Which 400 BTU Pool Heater is the best?

DDSmith

New member
Sep 25, 2023
1
Houston TX
We are having to replace our pool heater. Everyone says to buy Pentair or Jandy, but most say Pentair. I would appreciate an opinion from an expert. The details are ...

We are an older couple and the only way we can exercise is to swim, so we run the heater 9 months out of the year. The kids and grandkids love this. The 400 BTU heaters we've had in the past last two-three years and, as retiree hopefuls, the rising cost is difficult. The 40 x 20 pool with diving board is 23 years old. It currently has a Hayward salt generator and a Jandy Aqualink RS Intelliflo. We hope to be selling the house in 3-5 years.

Thoughts? Thanks so much!
 
A NG gas heater should last more than two to three years. More like seven to ten years if properly maintained.

What model heaters have you had?

How have they failed?
 
We've had a Jandy JXI400 heater with Versaflow for the past two years, no complaints so far. I'd expect similar performance out of a Pentair Mastertemp if properly installed and maintained.

What I have trouble wrapping my head around is running your heater 9 months out of the year, in Houston? 😂 I use my heater maybe once or twice to heat the whole pool for the weekend in March and November, but from April-October the pool is plenty warm without it and from June-August it's (if anything) too warm! To each his/her own, I guess.

We do use the heater at least once every 1-2 weeks year-round to heat the spa.
 
Would that order reverse if it was controlled by an IntelliCenter?

From my observation we have a lot more people using Pentair MasterTemps then Raypak Avias here. Avia is fairly new and there have been a few reports of problems with it.

If you have an IntelliCenter then get a MasterTemp. They will communicate with each other through RS-485.
 
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