The fastest way to heat your pool is to use a gas pool heater and a solar cover. It's like heating up your coffee in the microwave and putting a lid on it. No matter how you plan to heat your pool, you should at least have a solar cover (or liquid solar cover) to help you retain the heat.
The efficiency of the heater? Physicist: The correct answer is always to leave the heater off for as long as possible, as often as possible. The one and only gain from leaving a pool heater on is that it will be warm when you get in. The same is true of all heaters (pool, car, space, whatever).
Solar Heaters
The next cheapest way to heat a pool is through a solar heater. The cost of running a solar pool heater is essentially free, aside from occasional maintenance. The difference is that a solar heater is a lot more expensive to install – often even more expensive than a conventional heater.
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.
Solar pool heaters are the most cost-effective option that uses the sun's energy to heat your swimming pool water. It uses solar collectors, filter, pump and flows control valve to heat the pool in a way that is very economical. In fact, it pays for itself within 3-5 years and incurs almost negligible operating costs.
It's true – when the weather is beautiful outside it's not essential that you need a pool heater, but if you want to keep using your pool all year round then a pool heater is ideal. Of course, in some states this is not possible to keep swimming in the winter because the weather is just too cold.
Keep Swimmers Comfortable
Set your pool heater's thermostat to a temperature between 78°F and 82°F (26°C and 28°C) to keep the majority of swimmers comfortable. Maybe a little cooler if you're in an area with very hot summers, or a little warmer if you live in a milder climate.
Heat pump pool heaters cost more than gas pool heaters, but they typically have much lower annual operating costs because of their higher efficiencies. With proper maintenance, heat pump pool heaters typically last longer than gas pool heaters. Therefore, you'll save more money in the long run.
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.
Electric heaters might cost between $175 and $600 per month to run, and electric pumps could cost around $120 to $200 per month.
You know those black trash bags? They can hold heat too. Fix one up to a hula hoop and if you want, cut one side of a pool noodle to add buoyancy and you've got yourself a super cheap pool heater.
Conclusion. Solar rings not only keep your pool water warm but also reduce the amount of dirt and debris that might end up in your pool. With solar rings, you won't have to worry about any chemicals or electricity to maintain the temperature of your pool.
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.
You should never leave your pool heater on overnight. Doing so is not efficient and will cost you more than it would if you just turned the pool heater off. While many of us know that heating a pool can take up to several hours, running it overnight defeats the purpose of heating it at all.
Using the heater only when the water dips below a certain point keeps the energy consumption down. For the average person, a pool that is 78 degrees or higher is comfortable. If you are trying to save money or energy, run your heater only when the pool water temperature dips below 78.
A pool that is uncovered can lose up to 5 degrees F overnight; a good cover can cut that loss by half. Used at night or whenever your pool is not in use, the pool cover can help save fuel costs by cutting heat loss regardless of the type of heating you utilize.
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.
Heat pumps will use around 5,000 watts or 5 kilowatts per hour per 100,000 BTU's. For a typical size 100,000 BTU heat pump, that's 5 kilowatts per hour. The average for electricity in our area runs $. 16 cents per kilowatt hour.
On average you'll need between $200 to $500 to run it monthly with a pool cover. Electric heat pumps from trusted brands can last between 10 and 20 years. They're energy-efficient, and their use of surrounding air qualifies them as one of the most energy-efficient heating systems.
Gas Heater Advantages/Disadvantages
All pool heaters can increase your pool temperature by 10 degrees or more, but if you're looking for a temperature increase of 30-40 degrees a gas heater is your likely choice. Gas heaters heat on demand providing the most rapid temperature gains.
Heat Pumps are designed to raise the temperature of a pool up to the ideal swimming range, between 78 – 82 degrees Fahrenheit,. Because they work by taking in air that is already warm, they work best in humid areas where the ambient temperature stays above 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Day Heat Warms the Water
Sunshine warms the water starting in the later morning until the late afternoon so that by nightfall, the water is at its highest temperature.
Water temperatures are slow to heat up, and just as slow to cool down. Water is very "stubborn" to change temperature. It takes 4 times the energy to heat up water than to heat air. Water also "feels" colder because water is a more efficent medium than air to cool our body down.
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.