A year ago we purchased a house with pool, which is now 11 years old. The pool/spa combo has a 266k raypak gas heater on it. Previous owners did not use for past 3yrs due to trying to sell house, I got the system checked for leaks and the 250gal tank filled (whew 500 bucks).
The thermostat on the heater is broken so I have to jumper it, but so far my experience is that its junk...
Back in april/may I ran the heater for 3-4hrs, used 15% of my tank, and saw a 3-5* temp rise in a 10,000gal pool.
Today I was messing with it again and accurately measured the inlet and outlet temps, with 68-70* water going in I'm getting just over 80* water out, about a 12* rise. I have a 1hp pump. Is this normal?
I am having a solar system installed and have been talking about getting rid of the gas heater and putting in a heat pump, but everyone says gas is much better.
I really want the heat pump so I can swim in Dec and Feb, and to heat the spa secondary. I can leave a heat pump on for days, but would run out of gas in a day or two.
My two big questions, my gas heater seems to perform like junk, is that normal or is mine shot? I'm in the orlando/daytona area, should I consider replacing it with a heat pump if it is shot?
