On 8/15/2012 4:12 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.
All right, here's my 2 cents. Been doing this for 15 years, not pool
heaters exclusively, but installation, maintenance and repair of propane
appliances.
Look at Sta-Rite heaters. They aren't as large as other brands (BTU vs
BTU), are power vented, and can be vented out a side wall if installed
inside. The biggest issue is lack of care in the fall as critters will
find a way inside and wreak havoc with insulation and wiring. I suggest
to customers that they wrap the heater as tightly as possible and spread
some moth balls or other rodent repellant to minimize invasion.
As far as heating goes, about one and a half degrees per hour is
average. A solar cover will help maintain the temp and you will use less
energy maintaining the temperature than letting the temp drop and trying
to reheat.