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I'm looking for any advice on the best brand(s) of pool heaters. My pool guy recommended Sta-Rite, various pool stores in my area all recommend different brands (Raypak, Jandy). I have an in-ground pool, but really only plan to use the heater to heat attached spa. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Service guys are going to have the greatest amount of experience with different brands of heaters. Builders and stores will tend to have experience with the brands they've sold or installed. My experiences are mostly with two brands you didn't mention, Laars (now, sorta defunct) and Hayward, so I can't advise you regarding your selection.
Maybe someone else can . . . but keep in mind that the forum will be pretty slow till March.
I can't provide you with a technically sound recommendation on this, but for what it's worth -- back in July I replaced a 30-years old Laars Teledyne unit with a new Ray-Pak heater, for exactly the same use as yours (spa only -- I can't afford to heat the whole pool). I am quite happy with it. It heats my spa to 95-100 degrees in about 20 or 25 minutes (ambient water temp currently is about 48 degrees), which is much quicker than my old Laars Teledyne did.
I tried to get comparative ratings of pool heaters online but couldn't find anything (unfortunately there's no consumer rating service for these, the way there is for TVs or dishwashers). I got bids from three different local firms for a new heater, and all three handled different brands. In the end I went with the Ray-Pak because I trusted the guy who was recommending it (he has serviced my pool in the past and does a good job), and because it was competitively priced with the other units (which I think were a Jandy and a Hayward). That probably doesn't help you much, but thought I would throw this in, just in case.