On 8/15/2012 1:12 PM, Duesenberg wrote:
Anyone have any pool heater info they wanna share with me?

Wifey has been lobbying for a heater and is armed with her mother's
chequebook. In the interest of staying married I've caved in and decided
that a heater might be a good thing for our kids... I just agreed to
this 15 minutes ago, so haven't Googled anything yet.

Pool dimensions are 16 x 32 x 10 feet deep (3 feet at shallow end).

Ontario Canada. Typically our water is heated by the sun to 23 or 24,
which I think is 76F. In hot days it can get to 80F. Want a heater that
will give us 29 to 30 which I think is 85F but if not, at least to
maintain 80F.

Natural gas. Chlorine, Sand filter.

One other question, are these things power vent or pvc exhaust or are
they stack exhaust? Want to keep indoors but wonder about air breathing.

A heated pool is a system. A pool heat source is a PART of that system.
If the mother's checkbook includes paying for the heat, your system
gets simpler.
If you're paying, you might want to do a LOT of research on the financial
implications of a heated pool.

There are floating pool covers that absorb more heat from the sun
and prevent some of the radiation. Keeping the heat in is as important as
adding more heat. This is especially important if you expect 85 degree
water in the winter.

You can calculate the volume of the pool and how many BTU's it takes to
get from 76 to 85F. From then on it's all about losses. Minimize those
losses.

Solar collectors can be very useful.
You might decide that sacrificing a few swimming days or a degree or
two, you can save significant operating $$$.



The thermal time constant of a pool with proper surface insulation is
rather long. You're gonna pay for heat on days/weeks when you won't be
using the pool.

Do the math on the thermodynamics and talk to people who have heated
pools in your area before you dive in.