Air Conditioning. Our Blog. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Chemistry of Your Pool Water Pools balance a number of chemicals both organic and added that help keep the water clean to swim in. Effect of Power Problems Your pool heater needs power to operate and as such is connected to your main line of electricity. Maintenance Your pool heater should be scheduled at least once a year for maintenance, and can benefit from bi-annual maintenance.
Do we serve your neighborhood? Enter Your Zip Code Here. Join our Mailing List:. Pay Invoice. Our pool heater troubleshooting is the solution]. Pool heat pumps will definitely work a bit better on the brighter and sunnier days of the year. This is because pool heat pumps harvest heat from the air as opposed to solar rays. Explaining how pool heat pumps works goes bit beyond the scope of a post concerning myths about pool heaters. Luckily, you can read all about it in this post.
When it comes to monthly operation costs, solar pool heaters will almost always be the cheapest to operate. And rightfully so, since they source their heat naturally from the sunlight. They require numerous panels to be installed by a professional and often call for a strong pool pump. Which for many pool owners, means having to upgrade to a stronger and more powerful pump. All which contributes to a hefty installation cost. Depending on where you live, a solar pool heater could be the best option for you.
In states that get a lot of sunshine year round, solar pool heaters thrive. But if you want to swim unrestricted, regardless of weather, solar pool heaters fall short. Hence, why many solar pool heater users turn to the dream team combination. Overall, solar pool heaters require direct sunlight to work effectively. On a cloudy day, you may get some heat from the spurts of sunlight that peek out of the clouds here and there. But likely nowhere near enough needed to adequately heat the pool throughout the day.
So yes, they CAN potentially work on some cloudy days. Under the right conditions, gas pool heaters can be affordable to run. Heating them a few times throughout the month can be affordable. And as you know , the only thing that burns faster than gas is the money you spend on it. Although their design is simple, since gas pool heaters require a dedicated gas line, their installation is not. A dedicated line directly connected to a natural gas pipeline or nearby propane tank which may need to be purchased separately.
One that requires professional help and a good amount of time to set up. Avoiding these main areas of pool heater failure are sure to increase the lifetime you can expect to get from a new heater installation. In the most extreme of cases heaters can be corroded beyond repair in as little as 6 months after installation.
If this happens to you the manufacturer will request pictures of the heater installation prior to removing the defective unit. They may also send a gas service technician to your house to review and inspect the installation as well as some of the heater internals looking for evidence of improper care.
There are a lot of things that can void a heater warranty but the most commonly encountered deficiencies that you can avoid are: - Be sure that the casing of the heater is electrically bonded - Salt water chlorine generator is installed after the heater - Check valve is installed between the chlorine generator or erosion feeder and the heater to prevent backflow - Chlorine, pH and calcium hardness must be balanced at all times The real frustration for pool owners comes from thinking that they have paid a professional to install a heater only to find that their heater has failed from one of these reasons and the manufacturer is refusing warranty.
The problem is that not every pool guy knows this information about what can make a heater fail or what will cause a manufacturer to refuse warranty coverage.
The area that I work in has the largest concentration of inground pools in the Country and still 8 out of 10 heater installations I see have at least one of the deficiencies listed above.
As the pool owner and the one responsible for paying for the pool equipment and maintenance you need to educate yourself and verify that your heater is installed properly.
Bonding The Case Of The Heater One of the most primary defenses your heater has against galvanic corrosion is the bonding wire attached to the casing of the heater. This is the most common deficiency to find in heaters that have failed prematurely and one of the most simple problems to rectify. You should inspect your heater to make sure that you can locate the bonding lug and make sure it is not empty as shown in the pictures below. To bond the heater a thick copper ground wire, commonly 6 AWG bare copper, is connected to this lug on the casing and the other end connects to the main electrical ground for your house electrical service.
Alternatively you can install a grounding plate near to the pool equipment and run the ground wire to there if the main panel is not accessible. This work is usually performed by licensed electricians. By providing a low resistance path to ground via the bonding wire this will prevent small voltages from developing between the heater and other components of your pool which are electrically "connected" via electrolytes, or salt, in the water. Even if you do not have a salt water pool you still have salt in your pool as sodium is the base compound for chlorine.
Salt water pools have salt levels around six times higher than traditional chlorine pools so heaters that are not bonded on salt water pools will fail even faster. If you install a salt cell anywhere before the heater then you are sending concentrated chlorine directly through the most expensive and most chlorine sensitive piece of equipment on your pool. The damage from concentrated chlorine will absolutely ruin the heater even after only a few weeks following installation.
The heater contains many metal components which can not survive heavy doses of chlorine and that is why the salt chlorinator cell is installed directly after the heater. This allows only fully diluted water from the pool to reach the internals of the heater. It is for this same reason that it is strongly not recommended to put chlorine pucks into your skimmer strainer basket or your pump strainer basket. A corrosion resistant check valve is needed in between the salt cell and the heater Installing the salt cell after the heater is not even enough to protect the heater from the corrosive chlorine since it is possible under normal operation for chlorine to track backwards through the system and access the heater.
This is especially true for any time a pump turns off on a salt water pool as the chlorine continues to generate for a few moments. If possible this chlorine will travel backwards through the plumbing and become trapped in the heater headers.
A salt water cell installed after the heater with no check valve in place to isolate it will absolutely fail earlier than a similar heater installation with a check valve. The same is true for any source of chlorine feed in your pool system.
If you have a regular erosion feeder that holds chlorine pucks it must be installed after the heater in the plumbing configuration. Additionally you should install a corrosion resistant check valve on the line out of your heater.
Just as with a salt chlorination cell an erosion feeder can allow concentrated chlorine to travel backwards through the heater causing an premature failure of the internal metal components. Even if the salt cell or erosion feeder are downhill this is not good enough as the chlorine can and will travel uphill against gravity every time the system turns off. Water Chemistry Problems Relating To Heater Failure This is a very difficult subject as "balanced" chemistry in pool water means different things to different people.
The reality is that most pool owners do not really understand exactly what each chemical does in the water and how the different levels interact with each other.
Also, many pool professionals have only just a rudimentary understanding of water balancing leading to poorly educated end users. Throw in a liberal dose of "I've been doing it this was for 30 years and I never have a problem" and this pretty much sums up the public approach to balancing pool and spa water. Even pool owners who legitimately feel they have balancing under control it is unlikely they can explain much about phosphates, breakpoint chlorination, saturation index or galvanic corrosion which is not a knock against them but more an indication of how deep the rabbit hole goes in the world of water chemistry.
Short periods of time with very poor water quality or extended periods of time with marginal water quality is enough to cause damage to pool heaters. Of primary importance are: Maintain pH between 7.
A pH of 7 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 8. A pH of 6 is times more acidic than a pH of 8 so you can see why even short periods of imbalance can expose metals to harsh conditions. Chlorine levels not to exceed 10ppm Only during periods of superchlorination or breakpoint chlorination do you need to have chlorine levels up to 10ppm.
The rest of the time you should try to maintain levels between ppm which is perfect for maintaining clean and safe water without putting undue strain on metal components such as the heater Calcium hardness levels below ppm Scale formation is of primary concern for protecting pool heaters.
The scale itself is very corrosive and will damage metal components it forms on. One of the biggest factors that causes scale formation is high calcium hardness levels. Levels below are a must and levels below are ideal. How To Correctly Size A Swimming Pool Heater To calculate the size of heater that you need you will need to know the volume of your pool as well as a few details about what kind of performance that you expect from it. To start with, a BTU is the amount of energy needed to heat 1 lb of water by 1 degree.
Since there are 8. A 16x32 20, gallon pool would be 20, x 8. Supposing an average unheated pool temperature of 68 degrees and a desired pool temperature of 82 degrees this is a difference in temperature of 12 degrees. You would then multiply 12 by the first calculation of the hourly BTU requirement. For this next calculation you need to know that you will require 10 BTU for every square foot of surface area of your pool for EACH degree difference between the pool water temperature and surrounding air temperature.
Multiply by 25 to determine the hourly BTU requirement to maintain this temperature. In this case , BTU. By looking at the worst case scenario such as cold ambient temperatures in the spring and fall you will learn the maximum BTU you will require during periods of heavy load.
The more that you oversize the heater on your pool the easier it will be for your heater to maintain water temperatures which results in longer lasting internal components. There is a point of diminishing returns for over sizing however it is common practice to upgrade to the next size larger standard size heater above what is calculated that you require. In the above example we needed , BTU however since heaters are produced in round numbers you would be looking at , BTU models and more likely , BTU models which are widely available in any brand.
This is an electronic spark heater so there is no standing pilot or associated lower operating efficiency that comes with a standing pilot flame. This heater is also ideal for hot tubs and spas. It uses an analog heat control dial and a digital ignition pilot hybrid lighting system that only lights the pilot when there is a call for heat.
The size of this heater also makes it a good choice for hot tub applications. Available for volt and volt electrical installations this is a digital control heater so no standing pilot flame is needed. This heater is best suited for pools up to 15, gallons.
The A is digitally controlled and compatible with most automation control systems for remote operation. At , BTU's this is the heater of choice for larger above ground pools, swim spas and hot tubs. Hayward Universal Forced Draft Low NOx Electronic Pool Heaters This versatile heater is the flagship heater from Hayward and has the ability to position the water and gas connection ports on either side of the unit to accommodate any installation layout. The electrical connections are also available on either side of the heater.
The FD model from Hayward has cupro-nickel corrosion resistant heat exchanger suitable for use with salt water chlorine pools. This is a very compact heater and the entire casing is comprised of corrosion resistant materials. In many cases the only difference between the Pentair and Sta-Rite versions of products is the color of the casing only.
This unit is very compact and is the lightest heater in its class though it is limited in BTU size selection. All models of this heater are suitable for salt water pools. Most notably this heater has the smallest footprint of any gas pool heater at only 24 inches square. The top of these heaters can rotate degrees to facilitate the most simple universal installation possible.
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