Anyone added a heater to their pool? It's September here in Plano and the pool is already mid 70s which is a little cool for my preference. I have a free evenings (8 pm - 5 am) electrical plan so I currently run my pool pumps in the evening. I was thinking an electric pool heater also running in the evening would allow me to keep the heating costs down and enjoy the pool later into the fall and earlier in the spring.

Seems like a solid plan in your situation with "free" overnight power. Gas heaters are more efficient and more common, but if you can run a heater overnight for free every night and just pay for the equipment and install, you could use your pool all year round.

Your utility bill is going to get pretty high. I think gas is a better option. Your are talking about a lot of BTU's to add heat to a pool.

Nevermind, I see the free evenings comment now. Still, if you are trying to heat a pool with electric power, you might end up like the guy that gets asked to leave the buffet.

I think they make heat pump style heaters for the pool with gas augmentation. Might be a good hybrid for this particular situation.

I replaced my natural gas pool heater myself. It's not hard if you know how to plumb PVC and can do simple electrical wiring.

The unit I installed was a 400,000 BTU heater, so think about how much electricity a comparable one is going to use.

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Still, if you are trying to heat a pool with electric power, you might end up like the guy that gets asked to leave the buffet.

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I thought this was going to be the case as well but I've been on this plan doing the same for over a year now. I also run my heat/AC more over night than during the day. My bill dropped from $300+ during the extreme summer/winter to less than $100 every month. Below is what my average bills looks like. This is heating/cooling a 3200 sq. ft. house and running the pumps on a 30,000 gallon pool.

140k BTU Heat Pump

It recommends a 60amp circuit... So... lots of power.

I don't know if that's sufficient for your pool.

TMoney2007 said:

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140k BTU Heat Pump

It recommends a 60amp circuit... So... lots of power.

I don't know if that's sufficient for your pool.

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Seems like plenty of BTUs for 30K gallon pool:

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Sizing a heat pump for inground pools is done by first matching pool heater BTU output to pool size in gallons. For pools of up to 20,000 gallons, small heat pumps like the Hayward 95K BTU output are suitable. Pools up to 30,000 gallons should look at the AquaCal 120K BTU or higher, and 40,000 gallon inground pools should look at models like the Pentair 140K BTU. Pools in very windy or colder areas, or those that don't use a pool cover should consider installing one size larger.

Heat Pump Pool Heaters

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Based on 4 seconds of research that consisted of reading the Q&A section on that home depot product listing, it could also be related to the surface area of the pool, which makes some sense.

The only one listed at Leslies is 92k BTU and takes (3) 40/50A circuits.

Also, that $450 credit for nights is awesome.

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Also, that $450 credit for nights is awesome.

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The top 2 energy consuming devices in my house are my HVAC (AC/heater) and pool pumps. During the summer, I crank my house down to 65F at night.

I have the raypak 8450HC which is 129kbtu. It also cools the pool which most heat pumps don't do. While I haven't tried to heat the pool yet, just installed this spring, I would think it would take a long time. I also have a gas heater so I can heat the spa faster. I've tried to cool the pool in Houston on a hot day and it only keeps the temperature from rising too fast. Kept the pool at 88 instead of 92 on the hottest days.

The electric bill was high. I ran a 60A circuit for it.