Question:
I have a 18x40 inground pool that goes from 3 feet to 8 feet deep. I am
considering buying a heater to extend our swimming season. I live in
Harrisburg, PA. Any advice on how much it would cost me on a monthly basis.
I would heat it to about 76 degrees. Is that too high a temperature?
Answer:
You need to post this in a website where Nick Pine will see it. You can
calculate the approximate heat loss through the surface, sides, and bottom
of the pool, and then solve a few equations to determine how many Btus it
will take to heat the pool up, and then maintain its temperature. From that,
you can estimate the cost by taking the cost of gas and efficiency of the
pool heater.
Here's an example of an above-ground pool from one of his postings:
http://www.ece.villanova.edu/~nick/internet/00000709
I installed a natural gas heater on our pool serveral years ago. I have a
16x32 sized pool that also goes from 3 ft to 8 ft just like yours. As for
temp, I like to keep mine around 90 degrees. I live in VA. As one of the
replies to your question said, there is no cheap way to heat a pool with
electricity or gas. BTW, I have a 250,000 BTU heater which is a little
overkill for my sized pool but at the time, there wasn't much of a price
difference between what I got and what the calculations called for. Also
for what its worth, I installed a Hayward and have been very pleased outside
of the cost of operation.
