Oh Sig forum brain trust. I need to replace the burned out 400k BTU unit. At 20+ years old it's not worth trying to fix. I'm considering a Hayward and a panel upgrade to get wireless control. The spaside control is fried and I don't see myself spending money on replacing it. Is this brand worth the price over the Pentair or other brands?
First time pool/spa owner, so I don't have personal experience to base a purchase on.

Thanks in advance.
-TVz

Mine is a StaRite SR400.

Only problem I've had is the thermistor seems to be an annual replacement, gets coked up with calcium, or something, buildup.

Look at Jandy heaters; I and many neighbors have had great luck with them. Great CS if required.

https://www.jandy.com/en/products/pool-heaters

I had a Jandy for 15 years…now have a Raypak.

Both are good…

We have a house at the Outer Banks of NC and have had the Haywood gas heater for several years. The problem for us is that due to the marine environment we had to replace it every 4-5 years due to rust.
Last year we installed a solar pool heater and never looked back. Yes it takes a bit longer to heat the pool but it is worth it to us..

Not sure if this would work for you but if you have central air and the condenser is located near the pool you can get equipment that will take the removed heat and use it to heat your pool. Saving you on energy costs and making your AC work more efficiently.

Don't know about the costs of heating a pool in the OP's area, but around here it's around $200.00/month in the fall, winter and spring.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
Don't know about the costs of heating a pool in the OP's area, but around here it's around $200.00/month in the fall, winter and spring.

We only run ours when we want/need it.
But, we have no trees & lots of sun, so our pool is pretty warm in the summer.

We just set the pumps to direct to the hot tub only when we want to heat it up.

Can't imagine the cost to heat 28k gal in the winter

quote:

Originally posted by ryan81986:
Not sure if this would work for you but if you have central air and the condenser is located near the pool you can get equipment that will take the removed heat and use it to heat your pool. Saving you on energy costs and making your AC work more efficiently.

I was today years old when I learned about this. But the concept is brilliant...using the pool as a giant thermal bank.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
Don't know about the costs of heating a pool in the OP's area, but around here it's around $200.00/month in the fall, winter and spring.

We only run ours when we want/need it.
But, we have no trees & lots of sun, so our pool is pretty warm in the summer.

We just set the pumps to direct to the hot tub only when we want to heat it up.

Can't imagine the cost to heat 28k gal in the winter

Yeah, mine gets lots of sun also, so it's warm enough from mid march through the last day of October usually.

I haven't looked to much at the Jandy line yet. The original one was a Laars (no longer in business) with Jandy control panels. The equipment is 25 feet away from the pool and another 30 to the house. The option for solar is out unless I put it on the ground somehow. I don't see us heating the pool regularly. Maybe a couple weeks out of the year. It would be mostly for the spa. Once March/April rolls around it will be warm enough through September. July-August we didn't really swim during the day as the pool was too warm. We would take a dip after the sun went down.

Question about the solar heater what time of year does it become effective? Would it be cost effective to have both a gas heater for the spa and a solar heater for the pool?

-TVz

Haywood is the most popular in this area.

TVZ: answering your questions in somewhat reverse order. Solar heating works great throughout the year here. I’m in central FL. You can expect to see a 10-15 degree increase in water temp with solar. Generally speaking, sunlight is going to maintain your pool at relatively the same temp as the ocean. Since it appears that you’re about 300 miles from the Gulf, you may not see the same natural heating effect.

If you’re only looking to heat the spa, a 400K btu heater is way over spec’d, unless you’ve got a Texas sized spa. 400K is normally used for a whole pool.

I’ve got customers using all the major brands so I have some first hand and second hand experience. Feel free to send an email if you want details.

quote:

Originally posted by megabyte:
TVZ: answering your questions in somewhat reverse order. Solar heating works great throughout the year here. I’m in central FL. You can expect to see a 10-15 degree increase in water temp with solar. Generally speaking, sunlight is going to maintain your pool at relatively the same temp as the ocean. Since it appears that you’re about 300 miles from the Gulf, you may not see the same natural heating effect.

If you’re only looking to heat the spa, a 400K btu heater is way over spec’d, unless you’ve got a Texas sized spa. 400K is normally used for a whole pool.

I’ve got customers using all the major brands so I have some first hand and second hand experience. Feel free to send an email if you want details.

I use a solar pool cover and nothing more to hat my pool, although I've thought of going farther.

It gives me another month of swimming in the spring and another month in the fall.

Megabyte - email inbound.

Flash-LB - the pool is free form shape. Half of the pool has a wall that is about 18" taller than the other. Have no idea how I would cover that without out it just floating on the top. The dog's ball (toy) tends to end up in the pool. Having a floating cover would seem risky
A longer swim season would be nice though.
Thanks.
-TVz

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TVzombie,

quote:

Originally posted by TVzombie:
Megabyte - email inbound.

Flash-LB - the pool is free form shape. Half of the pool has a wall that is about 18" taller than the other. Have no idea how I would cover that without out it just floating on the top. The dog's ball (toy) tends to end up in the pool. Having a floating cover would seem risky
A longer swim season would be nice though.
Thanks.
-TVz

Mine's shaped like a figure 8 with the top loop being considerably smaller than the bottom loop. Also, I've got boulders a couple of feet high on 3 sides and a waterfall that's around 3-1/2 feet high on the top left.

Yep, you float the cover on top of the water. I buy a rectangular cover that's large enough to cover the whole thing, get in the pool with some scissors and trim it to fit while I'm in there.

These covers are made to float on the water and have tens of thousands of diamond shaped air pockets on the water side that hold the hot air and warm a much larger area than just the top layer of the water.

TVZ:

a couple of quick answers that may lead to more questions ....

For perspective, I manage a wholesale distributor that supplies pool equipment and chemicals to pool builders and pool service / remodel contractors.

1.  In my own experience, I am concerned about warranty.  If you piecemeal the parts and pieces, then you end up with a limited warranty.  If you engage a pool service contractor to install equipment from the same manufacturer, you should have a three year warranty on all of the equipment.

As a corollary to the above, if you start sourcing parts from online sales, you will end up with a thirty day warranty.  In many cases, a licensed and authorized service guy will not touch material that they have not sourced from their distributor.

2.  I am a big fan of variable speed pumps, cartridge filters, and salt cell chlorine generators.  In my case, I chose Pentair / Sta-Rite for each of those items.  I will add a Pentair heat pump this year.  I don't need the heater in the summer but I would like to be able to extend our pool season into November thru March.

From what I can see in the picture, it looks like you have Jandy equipment.  it also appears that the pump has had the motor replaced already.  Is that correct ?  The Laars heater was a Jandy brand.  Do you want to stay with Jandy or are you open to the other brands ?

I am familiar with the VGreen product but do not carry them.  Generally speaking, when someone is installing variable speed pumps, they are also going to want to make use of the manufacturers automation software and phone app.  VGreen has a programmable panel on the drive of the pump, but I am not aware that they have a viable app on the phone.  Of the three major vendors, Jandy has the most user friendly app.  Pentair is second, and Hayward a close third, if not tied for second from the perspective of user interface.  

If you want to stay with Jandy and a gas heater, I would probably choose the Jandy VSPHP270AUT pump, Jandy CS150 cartridge filter, Jandy TruClear salt system, and the Jandy JXi260 natural gas heater.  If you want to stick with a 400K heater because you might want to heat the whole pool occasionally, I would choose the JXi400 NG heater.  

As for solar blankets, a quick funny story. about 4 years ago I adopted a greyhound racing dog fresh from the track. The adoption group came to the house and suggested that I remove the solar blanket. Apparently, there is "cooling pool" at the tracks. When the dogs come off the track, many of them run, walk, or jump into the pool to cool off. I said I would take care of it. fast forward to 3 am the next morning, the newly adopted, 100 pound racing dog wakes me up to be let out. I open the bedroom door and reach down to grab his collar. fat f'ng chance. once the door cracked, he's gone!! (for those unfamiliar with Greyhounds, in 4 steps they are at 45 mph and will run 550M in under thirty seconds) He races across the lanai and stops at the pool. looks at it for a second, crouches down, and LEAPS about 15 feet to the middle of the pool, lands on top of the solar blanket, and starts sinking, and the solar blanket is sinking on top of him. Guess whose ass has to go in after him. 3 AM in early January, mid-30's temps outside. The first of many amusing stories with "Killer Platinum" - his real racing pedigree name.

My funny story 20 years ago installed a new in ground pool with all the bells and whistles including a gas heater.Comes mid September, we decided to heat the pool until Halloween. (northeast location) well when the gas bill arrived, ($405) I made it very clear we will NEVER use that damn heater! We never did again.
I offered to buy wet suits they would have been a lot cheaper.

My funny story. So after we moved into the house I had a ton of things to unpack and set up. I didn't have the time to hang out by the pool while my two boys swam. Plus the water was still kind of cold. Every day after school they would ask if the pool was ready. "Not yet." Skip forward a couple of weeks, Riley thought he would get a drink out of the pool and that's when he fell in. You would think a Lab would be ok in the pool. Nope. He was the first one in the family to try out the pool. Hasn't been back in it since. So when his ball rolls in, he let's out a big sigh and gives me the sad eyes.

Back to the equipment. I would love to have all new stuff that's fully automated, but I'm on a budget as I have to replace a full 2.5 ton HVAC and a 4 ton outside unit this summer. So I'm trying to limit my pool expense to getting the heater for the spa. I'm looking to upgrade the existing Jandy AquaLink RS controller, but will wait until the AC work is paid for. I'll check out the JXi400 as I would like to automate in the future. As for having it installed. What is a reasonable rate for that? I understand it may vary by region, but it shouldn't be vary too much if it's a fair quote.

Thanks.
-TVz

Just went through this 18 months ago. After a lot of research and talking to my pool equipment guy who services 200 pools by himself, Pentair Mastertemp 400.

https://www.poolsupplyunlimite...tb_ZPXhoC4qgQAvD_BwE

It replaces a Laars unit that was on its last leg. I had already replaced the ECU/CPU and it was awfully noisy. Had my equipment guy verify, and he said the same thing that it was on its last legs and they don’t make parts for it anymore.

The great news is the Pentair is decently priced and top of the reviews. So when I did my research, reviews matched my equipment guy who has been the best guy I have ever used because his labor is normal priced and he’s independent. The Pentair is way smaller in footprint than the Laars was too, and much more quiet. I tried to order it myself online and they wanted a Pool License # so I just had him acquire it and do an all in one price with the labor which was more than fair. To give you an idea my main filter was also on its last legs. When they get old they can crack. Since I bought a replacement, the exact same replacement, size, to the letter, he charged me $60 for install on it.

I split my pool work up. I maintain it weekly and I have never paid someone to test water, add chemicals nor clean the skimmers, etc. But I let my equipment guy maintain the equipment and it has paid off in spades. Most of the time he tells me just to order parts online. Glad to have him on the Rolodex because I’ve had some real scam artists in the past.

I can take a pic of mine if you’d like. Footprint is small.