• Nov 25, 12
• Stahlman Pool Company
• Naples Pool Maintenance
• 2 comments

As the air temperatures get cooler, many customers ask for our advice in heating their swimming pools and spas. The first item to consider is whether your pool heater is sufficient for warming the pool to the temperature you desire. For larger pools, and cooler air temperatures, natural gas and propane gas heaters are the best choice for warm water to swim throughout the day. For energy efficiency and cost savings, and electric heat pump is a good choice, although it will not heat the water as fast as gas, especially in cooler nighttime and morning temperatures.

Swimming pool heat pumps work just like central air conditioning heat pumps, only in reverse. Instead of removing heat from the inside of your home and expelling it to the outside air, a pool heat pump takes heat out of the outside air and transfers it into your pool water. Swimming pool heat pumps can extract useful heat energy in air temperatures as low as 50°F, so they are very effective in Florida’s mild climate.

Gas pool heaters, which burn either propane or natural gas, can maintain your pool at pretty much any temperature you desire. Want 90°F pool water over the holidays? No problem.
Solar pool heating is by far the most cost-effective way to heat your pool. The sun’s energy is clean, free and inexhaustible. And plentiful in Florida on a year-round basis. While solar does not have the ability to deliver any temperature on demand in any weather, you will never have to turn your solar pool heater off because you can no longer afford its operating cost.
Without a pool heater, you may still be able to withstand your pool water for swimming. Residents of northern climates are completely comfortable swimming in 78°F water and this is usually the temperature required for competitive swimming events. On the other hand, Florida residents usually like their pool water a bit warmer; at least 80°F or more. And if you are heating your pool for therapeutic reasons, you will want at least 85°F water and possibly as warm as 90°F.

For more information on Pool heaters, feel free to contact our office and speak with a sales representative any time.

With propane now costing $3.00 per gallon or more, it can easily cost as much as $4,000 to keep a 14 x 28 Central Florida pool at 80°F on a year-round basis.

That said, the great advantage of gas is the ability to maintain any temperature in pretty much any weather. As long as you are willing and able to pay. This might be important if you must use your pool for therapeutic exercise. Even so, with today’s high and rising fuel costs, we recommend that a gas heater be installed only as a backup system to supplement a primary solar pool heater or pool heat pump when 85–90°F pool water temperatures are medically required.