| When considering a boiler (furnace) for heating | | | | the deep end is 6 feet and the shallow end is 3 |
| your pool, what fuel should you choose? | | | | feet, the average is 4.5 feet. |
| The first thing to consider is fuel storage, unless | | | | That make the area time the av. depth = xx |
| you have a piped gas supply you will need to | | | | cubic feetexample 500 (area) x 5 (av depth)= |
| have a tank for either heating oil or propane, | | | | 2500 cubic feetto convert that figure to gallons |
| (LPG) | | | | multiply by 7.5 = 18750 gallonsand to get pounds |
| The types of boiler that you could choose are | | | | of water multiply by 8 = 150,000 pounds. |
| limited to those that burn fossil fuels directly, as | | | | Next you need to look at boiler efficiency, and |
| above, or electric, which are not really suitable for | | | | using british government figures for new |
| pool sized volumes of water, unless they are of | | | | condensing gas boilers a 91% efficiency can be |
| very high wattage. | | | | expected the figure for LPG (propane) is better |
| Of the standard gas and oil burning boilers you | | | | at about 93% while oil boilers are up to 97%. The |
| would need to compare both the fuel costs, and | | | | figure that you use will depend on the make of |
| the efficience of the boiler to make a sound | | | | boiler you decide on, and the official figures, but |
| comparison. | | | | what it means is a 100,000 btu boiler with a 91% |
| Basic Facts: | | | | efficiency will produce 91,000 Btu. |
| - BTU = quantity of heat required to raise the | | | | If the water temperature is 68 f (20c) and you |
| temperature of 1 pound of water 1 degree F. | | | | want to raise that to 92f (30c) a 24f rise in |
| - 1 Therm of Natural Gas = 100,000 BTU's | | | | temperature you multiply 150,000 pounds of |
| - 1 Gallon of Propane = 91,000 BTU's | | | | water by 24 degrees and get a requirement for |
| - 1 Gallon of fuel oil = 130,000 BTU's | | | | 3,600,000 Btu'sa 100,000 btu natural gas boiler at |
| - 1 Gallon of Water Weighs 8.00 pounds | | | | 91% efficiency would burn for more than 39 |
| - 1 cubic foot of water = 7.5 gallons | | | | hours and burn 3.6 therms of gasa 100,000 btu |
| The first figure you need to work out is the area | | | | propane boiler at 93% efficiency would burn for |
| of your pool, If it is rectangular that is a simple | | | | more than 38 hours and burn 40 gallons of |
| length x width.if it is circular use the formula pi | | | | propanea 100,000 btu oil boiler at 97% efficiency |
| times radius squared or half the width x half the | | | | would burn for more than 37 hours and burn 28 |
| width x 3.14it is better to over estimate your | | | | gallons of oil |
| pool size for these fuel cost calculations. | | | | Substitute your figures in to the calculations and |
| The second figure that you might want is the | | | | use current prices to see what your costs would |
| volume of the pool which is the area as worked | | | | be. |
| out above multiplied by the average depth, so if | | | | |