Wife asked if we could look into buying a swimming pool heater so we can use the pool early spring and late fall. We're in Houston. I don't care for the extra expense really. Having to run the heater for 8-12 hours to get the desired temp prior to swimming seems silly. I've already read a few threads about the costs per month and how long it takes to heat up. We have a ~22,000 gallon pool.

I'm wondering if you all think the initial costs and costs per use (or monthly usage cost) were worth it. Or are these pool heaters more of a hassle and headache? It seems half the people usually have issues in about 2 years or so.

Is it something you like or did it get too costly and you never use it anymore?

You're in Houston - No.

misread. yes, it's worth it to extend swimming season. use gas.

It you can't use gas, think of switching to an energy plan with cheap/free nights. I switched to TXU free nights and run my pump only during the free hours. Saves a lot. I'm thinking of getting a heater and would do the same.

KDubAg said:

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Wife asked if we could ....

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Of course the answer is yes!

was told it costs $100 each time to heat pool

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was told it costs $100 each time to heat pool

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I don't think that's accurate. When I lived in Seattle, everyone who had a pool had a heated pool as it barely gets hot there. I'm pretty sure they had to heat it anytime outside of the 3 summer months.

dudeabides said:

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KDubAg said:

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Wife asked if we could ....

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Of course the answer is yes!

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Yup.

PlanoAg98 said:

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was told it costs $100 each time to heat pool

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I don't think that's accurate. When I lived in Seattle, everyone who had a pool had a heated pool as it barely gets hot there. I'm pretty sure they had to heat it anytime outside of the 3 summer months.

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I do think it's pretty accurate. Spend $3K to get a shoulder month heated.

If I'm off, would love to hear. I did a day or two last year and checked out the heater meter and it was running fast, but maybe a solar blanket would help. Or maybe it's just not as much as I was estimating (also based on internet research).

aggiepaintrain said:

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was told it costs $100 each time to heat pool

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We had a friend in Houston with a pool. She heated for a weekend when we visited and she said it cost her $250. After that she continued to only heat the hot tub part.

The post above about "free nights" for utilities makes a case for it.

Wife thought she was going to do water exercise due to some joint difficulties. We heated it with gas for about a month and was $651.

My pool is only a few months old, but I heated the entire pool in late October and raised water temp 20* and bill was $ 15 more than previous month. That was with several hot tub uses as well.

redag06 said:

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My pool is only a few months old, but I heated the entire pool in late October and raised water temp 20* and bill was $ 15 more than previous month. That was with several hot tub uses as well.

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Was it still warm in late October? Ambient air temp will determine how long the heater runs.

When I was growing up in SA, we had a heater on the pool. We may have used it about 10 times in 10 years. I just remember it being very expensive to use. I don't recall just dying to get in the pool in March either.

We went years without one and since we bought one a couple of years ago, we have enjoyed it. We've never had an outrageous gas bill. Even in the summer we'll heat the spa in the evening. I vote yes! (I'm a wife so, I'm also part of the problem)

Did the same as redag in October. Heated 15-20 degrees with multiple hot tub heatings and the cost increase was less than $30. On the opposite end, I heated the entire pool for New Years Eve from 40 to 95 and it was an extra $150. It was 33-36 degrees for two days straight and raining while I did this so that definitely didn't help. The pool is 16k gallons.

If you've got kids, they'll tolerate a lot lower temps than adults appear to handle. We heated the pool up a bit, then would use the hot tub for days with the pool maintaining some of the at residual heat. Plus as long as summer lasts you'll be able to heat the pool a small amount into the fall to keep it comfortable.

Maybe think about it this way. If you spent 75k+ for a pool, whats an extra $1000/year to use your pool 40-60% more than you currently use it. Plus any hot tub use you might want in the winter.

Yes that day it was warm. So that helped, but the heater still ran all day, and the. The hot tub was on that night until 1am.

Thanks for the responses.

We don't have a hot tub. Pool was existing when we bought the house in 2019. I didn't even want a pool but here we are.

Follow up questions, any good pool companies to get quotes around Houston? Certain brands to look at? It'll be a gas heater.

Wife thinks I can do it myself minus the gas hookup. Not sure I want to mess with the install really, almost rather have a company with warranty for their work.

Online research shows gas heaters will cost more to run over electric, but gas heats up faster. Also says chemical levels need to be maintain really well and that free chlorine cannot be to high or it could deteriorate the system. That concerns me, but I think I do a decent job maintaining chemical levels.

We have this. My pool company said this was one of the better ones for keeping rats out (which I think is a common problem with heaters).
JANDY JXI 400K NAT HEATER W/VERSAFLO 2,699.99 2,699.99 BYPASS

Jandy heaters are some of the best ones for residential application.

But if your idea is really to heat the pool and only the pool since you don't have a hot tub, you might look at a bigger one (commercial heater) that way it won't take half a day to heat it up.

We use the same Jandy heater on a 22k gallon pool. It does a pretty good job of heating up the pool, but we have had a few instances where it will throw a code for a open flue sensor. Issue has happened 2-3 times in the past year, but otherwise the heater works great. Bumping the pool temp about 20 degrees takes roughly 12-14 hrs.

We have not noticed any big jumps in our gas bill, maybe $25-50 a month usually early and late summer when we are trying to stretch the pool season. For reference we have a gas range, gas oven, and two gas furnaces, and with the pool heater I've never had a gas bill over $200.

Unless you have gas access close to the equipment pad, you probably want to source out the gas line install, otherwise it probably just a few hours of rerouting your clean water line from your filter to tie in the heater. Another thing to keep in mind, when we built the pool and added the pool heater we did have to have Centerpoint come out to adjust the gas meter for the increase gas flow. Didn't replace the meter, so I think it's more of a recalibration. That service was ~$300.

I don't have a pool so no first hand knowledge other than talking to my fil who loves to randomly heat up the pool to invite grandkids over during winter. But how much will it cost to heat is a loaded question, IMO. Sure, it may cost $100 to heat it up in February when the pool is 40*. That doesn't mean it's going to cost $700 if you want to keep it heated for a week......

Keep in mind you will have to replace the heater after about 10 years. Towards the end every time you have the perfect situation to heat up the pool you will not be able to get the heater to work. Don't do it.

We've only had ours for 1 summer (new build) but there were days in June that the water was too cold - just the ability to heat it 3 or 4 degrees made all the difference in enjoying the pool and not being comfortable. The pool is in full sun until about 6:15 in August for reference.

The same with October. we heated it about 15 degrees when family came into town. Then a warm front hit and I only needed to heat it 2 or 3 degrees each day.

I certainly wouldn't heat it every day in April - May and late September - October. I'd think in Houston it is often warm enough you'd just be giving it a little bump.

I'm in DFW.

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free chlorine cannot be to high or it could deteriorate the system. That concerns me, but I think I do a decent job maintaining chemical levels.

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pH is the big thing to watch with heaters. Too high and it'll scale up quickly, too low and it will eat away at the brass components in the heater. Don't want it to get too far outside of 7.4-7.8.

Also important (especially if you're installing yourself) is to have a check valve in place between your inline tab dispenser and the heater. The tablets are very acidic and you don't want any stagnant backflow from the dispenser going back and sitting in the heater when the pump is off. Better yet, just do the right thing and throw the tablets in the trash and use liquid chlorine.

akaggie05 said:

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free chlorine cannot be to high or it could deteriorate the system. That concerns me, but I think I do a decent job maintaining chemical levels.

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pH is the big thing to watch with heaters. Too high and it'll scale up quickly, too low and it will eat away at the brass components in the heater. Don't want it to get too far outside of 7.4-7.8.

Also important (especially if you're installing yourself) is to have a check valve in place between your inline tab dispenser and the heater. The tablets are very acidic and you don't want any stagnant backflow from the dispenser going back and sitting in the heater when the pump is off. Better yet, just do the right thing and throw the tablets in the trash and use liquid chlorine.

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No tab dispenser here. We stopped using tabs mid last year and use only liquid chlorine.

Is your equipment on a sunny side or have space nearby to plumb in a solar heater for the pool. A bit cheaper up front, easy to install and costs nothing to operate. It could extend the season for sure, not sure it would work in the really cold months to heat a pool though.

We have a 21k gallon pool in Houston area with the Jandy 400 Heater. We also have a spa. I have used the heater quite a bit for the spa this winter. We heated the pool twice so far. In Mid Jan, we raised the temp 65 to 88 (thurs, fri, sat) shutting it off at night and starting back up in morning. Our total gas bill for the month was $134, with a normal bill being around $40 ish. Heating the spa is a negligible cost. Takes about 40 minutes or so.

Garrelli 5000 said:

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We've only had ours for 1 summer (new build) but there were days in June that the water was too cold - just the ability to heat it 3 or 4 degrees made all the difference in enjoying the pool and not being comfortable. The pool is in full sun until about 6:15 in August for reference.

The same with October. we heated it about 15 degrees when family came into town. Then a warm front hit and I only needed to heat it 2 or 3 degrees each day.

I certainly wouldn't heat it every day in April - May and late September - October. I'd think in Houston it is often warm enough you'd just be giving it a little bump.

I'm in DFW.

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This.

I'm in year 5 of pool ownership and this is where having a heater shines. Fire up the heater for a few hours to raise the temp 5 degrees so we all can swim comfortably. It definitely extends the swimming season.

I do use it quite a bit to heat the Spa and that doesn't take more than 30 minutes to do typically. I've never had a high gas bill but then again I didn't try heating it for days on end in 40 degree weather.

My advice is to get a heater.

Get a heater for sure. As mentioned, the real value is being able to extend the time you can use it on each end of the season, and that can be done for cheap.