Replacement Heater For Pool And Spa

[Re-Lax]

My heater is dead. It is the original one and actually stopped working several years ago. For more than a few years we decided to use the pool and spa as is during the summer and that's it. These old bones could use a good dunk in the spa everyday and my wife and I are looking to lengthen our pool season in Connecticut. With that being said it's time to replace our heater. The heater we have in the system right now is a Hayward natural gas 375,000 btu with copper input and outlet lines. The burners and their rack have corroded over time. It was an OK heater but I'm sure there have been several improvements since this dinosaur was installed in 1988. Looking at the heater the plumbing enters on the left side with the controls and door in the front. I would like the same configuration so that I can minimize plumbing pipe changes. I would like a recommendation for a good quality heater to replace this with. We used to have a pilot light (it was blown out often), I assume that electronic ignition is the way to go? The gas feed line is 1.25 or 1.5" black pipe approx 60+ feet from the gas meter. I think the supply might work for most size heaters. I'm thinking that we need at least a 375,00o btu or larger natural heater. All thoughts and advice are welcome. It should be an easy switch out since everything is in place. I would like to go straight in plastic to plastic rather than plastic to copper as we have now.

Thanks from

[Pool Clown]

My 1st choice would be a Raypak/Rheem, either with Capron or ASME. ASME is more expensive, does not transfer heat as well as the Capron, but does offer better durability (against ill kept chem levels). My choice would be Capron, and be vigil about the water balance.

Second choice would be Sta-Rite's max-E-therm, with it's smaller foot print, Lo Nox technology, and it's ability to vent horizontally.

Both heaters are sized 406 and 399 K Btu's respectively.

[txpoolguy]

My brand preference is Hayward. The Universal H-Series heater offers the Cupro-Nickle heat exchanger which is more resistant to water chemistry issues. This feature is available on other heaters, but costs several hundred dollars extra. You can purchase the UHS heater in models from 150,000 btu to 400,000 btu. On a side note, the copper heat sinks that you describe as inlet/outlet, are no longer required and could be replaced with Sch40 pvc to get the metal out of the water path. On all Low Nox heaters, you may have to fine tune your fuel supply for proper pressure. While most low nox heaters use less fuel, the pressure must be within the proper range for them to operate properly. The energy savings are worth the effort.