As enjoyable as a swimming pool can be, the water can be rather frigid at times, thus making the pool uncomfortable.
There might also be times throughout the year where you want to use your pool, but the weather is too cool. A pool heater is needed for either of these two cases.
Fortunately, you can find pool heaters from Intex and Bestway to help you get the most out of your pool. Each company makes a pool heater that offers a unique design that will heat up the water in your pool in moments.
But which company makes the best pool heater?
The two companies make helpful pool heaters that are easy to set up for keeping your pool warm. But there are also some differences between the two that deserve to be noticed just as well.
How Do These Two Models Work?
Before we delve deep into our Intex and Bestway pool heater review, we should look at what makes these two models work. These heaters use a few simple steps for use:
1. A port with a hose is used at the start. The port will take in the water from inside the pool. The water will move into the heating mat.
2. A large heating mat works in the middle part of the heater setup. The mat will allow water to run through as it is heated up. The design of the mat allows the surface to capture the sun’s rays, thus heating up the water as it moves through.
3. A filter pump operates at the end. The pump will filter out the water and move it back into the pool. You would have to use your separate pump to make this work. The process includes getting the mat to connect to the pump with the right hose size.
Both the Intex and Bestway pool heaters work with the same mechanism. But let’s take a look at how these are laid out. There are a few differences between the two models.
A Background of the Two Models
Intex Pool Heater Review
Let’s start with a quick Intex pool heater review. The heater uses a link that can connect to a ½-hp pump with a flow rate of up to 2,500 gallons per hour.
The heater uses a 47×47-inch mat for heating use. The unit works with a solar powered-setup to allow the water inside the mat to heat up.
The PVC body has been fully UV-stabilized. The feature means that the PVC will not wear out from the sun’s intense rays. Instead, the compound will take in the heat from the sun. The PVC is about 0.5mm thick to produce a body of about five pounds in weight.
Bestway Pool Heater Review
The Bestway pool heater review is the next one to see. The size of the Bestway mat is a little different in that the setup is 43×67 inches in size.
The surface uses a solar-conducive body that takes in the sun’s rays and retains them for hours at end. The heat will allow the water that moves through the mat to become a little warmer as it runs from the pool through the mat and back into the pump.
A 0.9mm PVC material is used on the body of the mat. The PVC compound takes in the sun’s heat quite well without warping or wearing out. The mat is around ten pounds in weight before the proper connectors for hoses are added to the ends of its surface.
How Effective Are These Choices?
The Intex and Bestway pool heaters are both designed to increase water temperature in a pool by about 5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. The total depends on the weather condition that the heater operates.
Capacity
Both models can handle filter pumps that can utilize up to 2,500 gallons of water per hour. For the Bestway heater, the unit can work with a sand filter that takes in 2,000 gallons per hour at the most.
How Big of a Pool?
The size of the pump is more important than the overall capacity of the pool, but it is still important to take a look at this feature when comparing the two pool heaters. The Intex heater works for above ground pools up to 8,000 gallons in capacity. Meanwhile, the Bestway unit operates with pools of about 6,000 gallons at the most.
You can still use multiple mats for a single pool if needed. That will be discussed in a moment.
Connectivity
The two units can handle 1.25 and 1.5-inch hoses for connectivity use. The Intex model uses a 1.25-inch base while including adapters for a 1.5-inch hose.
The Bestway heater has separate adapters for 1.25 and 1.5-inch hoses. The base of the mat does not include a set body. Rather, you will add the proper adapters into the mat depending on the hoses that the heater is to use.
Using Multiples
Depending on what you order, you might need to get multiple mats together. Having several copies of the same mat allows you to heat up more water at a time and allow the water to stay heated for a while before getting into the pool. More importantly, having many of the same mats ensures the heater will take care of heating a larger pool.
Both Intex and Bestway allow you to link multiple heater pads to each other. The number of pads you require will vary based on the size of the pool you need to heat up. You should also look at how well the connections work; these mats are both more effective when the connections are shorter in length.
Which Is Better?
The two pool heaters that you can utilize are appealing, but we have determined that the Bestway heater is the best option.
The slightly larger body on the heater allows the water to warm up quickly. The ability to move between 1.25 and 1.5-inch connections in moments with the simple connecting point makes it a very useful heater that you can plan out.
But while Bestway has the advantage, both Bestway and Intex have done quite well with producing great pool heaters.
You can use one of these heaters for when you’re aiming to make your pool a little more comfortable throughout the year.