity, gas pool heaters present a great option for every swimming pool owner.



Swimming pool gas heaters come in two basic types, namely propane heaters and natural gas heaters. Both of these types of gas swimming pool heaters are high-performing and can heat larger volumes of water in less time than electric heaters. This means that you can start swimming faster with gas heaters and you and your family can enjoy an extended swimming season. In addition to heating water faster, propane and natural gas heaters for swimming pools are also less expensive to operate than electric pool heaters so they will save you money. In today's economy, that's definitely a benefit that should not be overlooked!

While both propane gas pool heaters and natural gas heaters are more efficient and less costly to operate than electric heaters, they share their own differences with respect to cost and efficiency. Although propane heaters are definitely less expensive to run than electric heaters, natural gas heaters typically cost approximately half as much to operate as propane heaters. Of course, prior to purchasing a natural gas heater for your swimming pool, it's important to make sure that natural gas is supplied to your property. If it is not, propane heaters are still an excellent and cost-effective option for keeping your pool warm.

There are many different available models of propane and natural gas heaters for swimming pools. When comparing and evaluating different units, there are a couple of different factors that you should look for. First of all, the specifications for each heating unit will include a BTU rating. BTUs, or British Thermal Units, are used to express the amount of energy that the heater requires to raise the water temperature of your swimming pool by one degree Fahrenheit. BTU ratings can fall within a wide range, and gas pool heaters with higher BTU ratings will heat swimming pools faster. Not surprisingly, models with higher BTU ratings will also be more expensive to purchase. The second factor to consider is their efficiency rating. A swimming pool gas heater with an efficiency rating of 85%, for example, wastes 15% of the energy required to operate it. Obviously, units with a higher efficiency rating waste less energy and are therefore more cost effective and more environmentally friendly. While the majority of propane and natural gas heaters will have an efficiency rating that falls somewhere between 80% and 85%, there are models available with efficiency ratings as high as 95%.

There are gas heaters for swimming pools available that can be installed either outdoors or in a pool house. While some models can be installed in either location, others are designed specifically for indoors or specifically for outdoors. If you'd prefer to have your gas pool heater installed outdoors, it's important to make sure that the unit you choose is weather resistant so it will withstand ice, rain and snow during the winter months. This will protect your heater and help to ensure that it will last for many years to come.

Swimming pool gas heaters will have one of two ignition systems. These heaters use either a pilot light or an electronic ignition system. The latter type of ignition system is the most common and is often preferable because it does not require a continuous pilot light which can be a waste of energy. The type of ignition system that you choose will be based upon personal preference but, as already mentioned, electric ignition systems are more common.

Whether you prefer to have a propane or natural gas heater for your swimming pool, either type will provide you with high performance, efficiency and cost savings. Gas heaters are easy to install and typically require very little maintenance so you can enjoy worry-free and effective pool heating. With a swimming pool gas heater working for you, you can dive into your private pool sooner and enjoy its comfortable warmth and refreshing qualities to the fullest extent.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/tools-and-equipment-articles/heat-your-swimming-pool-effectively-with-gas-pool-heaters-814308.html

About the Author

Brenda Masten is an experienced pool owner with deep knowledge of gas swimming pool heaters. She explains difference between propane and natural gas pool heaters.


Comments

  1. HabuBro says:
    July 6, 2010 at 10:23 pm

    Solar panelled heaters for pools?
    I have an in-ground 18×36 pool and I would like to know if anyone has some comments or suggestions about any solar panelled heaters that they have/had.

  2. peanut's bro says:
    September 4, 2010 at 11:20 pm

    We have installed solar heating in a few pools. The downside is that the panels look ugly on your roof. If this is not a factor, the upside is constantly warm water with no jump in your gas bill. They work great and the homeowners who have them rave about them.

  3. confucious says:
    November 16, 2010 at 3:31 pm

    How can I heat my 5x8x3 ft pool. It sits on cement in shade. Solar/Gas heaters for pools are too expensive.?
    i live in an Apt. complex so I can only have this pool on the cement, but there is a balcony right above. It gets to be 100 degrees outside, yet the water is still too chilly. Any suggestions that are low priced?

  4. Drew C says:
    December 4, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    Solar heaters for pools … any ideas on how to make one?
    I have an in ground 13,000 gallon pool that I use a solar cover on to retain heat, but I would like to swim earlier and later in the year and I was thinking of building my own solar heater. Your suggestions are welcome please! I had thought of a 6′ X 3′ X 6″ deep box that would have densely packed piping going back and forth to the other side where the water would be returned to the pool. The class topped box would concentrate the heat and warm the water passively I believe. Any other suggestions or suggestions on what materials to use? I can draw the water from the filter without having to add a seperate pump.
    I am planning on putting the unit on my Shed roof, not my house, so the limited size is important.

  5. skip1960 says:
    January 18, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    If you can I’ve found one of the best way to do this is to buy a submergeble sup-pump, hook it to a black hose this draw the sun and run the hose in coils into a sunny area. Turn on the pump and it will pump the water through the black hose and back into the pool. If you can put 2 or 3 hoses together you have more water getting heated because of more area of black hose. This should do the trick. A solar blanket won’t work if your in the shade. Remember put the pump in the pool then run the hose out and coil it, then back to the pool. Doesn’t look the best but it works.

  6. F T says:
    February 18, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    Most states do. Check with your state governement. They will give you a certain percentage off of the price of the unit on your income tax return.

  7. steveheremd says:
    March 5, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    It sounds to me like the set up you envision will work in a limited fashion to heat the water enough to raise the temp 5-8 degrees. If you want this to be a relatively inexpensive project to simply expand the swim season I believe you are on the right track. Good luck!

  8. david26003 says:
    March 17, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    Are there any tax incentives for solar panels and/or high efficiency pool heaters?
    we had an older heatpump and wpuld like to upgrade to more efficient model and ad solar panels to help reduce cost..

  9. scubabob says:
    March 26, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    You can build a solar heater for about 200- 300 bucks all in including platform materials if you’re placing the collector at ground level. Cheaper if you already have a spot to put it on. Home built ones are a little less efficient than manufactured ones and don’t look as nice but they do work. Usually they’re made out of 3/4 inch poly irrigation pipe and a few plumbing fittings. 100 feet would do the trick for your size pool. There’s no need to cut the pipe, simply take the coil and spread it out sideways on the surface you intend to put it that gets good sun exposure. Try to make sure that you’ve spread it out such that the open ends come down from that coil and not up. It’s easier and more direct. Secure it in place, after making sure there’s enough to run to the pool equipment. If you’re going to use more than 10 feet to get there, buy extra pipe to connect to your collector since you just used 1/5th of your collector. You’ll want a minimum of 80 coiled feet for it. Run both ends to your pool equipment. You’ll need two 1 1/2 x 3/4 x 1 1/2 poly plumbing T’s OR 1 1/4x 3/4x 1 1/4 T’s depending on your existing plumbing at the filter and preferably a ball valve that is also the same size as your existing plumbing (either 1 1/2 or 1 1/4).

    Install your first T directly after the filter on the return side.Add a short length of pipe from that T and install your ball valve. Again add a short length of pipe and then install your last T. Don’t forget to use hose clamps on your plumbing connections. Take either end of the 3/4 pipe from the solar collector ( it doesn’t matter which) and hook it up to the first T you installed. That is now your “to solar pipe”. Take the remaining 3/4 pipe from the solar and install it to your remaining T. That’s now your “from solar pipe. You’re done with the installation. Make sure that ball valve is in the open position and turn on your pump. Check for leaks. No leaks? Now it’s just a matter of tweaking your balancing valve. There’s no water going to that solar collector yet. It’s taking the easy route to your pool and not going to the collector. That’s what the balancing valve does, it makes the pool water have a choice. No water to solar (fully open), some water to solar ( partially closed) or all water to solar ( fully closed and rarely if ever will you put it in this position.)
    Strat closing the ball valve a bit at a time. You’ll see a lot of air bubbles come out your pool return jet when water starts heading to the collector. It’s normal. The plumbing may even jump around a bit. That’s normal too. If you don’t see any bubbles at all, you need to close that valve some more, a bit at a time until you do. When the bubbles have stopped, feel the pool return. On a sunny day, you’ll feel warm water coming out. No warm water? Close it a bit more and check again. When you finally get the water to run up to the solar and back to the pool, you’re done tweaking. Mark that ball valve handle’s position for easy reference so you can instantly put it in that position after changing it so there’s no more fiddling around to find the right setting. You won’t ever put that ball valve in a fully closed postion as a rule, unless the head pressure is huge ( the collector’s height above the pool surface ),like say up to a two storey roof. That’s 25 feet at least it needs to travel vertically in that case plus pipe run plus the 90′s it makes at the T’s. It all adds up. One storey no issue, two and you’re pushing your luck with an above ground pool pump.
    Just remember one thing. Lot’s of water quickly going to a solar array doesn’t heat a pool up faster. The slower it goes, the more heat it gets from the solar and actually the faster it will tend to heat your pool. So adjust that balancing valve so that you have flow up there, but not a lot of flow. You can always find an efficient setting on your balancing valve just by tweaking it bit by bit and feeling the results at the pool return jet.

    The one thing you’ll need to do at night or on cold days, is to :
    OPEN that valve fully. Doing so makes the route directly to the pool the easiest route and your solar collector is bypassed. This will stop heat from your pool water radiating to the air from the solar collector at night or on days that are colder than the water temp.

    You can actually automate the entire thing with the addition of a irrigation timer and a standard electrically operated valve and the addition of a plumbing bypass. Or even simply wire the pump to the timer period and have it shut down at night. If you’re handy, you can even install some cheap readily avaliable temperature sensors, relays and thermostat to totally automate it so that when your collector cools lower than the pool water it shuts off water to the collector or if your pool water is cooler than the thermostat setting and your collector is warmer, it’ll open and heat the pool on demand.
    Lots of options. You can even hook up a controller from a manufactured solar array. They’re generally the cheapest part of an entire manufactured solar kit. They have the entire solution in one package. The panels are what are expensive.
    One thing that will really help is using a solar blanket at night at least. They don’t do much to heat a pool but they do a lot when it comes to keeping that heat in.
    Other than that, your choices are electric heat (expensive to run), gas ( expensive to buy) or propane ( expensive to buy and run). There’s even a company here in Ontario that makes wood fired pool heaters. I don’t think I need to tell you the pros and cons of that. :)
    I’ve even installed one of those in tandem with a manufactured solar array and propane heater.The guy had all the options for heat except electric.

  10. D K says:
    April 17, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    any recommendations for inflatable pool heaters?
    we have a 16 by 3 1/2 ft. pool and are looking for an inexpensive way to keep the water warm in illinois.

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