Above ground pool heaters

[Val_2]

Just got a pool heater reduced in our local Géant from 180€ down to 100€ and is universal to all above ground pools.Decided that 16-17°C is just too cold to stand anymore. It takes one hour per every 3000 litres to heat an extra one degree so ours will be on for quite a few hours I think

[Frederick]

Hi Val ........My son bought one and discovered immediatly he plugged it in that extension leads need to be heavy duty ones . I advised him  to use  a supply socket of  20 amp where the washing machine  (with its heater)  is to  plug in to as these heaters are like running a 3 bar electric fire ..and he took the wrong lead from the shed  and melted the socket . so  he found out the type of  the extension lead you buy from the Super U  and roll up in a case  is not heavy duty enough ........I am sure you have this covered ....... and I post in case anyone else is thinking of getting one of these heaters and  also advise the  cable connection is  kept well away from the side of the pool and wrapped in plastic and tape  to make as waterproof as possible and situated  up off the ground .....I know my small grandchildren  will splash water at each other... like any child  would ...so... .you cant be too careful  when  electrical connectiions are near pools  can you !.......sorry of this sounds like teaching to suck eggs ... and I am highjacking your post  Val ..... but after the incident at my place think it worth a mention ..

[Val_2]

Thanks for the advice, my son is a trained french electrician and my husband installs electrics here in France and the first thing we did was use a heavy duty cable extension. We keep the lead sockets covered all the time with a little "kennel" my son has built to protect the filter pump and heater sockets from the rain.  A lot of people who know nothing about electricity will not understand the difference in cable sizes and uses so your advice is well given.

[Frederick]

Great....  have fun  .....and I hope we have you and I made sombody who just thinks these things are buy and plug in consider safety.

[AnOther]

Just a general word of advice.

If you buy a reel of cable to use as an extension (pool heater or otherwise) make sure you ALWAYS run it out completely as remaining coils on a drum can act as a heating element and possibly even catch fire !