[airics]

what type of pool heater did you get?

also if you have pets, i would avoid the cover at all costs... they could fall in and drown... i had a cover for a day.. my dog thought he could walk over it and fell in... luckily we were there when it happened

[Packrat1]

I put in a gas 400k BTU Sta-Rite Max E Therm which is like the Pentair Master Temp. Size wise it is a very compact unit and apparently fairly easy to work on. I tried to do a lot of research on which one to buy and this is the one I came up with.

My old heater was a Hayward 400k Btu heater, the new one heats significantly faster than the Hayward.

[jet757f]

Can you use the same gas line that the BBQ uses or does it have to be a separate line?

[Packrat1]

It has to be a separate line due to the larger volume of gas needed.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by airics

what type of pool heater did you get?

also if you have pets, i would avoid the cover at all costs... they could fall in and drown... i had a cover for a day.. my dog thought he could walk over it and fell in... luckily we were there when it happened

Any pool can take out a dog. The small and old are the one at risk. You need to make sure they have an escape route if they fall in. Most dogs can get out reasonable stairs or a beach entry. Next door neighbor lost his old pooch to his pool. Was likely getting a drink and fell in.

Ours is a safety cover and can be walked on and the prior dog used to love to run across it. the present one won't get near it.

[airics]

Originally Posted by Packrat1

I put in a gas 400k BTU Sta-Rite Max E Therm which is like the Pentair Master Temp. Size wise it is a very compact unit and apparently fairly easy to work on. I tried to do a lot of research on which one to buy and this is the one I came up with.

My old heater was a Hayward 400k Btu heater, the new one heats significantly faster than the Hayward.

I have the same one but its nowhere near as fast..wonder if they need servicing

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by Packrat1

Do you remember the brand name and model of the one on ebay?
Thanks.

I looked it up in my Ebay history. The one I have was purchased 10/2013. It was a 12 mil solar blanket sold by poolproducts.com. I think this is the same one I bought:

16x32 Inground Solar Blanket Swimming Pool Cover 12 Mil Rectangle | eBay

I do a rough cut to size with a utility knife, just to get the extra material off the deck, then after it has sat on the pool for a few days, I come back with heavy duty scissors and cut it to fit.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by Packrat1

I put in a gas 400k BTU Sta-Rite Max E Therm which is like the Pentair Master Temp. Size wise it is a very compact unit and apparently fairly easy to work on. I tried to do a lot of research on which one to buy and this is the one I came up with.

I'm actually in the market for a 400k BTU pool heater. I was at NPS today and they have both the Sta-Rite and Pentair in stock, as well as a similarly priced Hayward.

The guy I talked to recommended the Pentair. His claim was that the control panels on the Hayward and Sta-Rite are exposed, and he's convinced that it leads to early failure of the controller board when heaters sit exposed to the sun in this climate. He said the Pentair has a plastic cover over the controls, and that little three dollar piece of plastic and and the airspace under it provides enough protection to the display and control panel that controller board failures are far less common on the Pentair.

[Packrat1]

With all due respect, the Pentair Master Temp and Sta Rite Max E Therm are exactly the same unit. The only difference is the casing. The Sta Rite is a Dura Glass fiberglass type case and round where the Pentair is a square metal Case. They both use the same controller board and other parts.

I did a fair amount of investigation on all of these including the Hayward H Series (which was my last heater) and the Raypak which is a very basic heater.

The Pentair, Sta Rite and Hayward all have induced draft ie: a blower that helps heat more efficiently. The Raypak does not. The Raypak is a builder basic unit which isn't as efficient but on the flip side because of that it doesn't have as many moving parts to repair and is cheaper to buy.

I did speak to salesmen at both NPS and Leslies but only just to gather data and their opinions. I felt it was much more important to speak to the people who actually repaired the units rather than someone who is trying to sell me something. I spoke to my pool person who does most of my repairs as well as Sun Devil Pools who ultimately installed my Sta Rite system. I also went to poolsuppliesunlimited who carrried everyone's heater and got data from there.

What I found was that the round Sta Rite Max E Therm was the most serviceable. Because of it's casing (Dura Glass not metal) it is easy to replace the control unit (only 4 screws) and the replacement cost of the control unit was much cheaper than Hayward or Raypak. Additionally, due to the round case you can turn and position the controller basically 360 degrees to locate where it is easy for you to see and/or get to. This is not the case with the Pentair. Also the Pentair is harder to get into the box to get to the controller ie higher labor prices.

The Pentair and Sta Rite do have a smoked plastic cover to shield the digital readout. Care must be taken to keep this shield over the digital readout or it will fade in the sun. My Hayward only had led's and they faded too although they lasted 15 yrs.

I didn't go with another Hayward as the pool techs stated it is hard to get parts for them. In fact they couldn't get parts to repair mine. Reason is that they change models frequently and a lot of the parts are not interchangeable. On the flip side, Raypak doesn't change designs very often so their parts are very interchangeable but I didn't want a basic heater without a blower.

I also looked at reviews online and every brand had good and bad reviews. What I did find is that most of the Pool Heater manufacturers balk on paying warranty claims on heaters that are not installed by a factory certified pool tech. Many complaints on heaters bought via Amazon for that.

The unit I bought is warrantied for 2 years since it was installed by a licensed authorized pool tech. The Sta Rite unit also has a much smaller footprint too which I liked. Some are turned off by the R2D2 look of the Sta Rite so the Pentair would be the other choice.

Anyway that is my take on the issue.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by Packrat1

With all due respect, the Pentair Master Temp and Sta Rite Max E Therm are exactly the same unit. The only difference is the casing. The Sta Rite is a Dura Glass fiberglass type case and round where the Pentair is a square metal Case. They both use the same controller board and other parts.

I'm aware of that, that's why I pointed out such a minor difference as the presence or absence of the plastic cover over the control panel. I've never seen the Sta-Rite Max E Therm in person, but in every picture I've seen, I can't see a cover over the control panel.

I had mine installed on Friday. The Pentair Master Temp has a plastic enclosure, not metal, and its footprint is 21"x23", which is not much different than the 25" diameter footprint of the Sta-Rite, maybe even a little smaller.