Choosing a Pool Heater in Southwest Florida: Gas, Heat Pump, or Solar

Most pool heater guides are written for climates with a real winter, where the question is whether you can swim at all. Here it is a different question: your pool is comfortable without help from roughly May into October, and a heater is what buys you the other half of the year.

That changes the answer. It shortens the season a heater has to cover, it makes running cost matter more than raw output, and it means one of the three options works better in Fort Myers than it does almost anywhere else in the country. Here is the whole decision, with what each type costs to buy, what it costs to run, and how long you will wait for warm water.

Do You Actually Need One?

Worth asking before spending several thousand dollars.

Through the summer an unheated pool here sits well into the eighties without any assistance, and a heater is switched off or irrelevant. It earns its keep from roughly December through March, when nights drop into the fifties and unheated water settles into the sixties, which is swimmable for about four people in Lee County and unpleasant for everybody else.

So the honest framing is not “do you want a warm pool,” it is “do you want to swim in January.” If you have a spa, if you have children who swim year round, if you are here in the winter rather than the summer, or if the pool is a daily part of your routine, the answer is usually yes and a heater changes how much you use the thing you already paid for. If you swim in July and August and cover the rest of the year with the Gulf, it is a lot of money for four months of convenience.

The Three Types, Compared Properly

Costs are published market ranges from HomeGuide’s 2026 pool heater and solar pool heater data, not our quote. Your pool will land where it lands depending on size, gas availability, electrical capacity, and roof.

Heat pump: the default here, and for a reason worth understanding

A heat pump does not generate heat, it moves it. It pulls warmth out of the surrounding air and transfers it into the water, which is why it costs a fraction of what gas does to run. The catch, everywhere else in the country, is that a heat pump’s efficiency falls as the air gets colder, and below roughly 50 degrees it struggles to do anything useful. Which is exactly when a pool owner in Ohio wants it working.

Southwest Florida is one of the few places where that catch barely applies. Our cold snaps are brief and shallow, and for most of the season a heat pump here is operating in the air temperatures it was designed for. Combine that with a swim season long enough to run the thing for months, and the gap between $50 to $150 a month and $200 to $500 stops being a detail and becomes the whole decision.

The trade off is patience. A heat pump warms slowly, so it suits holding a pool at temperature continuously rather than heating it up on demand. Set it and leave it and it is excellent. Switch it on Friday for Saturday and you will be disappointed.

Gas: still the right answer sometimes

Gas heats fast. That is the entire argument, and it is a good one for two situations: a spa, where you want temperature in twenty minutes rather than two days, and occasional use, where the pool sits cold and gets brought up for a weekend or a visit. On a spillover spa gas is frequently the correct choice regardless of what heats the pool.

What people underestimate is the running cost. At $200 to $500 a month, gas used continuously through a Florida season costs more per year than the heater did. Used occasionally it is fine. Used as a primary heater it is expensive, and the shorter lifespan, seven to eight years against up to fifteen for a heat pump, means you replace it roughly twice as often.

It also depends on supply. Natural gas is not available everywhere in Lee County, and propane means a tank, deliveries, and a different cost structure. Worth establishing before anything else.

Solar: cheapest to run, least control, and one local caveat

Solar collectors on the roof, pool water pumped through them, warmed by sun that this region has in abundance. At $10 to $25 a month it is cheaper to run than anything else by a wide margin, it lasts fifteen to twenty years, and published payback runs anywhere from one to seven years depending on what it displaces.

The limitation is control. Solar gives you roughly 8 to 12 degrees above what the pool would otherwise be, when the sun is out. You cannot set a temperature, and a cloudy week does what a cloudy week does. It also takes one to three days to bring a pool up.

And the local caveat that national guides never mention: you are mounting equipment on a roof in a hurricane zone. That is not a reason to rule it out, plenty of systems here come through storms fine, but it belongs in the decision alongside your roof’s age and condition, and it is worth understanding how the panels are secured and what your policy says. Storm damage and pool insurance covers the wider question.

Solar also pairs well rather than competing. A solar array doing the bulk of the work with a small heat pump covering the cold snaps is a genuinely good setup here, and cheaper to run than either alone.

How Long Does It Take to Heat a Pool?

Reasonable question and rarely answered straight, because it depends on pool volume, how cold the water is, air temperature, wind, and whether the pool is covered.

• Gas: hours. A typical residential pool comes up several degrees in a few hours, and a spa in twenty to thirty minutes.
• Heat pump: a day or more from genuinely cold water, often 24 to 72 hours. Which is why they are run continuously rather than on demand.
• Solar: one to three days, and only with sun.

The single biggest variable is not the heater. It is evaporation off the surface, which is where most heat leaves a pool, and wind across the water accelerates it. A screened lanai helps considerably. On an exposed pool, heating without addressing wind is money going into the air.

Not Sure Which One Suits Your Pool?

Gas availability, electrical capacity, roof orientation, pool volume, and how you actually use the pool all change the answer. Call A&E Pools at (239) 888-6617 and we will look at what you have and tell you which of the three makes sense, including whether you need one at all.

We install and service pool heating systems across Southwest Florida. Get in touch through our contact page and we will come out.

Sizing, and the Mistake That Costs the Most

Undersizing. A heater too small for the pool never reaches temperature, runs constantly trying, and costs more to operate than the correct unit would while delivering less. It is the most common error we are called out to, and it is almost always someone who bought on price.

Sizing is driven by surface area rather than volume, because surface area is where the heat escapes, along with your target temperature, the coldest air you want to heat in, and whether the pool is screened or exposed. A spa attached to the pool changes it again, and so does a water feature, which aerates and cools water efficiently. Get this specified properly rather than from a chart, because the cost of getting it wrong is the whole unit.

Oversizing wastes money at purchase but works. Undersizing wastes money forever.

What Installation Involves, and Why It Is Not a DIY Job

To be direct about this, because there is a lot of loose advice online: pool heater installation in Florida is permitted work, and for good reason.

A gas heater means gas line work, correct sizing of that line, venting, clearances, and combustion safety. Getting it wrong risks carbon monoxide and fire. An electric heater or heat pump means a dedicated circuit at the right rating, correct breaker and disconnect, and equipotential bonding tying the unit into the pool’s bonding grid, which is the system that stops the water and the deck becoming live. None of that is a weekend project, and none of it is legal to self perform unpermitted.

The work itself is straightforward for someone licensed: assess and size, confirm gas or electrical capacity, pull the permit, set the pad, plumb into the return line, make the gas or electrical connections, bond, commission, and inspect. Typically a day or two on site, plus permitting time, which is the part the old version of this article left out of its timeline entirely.

If your existing heater has failed rather than reached the end of its life, heater repair is worth pricing before replacement. Plenty of what we see is a control board, an igniter, or a scaled exchanger rather than a dead unit.

Making It Cheaper to Run

• Get the water chemistry right. Scale on a heat exchanger insulates it, and an insulated exchanger burns fuel to heat metal instead of water. This is the most common reason a heater’s running cost creeps up, and it is the cheapest to fix. Hard fill water here makes it more likely, and it is the same calcium problem that scales salt cells.
• Reduce evaporation. Most heat lost from a pool leaves the surface. Cutting wind exposure and turning off water features while heating both make a measurable difference.
• Use automation to hold a set point rather than swinging between off and on. Cycling a pool up from cold repeatedly costs far more than holding it.
• Pair the heater with a variable speed pump. Heat pumps and solar both need flow to work, and running that flow efficiently is where equipment upgrades pay for themselves twice.
• Service it before the season, not during. A heater that fails in January in Fort Myers joins a queue. The rest of the equipment sits on our pool systems and equipment page.

A Note on Filtration and Automation

The previous version of this article tried to cover heating, filtration, automation, and cleaning systems at once, which meant three bullets each and no real help on any of them. Those topics deserve their own treatment and will get it.

In the meantime: pool automation systems covers remote control of pump, heater, lighting, and features, which is genuinely useful here and more so if you are seasonal. Filtration sits with pool systems and equipment, and if your current filter is the problem rather than your heater, filter cleaning is the cheaper first call. General equipment faults go to equipment repair.

Why Southwest Florida Homeowners Call A&E Pools

A&E Pools is a family owned pool company on Jetport Commerce Parkway in Fort Myers, licensed in Florida as CPC1459515, building and servicing pools across the region since 2017. We install heaters, we repair them, and we service the pools they are attached to, which means we see which units last here and which do not.

We serve Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita Springs, and Naples. See what we have built, read what customers say, check the areas we cover, or read more about us.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to heat a pool in Florida?

It depends entirely on the type. Published 2026 monthly running costs are $50 to $150 for a heat pump, $200 to $500 for gas or propane, and $10 to $25 for solar. Over a Florida heating season, roughly December through March, that difference is the main reason heat pumps dominate here.

How much does pool heater installation cost?

Published installed ranges are $1,500 to $4,500 for gas, $2,000 to $6,000 for a heat pump, and $2,500 to $6,500 for solar. Your figure depends on pool size, whether gas is available, whether your electrical panel has capacity, and roof orientation for solar.

Which pool heater is best for Southwest Florida?

A heat pump for most people. Heat pumps lose efficiency in cold air, which limits them in most of the country, but our cold snaps are brief and shallow so they operate in their designed range nearly all season, at a fraction of gas running costs. Gas is better for spas and for occasional use where you want warm water the same day. Solar is cheapest to run if you have suitable roof.

How long does it take to heat a pool?

Gas takes hours, and a spa twenty to thirty minutes. A heat pump takes a day or more from cold, often 24 to 72 hours, which is why they are run continuously rather than on demand. Solar takes one to three days and only works with sun. Wind across the surface slows all three, because that is where most heat is lost.

How long does a pool heater last?

Published lifespans are 7 to 8 years for gas, up to 15 years for a heat pump, and 15 to 20 years for solar. Water chemistry is the main variable within those ranges: scale on the heat exchanger shortens life and raises running cost at the same time.

What size pool heater do I need?

Sizing follows surface area rather than volume, since surface area is where heat escapes, adjusted for your target temperature, the coldest air you want to heat in, whether the pool is screened, and whether there is a spa or a water feature. Undersizing is the expensive mistake: a heater too small never reaches temperature and runs constantly trying.

Can I install a pool heater myself?

No. Pool heater installation is permitted work in Florida. Gas installation involves gas line sizing, venting, clearances, and combustion safety, and electric heaters and heat pumps require a correctly rated dedicated circuit and equipotential bonding into the pool bonding grid, which is what keeps the water and deck from becoming live. This is licensed work.

Is a heat pump worth it if I only swim a few months a year?

Probably not, and that is the honest answer. A heat pump earns its advantage over gas through low running cost across a long season. If you are heating for a few weekends a year, gas costs less overall despite the higher monthly figure, because you are barely running it. Match the heater to how you actually use the pool rather than to how you imagine you will.

Why has my heater got more expensive to run?

Usually scale on the heat exchanger. Southwest Florida fill water is hard, calcium plates out on the exchanger, and an insulated exchanger has to burn more to move the same heat. Chemistry out of range accelerates it. Short cycling, weak flow from a failing pump, or a dirty filter will do it too.

Talk to Us Before You Buy

A heater is a several thousand dollar decision that depends on things you can only assess on site. Call A&E Pools at (239) 888-6617 or request a visit through our contact page, and we will size it properly, tell you which type suits your pool, and quote the installation.

Serving Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita Springs, and Naples. Licensed Florida pool contractor CPC1459515, family owned since 2017.

Existing heater playing up? Heater repair is often cheaper than replacement. Doing other work at the same time? Ask about equipment upgrades and financing.