Recommendations for an in-ground pool heater

we have a 400,000 BTU propane heater that needs to be replaced and are trying to figure out what manafactuer to look at as far as effeiciency,cost & reliability. any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Have you considered a Heat pump? It may be cheaper to operate and, in the long run, own.

We discussed that recently, and the consensus among those of us with experience with multiple brands of heaters was that the Hayward heater was what we preferred, among currently available heaters. The Hayward is compact, seems to generally work well. This model is salt compatible, so you do not have to pay extra for that feature. I've installed several myself, and like them much better than the Laars or Lochinvar heaters from years past.

Hayward's website is down, but I'll try to add links to the product specs and manuals, once the site comes back up.

Also, I just finished checking at Amazon, and was very surprised to find out that Amazon has apparently decided to promote the Hayward Universal series of heaters in a big way, stocking not only the full line of heaters, but many part assemblies as well.

The prices are not the absolute best I've seen but are quite good, and very close to what I've paid wholesale . . . especially when you consider the free shipping and Amazon's excellent return policy. (There may be differences on the return policy for 'installed' items -- I have not investigated this.)

Remember that if you purchase through Amazon, from a 3rd party seller, there is still a warranty but it's definitely more of a problem to follow through, than with Amazon directly. As of June 2013, these links should go only to heaters sold directly by Amazon.

Natural gas models:

• Hayward H400FDN Universal H-Series Low Nox 400,000-BTU Natural Gas Pool Heater
• Hayward H350FDN Universal H-Series Low Nox 350,000-BTU Natural Gas Pool Heater
• Hayward H300FDN Universal H-Series Low Nox 300,000-BTU Natural Gas Pool Heater
• Hayward H250FDN Universal H-Series Low Nox 250,000-BTU Natural Gas Pool Heater
• Hayward H200FDN Universal H-Series Low Nox 200,000-BTU Natural Gas Pool Heater
• Hayward H150FDN Universal H-Series Low Nox 150,000-BTU Natural Gas Pool Heater

Propane models:

• Hayward H400FDP Universal H-Series Low Nox 400,000-BTU Propane Pool Heater
• Hayward H350FDP Universal H-Series Low Nox 350,000-BTU Propane Pool Heater
• Hayward H300FDP Universal H-Series Low Nox 300,000-BTU Propane Pool Heater
• Hayward H250FDP Universal H-Series Low Nox 250,000-BTU Propane Pool Heater
• Hayward H200FDP Universal H-Series Low Nox 200,000-BTU Propane Pool Heater
• Hayward H150FDP Universal H-Series Low Nox 150,000-BTU Propane Pool Heater

Thank you! I really appreciate your recommendation.