I'm going to add a heater/chiller to our Houston pool since it is July 1st and already getting uncomfortably warm. I'm looking at either an AquaCal HeatWave Superquiet Icebreaker SQ166R or a Jandy VersaTemp JRT3000R. I'm leaning towards the AquaCal heater/chiller but wanted to know if there were any strong recommendations one way or the other. I have a Jandy/iAqualink system, but the guy doing the work said they could tie either one into the controller or set it up as a standalone. The Jandy is slightly higher BTU at 130,000 vs 126,000 for the AquaCal and has a slightly higher COP of 5.8 vs. 5.6 but AquaCal seems to have a really good track record on their heat pumps. We'll use the heating some, but I'm installing it primarily for the chiller during the summer. Is it a mistake to get a combo heater/chiller vs. just a chiller or is the chiller performance on a combo unit just as good?
Jandy vs. Aquacal heater/chiller
- Thread starter fastrunnerdude
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 64,901
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
You better check carefully if your Aqualink will control the heater and chiller functions of the Aquacal.
jark87
Silver Supporter
- Jun 5, 2011
- 1,308
- Pool Size
- 25500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
I went through this same decision making process 10+ years ago. I did quite a bit of research and had I gone with a heater/chiller combo, I had landed on the Aquacal. Don’t remember why. But I already had a gas heater and really only wanted a chiller. We rarely use our heater, but our water temps were hitting mid-90s around this time of year and we didn’t even want to get in the pool. I bought a Glacier chiller and it was the best investment in my pool that I’ve made. I can keep water temp in the low 80s and sometimes get into the 70s when the humidity goes low. I’m in the DFW area, so your humidity is higher, but there are several Houston-area Glacier owners here on TFP who have reported great success with it.
Be sure to research the cost to run the different chiller types. The combo units run like your central AC, using a compressor and refrigerant to cool. From what I read, they are very expensive to run, using lots of electricity. Someone described it as running your house AC with all the doors and windows open. The Glacier works off of evaporation, with the only electricity consumption coming from a fan motor. It works really well for our pool.
Good luck!
I'm in the same predicament. which one did you end up getting? also eying up a jandy 130 btu heater/chiller and an Aquacal heart pump.
I got the Jandy Versatemp 130k btu heater/chiller and it’s been great so far. It had better seamless integration with my iAquaLink system. We used the chiller last summer to keep temp reasonable in pool and not feel like a hot tub by end of summer. I just used the heater this week for first time to get the pool temp in upper 70s vs low 70s for some swimming with guests in town.