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I've been considering adding a heater to my pool but I do not have natural gas. I can install a propane tank for around $3000.00. I'd like to hear from people heating their pools with electric though. Does it work? How expensive is that compared to heating with gas? Am I crazy for even considering heating with electric?
No, it's not a crazy idea at all. In fact, given the cost of a propane tank (which seems excessive, mind you--do you really need such a big one?) + a gas heater which is ball-park about $1000-$1500, the cost of an electric heat pump is equivalent, maybe even less when sized correctly. In your part of the world, where winters are mild and rarely go below freezing, heat pumps used to be common for home heating. I don't know if they still are, but because they are basically a/c units they can heat or cool. Electric heating, generally, is resistance heating and heat pumps only switch over to that when it gets down close to freezing and too cold for reverse air conditioning to work, and then gets costly to run.
But pool heat pumps are usually used when the air temperature is in the 70's or higher, and there they get really, really efficient. So if you do your research into how many KWH it takes to run a heat pump vs how many units of propane it takes to run a gas heater, you may WELL be surprised! Up here, my friends and neighbors who have gas heaters try not to run them because the cost is excessive, even in the warmer months.
You could also consider solar heating, especially since you should get good sunlight where you live. If you have ground area for solar panels, the cost of running them is simply running your pump longer. Even up here, a properly designed solar system can work wonders. Mine does.
Thanks Carl.