How Much Does Gas Pool Heating Cost?

Gas pool heating is one of the most common types of pool heaters seen in swimming pools today. Gas pool heaters use propane or natural gas to heat your swimming pool. And then, run water through copper coils, which returns into the pool and makes it warm. Although it’s one of the more popular systems for heating pools, the cost of gas pool heaters is certainly not one of the cheapest options you will find.

However, they heat your pool very efficiently, so you’re paying a big price for good results. Today, we’ll be breaking down how much a gas pool heater costs so you can get a better idea before moving forward with your new pool heater installation.

How Much Do They Cost?

Gas pool heaters are the most efficient when heating pools for short periods of time. And they're ideal for quickly heating a pool for any occasion. With that being said, what is the cost of gas pool heaters? The cost will ultimately depend on the size of your pool and what the weather outside is like wherever you may live.

On average, natural gas burns about 1 therm per 100,000 BTUs per hour (British Thermal Units). Meaning, an average pool heater between 300,000 and 400,000 BTUs will cost anywhere from $3.30 to $4.40 per hour to heat your pool. To look at it from an annual perspective, that’s 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.

Price Breakdown

To break the cost of a gas pool heater down even more you can calculate an approximate heater size for your swimming pool by following these steps Energy.Gov has provided:

1. Determine your desired swimming pool temperature.
2. Determine the average temperature for the coldest month of pool use.
3. Subtract the average temperature for the coldest month from the desired pool temperature. This will give you the temperature rise needed.
4. Calculate the pool surface area in square feet.
5. Use the following formula to determine the Btu/hour output requirement of the heater:

You’ll then want to determine your pool area and outside temperature which according to Energy.Gov can be determined by “based on 1º to 1-1/4ºF temperature rise per hour and a 3-1/2 mile per hour average wind at the pool surface. For a 1-1/2ºF rise multiply by 1.5. For a 2ºF rise multiply by 2.0.”

Contact Us

All of this being said, the cost of gas pool heating has certainly gone up over the past 10 years, but the great advantage of a gas heater is being able to have any temperature of water in any degree of weather within minutes of turning your heater on. If you’re interested in purchasing a gas pool heater or have any questions contact Fun in the Sun today!