First Time AG Heater Shopper

Hey guys - Can't wait to hear some great advice in these forums. If this first post should be placed elsewhere just let me know.

I'm finally biting the bullet and am planning on acquiring a heater for my 24'x52" AG pool. I never heard good things about the Hayward line, but I'm interested in the new H-Series 135K model. Seems much improved.

My price max is about $1100, so I'm looking at the new Hayward 135K H-series and the Raypak 156a. First one is 135BTU and second is 150BTU. Does anyone have experience with these and can make a recommendation? Price and reliability are my primary shopping factors. I will have a solar cover, but do not currently have insulated walls. Also, I'm a chlorine user and not any substitute such as Baquacil. As I've heard, pool chemistry plays a big role in heater reliability.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

So, my job here is to give you good advice, not pleasant advice. Right?

Let's start with some neutral facts.

• Gas prices are WAY down from a decade ago, with natural gas costing Pennsylvania consumers about $0.31/therm.
• But, propane prices are UP, costing around $3/gal or $2.72 per therm
• A therm is 100,000 BHUs
• Your pool (24' round AG) is about 13,200 gallons or 110,000 lbs of water.
• It will take 1.1 therms to heat your pool 1 degree F.
• In a perfect world, heating your pool 15 degrees would take 16.5 therms.
• That's $5.12 of natural gas or $44.88 of propane
• Considering heater inefficiency, that becomes $7.31 or $64.11

Then, there are some less neutral facts.

• The Hayward above-ground H-series are NOT made like the in-ground H-series
• Hayward makes some good products, but they also ship crap, that they KNOW is crap.
• The Hayward inline chlorination has been an AWFUL product for 30+ years!
• "New and improved" in the pool industry usually means "we think we'll make more money from this"
• The new model -- it's not even on Hayward's website -- is too new to trust.
• Above-ground pools are pretty much worst case, in terms of heat loss.
• Your pool has about 750 sft of exposed surface (walls & water)
• Assigning an arbitrary, but generous, R-value of 0.5, heat loss with 80 degree water and 50 degree air will be about 1 therm every 2 hours!

And finally, here are two dirty facts about gas or propane pool heaters.

#1. Most people who buy them, can't afford to run them, except for a little at the start and end of the season.
Think in terms of a gas bill of $200/month going up to $1,000 per month, and a propane bill of far more!

#2. After 1 season, the only people I've seen continue to use them are rich.

__________________________________________

It probably seems like I hate heaters.

That's not true. I've serviced them, installed them, and SOLD them . . . to commercial pools, AND a handful of rich people. I like and have recommended the Hayward H-series -- but not the cut-down version you're looking at! (It MAY be OK. I don't know. You don't know. And I always recommend that pool owners NOT volunteer to be 'new product guinea pigs'!)

But I've seen lots and lots of pool heaters sold to people who, like I said, used them briefly for 1 season, till they got the 1st or 2nd bill!

A far, far more practical option for most people, with AG pools, is solar heating, with black poly heat collectors. Lots of people here have found over the years that they can add 6 - 10 degrees to their pool, pretty inexpensively. This adds as much as a month of use on each end of the season!

__________________________________________

Hey Doc - thanks very much for the well thought out response and advice. I've actually installed and used a solar heating setup that I've been very disappointed with. It is 2 sections for a total of approx 4'x25' surface. My yard doesn't get enough sun for it and I never liked the flow rate of return to pool. Much slower than normal return. Only raised my pool temp like 3 degrees.

In my area, propane is currently $1.70 a pound. Any chance you've had any experience with Raypak heaters by Rheem?

Thanks
Steve

4.6 lbs/gallon x $1.70/lb = 7.82 $/gal . . . . or 2.5 times higher than I said.

I've worked on a few Raypaks, and didn't like them. But that was years ago, and they were millivolt heaters which are twitchy as all get out, no matter who makes them. I know nothing about the current models.

With respect to solar, it doesn't work if your yard is shaded. And yes, circulation is a problem. The units need a small separate pump OR they need to be on a bypass. Unfortunately few pool guys and hardly any homeowners know how to set up a bypass without restricting overall flow.