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Propane gas heaters

March 28th, 2004 · 2 Comments

Hello everyone,
I’m looking into the possibility of installing a propane gas heater
for my in-ground 12,000 galon swimming pool. I still have not decided
for any specific brand or model. My concern right now is that my
swimming pool has PVC (not CPVC) pipes. These PVC pipes are supposed
to be designed for cold water only. Does this mean that I have to
change all the return pipes when I install the heater?
Thanks for your help.

Tags: pumps

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Earlene Haydee // Mar 29, 2004 at 9:21 am

    No, you won’t have to change out your plumbing at all, pvc nowadays
    is strong enough to withstand the heat you will be running through
    your pipes, I have a retirement village that has a heated pool at
    88.5 degrees, a spa at 95 degrees, and a second spa at 103 degrees
    and have never had problems with plumbing. If you’re still
    concerned, you can plumb the first five feet of heater outlet
    plumbing with cpvc, then tie in to your existing plumbing. a raypak
    heater is one of the best on the market. Danny

  • 2 janis_40 // Mar 30, 2004 at 3:49 pm

    No, in fact modern heaters are designed to allow you to hook PVC directly to
    the connections on the heater. No heat sink is required. The temperature of
    the water out of the heater is not so high as to damage the pipes and it is
    regulated by the heater. The heater will only raise the temp in the pool
    from 1 to 2 degrees per hour anyway so again there is no danger to the pipes.
    If you do get one get an electronic model instead of a milivolt model. The
    electronic has no pilot light and has digital displays where the milivolt
    model has a knob and a standing pilot. If you are using propane saving every
    therm of gas is important and the digital models are only about a hundred
    bucks more than the standard models. It will pay for the difference in a
    season or two just in the gas savings. Raypac is a good brand.

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