Yes, you can add a pool heater to an existing pool. It is not uncommon for homeowners to have the desire to heat their backyard pools later in life. You can choose from gas/propane, solar or electric heat pumps that are suitable for heating your current pool.
While adding a pool heater requires an upfront investment, it helps you maximize your investment by being able to use your pool for much more of the year. Between setup and operating costs, a pool heater costs between $300 and $5,000, with the average cost around $2,000.
Fortunately, there's an easy solution: just add heat. A pool heater can be one of the best investments you make for your swimming pool. Heaters maintain your preferred pool temperature, and make the water more comfortable.
Not too difficult to do, most in ground pool solar heaters can be installed in one day. Above ground solar heaters can be installed in less than an hour. Location is most important, so after figuring out if you will install on a roof, fence or deck, the panels can be installed.
A pool water heater is a permanently installed and effective heater that can work with some types of above ground pools. It is the most expensive option but can easily raise water temperature by 30 degrees or more.
It turns out solar heating is very effective if the conditions for it are right. That means when the suns out they work great and even on cloudy days they will still put some heat in a swimming pool. They will even work well on cooler days if the sun is shining.
In total you can add a pool heater to an existing pool. A swimming pool heat pump is you most efficient option. Heat pumps can add a month or more to your pool season especially combine with using a solar blanket. It is easy to keep your pool in the 80 degree range.
ADDING A SPA TO EXISTING INGROUND POOL
If you have a in-ground gunite swimming pool, then yes, you should be able to add a spa to the existing pool. (If you have a vinyl liner, or a fiberglass pool you may not have this option.)
Black hose trick
Fill up your pool using a long, black garden hose (PVC is best). Make sure the hose is in direct sunlight so that it can absorb as much of the sun's heat as possible; since black absorbs more heat, this is a cheap yet effective way of heating your pool.
Cost of Running a Propane vs.
The size of your pool also matters, with larger pools costing more to heat than smaller ones. On average, however, a gas heater costs around $200 to $400 a month to run. Electric heat pumps cost less, coming in at about $100 to $200 a month.
So, how much electricity does a pool heat pump use? About 5 kilowatts per hour per 100,000 BTU heat pump. For a general 100,000 BTU pool heat pump, the power you`ll utilize is approximately 5,000 Watts per hour. Typically, the National average for power stands at 13 cents for every kilowatt-hour.
It depends on a few things to determine how long it takes a heat pump to heat a pool. However, overall a heat pump generally heats a pool after 24 to 72 hours by 20-degrees Fahrenheit. For smaller pools like a spa pool, the heat pump can heat a pool between 45 and 60 minutes.
Right now, an unglazed solar system can heat a pool to 78-85 degrees Fahrenheit without much effort. Solar pool heating panels last about 20 years, so in that scenario you could be looking at about 17 years of cost savings.
If you are operating an Electric Pool Heat Pump it would take 2 days to reach 10 degrees and 5-6 hours of operation. If you are using solar heating it generally raises the pool water 2-4 degrees per day and cumulatively it reaches a 10-degree increase in 5-6 days and then maintains it.
Use a gas heater
Gas pool heaters offer the fastest heating of all the options in this post. And that makes sense because just like a grill or oven, a gas heater creates heat by burning gas. But at the same time, they also have the highest monthly operating cost of all pool heating options.
Above ground pool heaters are a really good choice to use for you, helping keep your pool nice and warm.
On average, natural gas burns about 1 therm per 100,000 BTUs per hour (British Thermal Units). Meaning, an average pool heater between 300,000 and 400,000 BTUs will cost anywhere from $3.30 to $4.40 per hour to heat your pool.
Pool heat pumps are an efficient, environmentally friendly way to heat a pool. Heat pumps can save pool owners money in the long run as they typically have a much lower annual operating costs than gas heaters and with proper maintenance, can last up to 10 years or more.
Determining Heat Pump Pool Heater Efficiency
COPs usually range from 3.0 to 7.0, which converts to an efficiency of 300%–700%. This means that for every unit of electricity it takes to runs the compressor, you get 3–7 units of heat out of the heat pump.