San Tan Valley, AZ---Should we get a pool heater? (heat pump, live in)

[Suzstan]

We have a small pool, approx. 18 x9 feet that's 5foot deep at its deepest. The water is too cold to swim in between Late Oct & early May. We've been thinking of getting a pool heater, but gas & propane seem too expensive, solar heat panels seem both expensive & ineffective and, we're told a heat pump may be insufficient to get the temperature up to our desired 85 degrees. We'd be interested in hearing from anyone with a valid point of view, with gratitude.

[bradc344]

Hi, I have a heat pump in Anthem Merrill ranch 12,000 gal. pool and keep my pool at 90/91 all winter. We do have a cover. Last winter had no trouble keeping those temps,the year before we had a 2 week period were we couldn't keep it much above 84/86 but thats ok. We have been running the pool this way for five years all winter long

[DetroitN8V]

IMO, the air temp is too cold for swimming then, let alone the water temp. I have a pool heater and only used it to get the water up to swimming temp in late April, which was nice. If I didn't already have one though, I wouldn't miss it but again, I don't like swimming when it's cool outside.

[Suzstan]

Thank you for your input. We don't mind swimming when the air temp is low, as long as there's a warm towel nearby when we get out

[bradc344]

I sure can understand the post about being to cold if you live in the area year around ,but we come down from oregon for the winter and the winters in az are better then our summers so it is normal for us, my neighbors think i'm crazy to wear short all winter.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by bradc344

I sure can understand the post about being to cold if you live in the area year around ,but we come down from oregon for the winter and the winters in az are better then our summers so it is normal for us, my neighbors think i'm crazy to wear short all winter.

I'm from MI and have experienced my fair share of cold, but there's no way in hell I'm swimming when it's 65 degrees outside. That's impressive though! I think people inaccurately assume our winters are more like Florida's, which they are not. It gets chilly here.

[Suzstan]

Bradc344...your comments are much appreciated. Could I impose on you to provide some info on the company or person who installed and/or looks after your heater, such as name & number?

[PsychNurse]

Our pool is heated with gas. We love it. It is powerful and gets the pool heated fast. It can take the pool from the 50s to 90s overnight and can heat our spa in about 40 minutes. Our pool service company is Barracuda. We usually only heat the pool at Christmas, once in February and once in April. We rarely heat it or use it in the fall. We do use our spa almost every night in the winter though.

[SluggoF16]

In another thread/forum there are discussion about using a cover as well. That will help keep the heat in and reduce your heating bills a lot.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/33810292-post15.html

[bradc344]

It is a pentair heat pump, installed by shasta pools when I had the pool installed, I have had to replace the capacitor a few time but I do that myself, after the warranty ran out, very easy to do I just keep one on hand, also keep one for my AC unit, they seem to go out alot maybe because of the summer heat ....