Pool heater question

[RavenNS]

Hi Jeff
consider going with a heat pump
it's more efficient than most other types of heaters & yes you can do exactly what you wanted to do

"What I want to be able to do."
1) heat just the spa.
2) heat the spa and pool
3) heat just the pool

I have a Summit brand heat pump.
it does all three options
( pool & spa can have different temperature settings)

[mshumack]

The problem with using a heat pump to heat the spa is that it takes too long. Heatpumps are efficient at maintaining pool temperature but lousy at quickly raising temperature.

I use a heatpump to keep the pool water at 85 and a gas heater for when I want to use the spa. I have a 400K BTU propane heater that takes about fifteen minutes to raise the spa temp temp to 100 degrees. A heat pump would take several hours - if not more.

Good Luck