I supply my customers with heat pumps for swimming pools, aquaculture farms, homes & industry. We send out what I know are the highest quality heatpumps and supplies. My picks can change over time, and especially when I feel that a manufacturer loses a step or I get that funny feeling that something isn’t right. It isn’t an exact science but my picks have been pretty good. Just replaced a Pergrine (Smartemp) pool heater from 2000 that was still running but on its last legs. I have some Heat Siphon, Hayward, Pentair and Jandy heat pumps that have performed well from 15 years ago. Some better than others. I think mice finished the Smartemp off. Maybe invest in a good pool heat pump cover to stop that. This is a strange time in the industry. So many big players have no stock and are having supply chain issues that are causing them to not even have the proper spare parts. I had a swim school in a cold-weather state that was out of business for 3 weeks because their pool was cold and they couldn’t get a $30.00 part on a 1-year-old heater. They reached out to me for help and I called in a few favors from my friends of 30 years in the trade and got them the part. I shouldn’t have to do that. This year I have reached out to new to me USA suppliers of basic HVAC and geothermal supplies; some of them my LinkedIn buddies and some from my everyday encounters and have been ghosted more often than I can remember. Hey suppliers, I can be a big account that might even make you laugh occasionally. Special shout out to a temperature sensor supplier from Utah who was amazing following up with me. Wow, that is a professional sales guy. I like people who know their business and are excited about what they sell. I feel in the back of their mind they think they are making the world a better place. I know that I think that way. I get contacted by Chinese companies every day by e-mail and messaging to supply me with whatever I need. Very tempting, but that isn’t my business model though. I only sell USA-made products. I would sell Canadian heat pumps in Canada but for some reason, the new Canadian manufacturers don’t want my help like they did 10 to 15 years ago. I just had a Canadian poolheatpump Volcano made by Focustemp stop working after 18 years. I liked those guys. We would go out for French food when they were in town. Note to manufacturers. I have a soft spot for going out to eat and talking about pool heaters. Too bad the Focustemp guys have moved on to other things now. What confuses me is why don’t any European or other Asian companies try to reach out to me for more business? I have been to European Trade shows and I know that they can make stuff over there. 🙂 It is Strange. A couple of the big pool USA heat pump manufacturers are distributing small Chinese heat pumps. I have not heard anything negative. They will have to support them for years so I hope they tested them well. That should be a wake-up call for USA manufacturers to keep up on technology. Hard for a serviceman to get an engineer on the phone at 3 pm when you are in the field troubleshooting a system if is 2 am in China though. Not enough to have a good heat pump. There have to be people around supporting it and ready to help out if any issues arise. This probably isn’t news, but mechanical things break every once in a while. This is a strange year and I know that all of you are stressed. Maybe soaking in a warm pool will make you feel better. Or maybe watching your warm Koi fish growing big and strong. I know I can help you there and won’t ghost you. Well, I might if you keep calling wanting to optimize my website, remove ground moles, or keep leaves out of my gutter.
Stay safe out there. We really care about you and your comfort.
Best, Marcus
I was thinking about swimming pool heat pump service problems today. My favorite models have the least issues of course. They are still just machines, and sometimes they need to be repaired. Some of my favorite brands that I sent out 15 to 20 years ago are still running and have never been touched by a mechanic. I hope that the ones that I like now will have the same performance. That isn’t too good for my business model now but maybe customer referrals will make up for that. A pool is supposed to be fun and relieve stress and not cause you stress with operational problems. My goal has always been to have give people a comfortable pool that they can use for the longest possible time where they live. The most common call that I get is that there are no unions included on their new heatpump. The unions are inside the access panel usually taped to a PVC pipe so that they don’t get lost of or broken in shipment. The next most common call is that the heat pump is leaking water. 99.9% of the time that is normal condensation that is caused when you take heat out of the air to put in the pool you bring the air below the dew point and water then drips out of the pool heater. The more water on the ground the better the heat pump is heating. If you are ever in doubt that it is condensation you can test it with a chlorine strip to see if it reacts to pool chemicals. If no reading than you are fine. You can also turn the swimming pool heat pump off for a day to see if the area dries out. If it does dry out then everything is normal. Tripped breakers and blown fuses are common. Check that before you pay for a service call on your heater. Most issues are flea type things. The big elephant repairs are pretty rare. I think one in 5000 pool heat pumps lose a compressor. That could be a figure from the air conditioning / heating industry but I am sure it is close. Fan motors on pool heaters sometimes fail. Many times that is because they are installed just under the drip edge of the roof. They are designed to be outside for 15 years but are not designed to get a flood of water from the roof during a rain storm. If you have no choice and can’t move it then maybe put a 6 foot gutter over the heat pump. Electrical controls like contactors and relays are taken out by ants many times especially in the South. I have even seen a opossum and huge frogs in the control panel. They got in their when they were little and then grew too big to get out. You might have to seal up some holes when that happens. Not on my new heat pumps though. They are pretty well sealed up. If it starts raining frogs then you have bigger problems than your pool heater and I would take cover inside. If anyone has any trouble shooting questions please write, text or call and I will try to help out.
Keep swimming. It is great exercise and lots of fun.
I am on your side.
Best,
Marcus Cell 360 348 7574
It is late February and my cherry trees are flowering. I have not seen any bees around yet so this isn’t a good sign. It is still getting below freezing at night and that can’t be too good for this years fruit crop. I wonder how my green house buddies are doing who can more closely control the environment. We send many heat pumps to heat the air and the ground in green houses. Many flower growers in Texas and South America use them so they can grow petunias all year long. It looks like I will be spending a lot of time this spring staring at my trees and not leaving my yard as the first Coronavirus death in the USA just happened close to my town. I have been avoiding traveling and especially airports this year so I didn’t come in contact with other travelers but, now it seems people will be avoiding people from my area. I feel bad for my hotel / motel / campground and resort clients. They are taking a hit and many good people depend on that industry for employment. Not happy with all these markets in China that mix so many different species & foods. I am sure other countries are just as bad and have issues too. Maybe this will be the age of AquaCulture, Aquaponics and Hydroponics where they can control the environment and avoid this type of disaster. We are not living in the middle ages. If you are at your market stall playing on your smartphone then you can make sure you are also able to keep things clean and sterile. I would love to hear from all my agricultural buddies in that field on their views. Looks like there will be more Stay-cations this year. I hope that my pool heaters and heat pumps can help people enjoy their homes more. People with warm pools stay fitter and have great family togetherness occasions. If you need to heat or cool water or air with a gas, electric or heat pump please let me know. If you need to repair your old pool heater we can help with parts and troubleshooting. This months advice is to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds & call your Mom more. She loves you.
Best,
Marcus
I know that I am being irrational about this #Coronavirus. Although the first case in the USA was in my county about 10 miles from my house. I did get my flu shot last week as I learned really how dangerous the yearly influenza is. I cancelled a domestic flight because I didn’t want to be stuck on line going through security with lots of world travelers. I over reacted when I found out my daughter was taken to a local Chinese meat market on a play date with her friend. I am not a big fan of huge food markets anymore with a mix of everything from everywhere. I thought it might be safe to go to Costco, but then to my dismay I saw the greeters wearing masks. One of my potential customers told me $3,000.00 was too much to spend on a #heatpump to keep their #swimming #pool warm all season. My new homebody self thought it would be great to have a warm pool and just do a stay-cation this year. I am sure they would spend that much on summer travel. I am taking my wife to a local #Hotel next week for her birthday. It has a heated pool and we won’t have the stress of travel now. I hope the pool and spa / Jacuzzi is heated with a heat pump though and not a gas or electric heater. I have Chinese pool #heat #pump manufacturers e-mailing me everyday trying to get me to buy one. I feel bad that they are going through this & hope it is over soon. I wouldn’t wish quarantine on anyone. Many of my customers are in the #aquaCulture, #aquaponic and #hydroponic industries. I hope this doesn’t disrupt them too much. Also my #theme park, #campground and #resort customers, I am sure will be affected. It is so unnecessary. Really though, it is now time to clean up those markets. You can’t keep stressing out our shrinking world. We all have to live together.
The Department of Energy says about gas heaters that: “Depending on your climate and pool use, they may not be the most energy-efficient option when compared to heat pump and solar pool heaters.” Gas pool heaters have been around longer than heat pumps. They are an older technology. Swimming pool heat pumps have been available for about 40 years now. The DOE says about pool heat pumps: “Heat pump pool heaters cost more than gas pool heaters, (to purchase) but they typically have much lower annual operating costs because of their higher efficiencies. With proper maintenance, heat pump pool heaters typically last longer than gas pool heaters. Therefore, you’ll save more money in the long run.” Many old school pool contractors only have experience with gas pool heaters and are not up to speed with the newer heat pumps that run at colder outside air temperatures than older ones. Pool guys are also not licensed to repair swimming pool heat pumps. That is a job for Air Conditioning & heating companies as they are really just big air conditioners. I have many stories of pool owners coming directly to me for advice when they couldn’t get their pool guy to help them choose a heat pump. Then when they have done their own homework and have had it installed for a year or two their pool guy comes around to the heat pump way of thinking. I fault many of the manufacturers for not having more educational events at wholesale distribution businesses to bring useful information to contractors so that they can recommend the most efficient equipment to their customers. I was hired to do just that many years ago in hotel conference rooms. I remember large turnouts of trade people and lots of interest but the manufacturer killed it due to budget concerns and I have not seen other manufacturers step up much since. I love pool guys and most of my friends got their start cleaning pools as teenagers. But they really are in an impossible situation to be expected to keep up on all the new technology while working 6 or 7 days a week in the season. I always welcome phone calls or texts from people in the pool industry if they need advice or help with pool heating equipment. I want them, and my customers to have the most efficient equipment with the lowest heating and maintenance costs so that they keep their pools at a swimmable temperature with pool heat pumps for as long as possible to keep fit and have great family memories from the back yard pool. Gas heaters have their place in the world. If you need one I will send you one in a heartbeat. For most people, it doesn’t make sense. Especially for all you hotel, motel, campground, and theme park people out there that could take the $50,000 a year in savings from using pool heat pumps to give your guests a better swimming experience with more lifeguards and free poolside drinks with all the money you will save.
We are here for you and want to see you swimming in tropical water.
Best,
Marcus Miller
The photo was taken when I was at a fish hatchery looking at new hatchlings and eggs that were almost ready to hatch. We love anything to do with Aquaculture, Mariculture, Algaculture (the cultivation of Algae) and Fish Farming. We have shipped many swimming pool heatpumps and Aquaculture, Aquaponic heat pumps to Nairobi, Kenya. People forget that even in countries that are hot all year, we still need heat pumps to keep the water comfortable for humans and fish. Sometimes we heat the water, and sometimes we cool the water in Kenya. One hotel where we have 3 pool heat pumps installed is saving 80% of their heating budget over using an LP gas (propane heater) or an electric element heater. We do that with Aquaculture / Aquaponic fish farms in Africa too. In Nairobi, it never gets much below 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 C ) at night, and the pools still cools off below comfortable swimming temperatures. I remember when I was at a high end hotel in Belize, spreading the word about pool heat pumps in Central America, and I didn’t get a very warm welcome from hoteliers at hotel, motel, theme parks and resorts. The hotel where I was staying had a pool that was only 72 F, (22 C) because a rainy cold front had just come through the area. That is not a fun swim for me. My wife took a video of me all alone shivering in the deserted pool, even though the hotel was completely full. Sorry, only available for you to see if you visit my office. 🙂 Now I hope that you will help me spread the pool heat pump word so I can make the world a more comfortable and happy place without me having to change time zones so much.
I have a swimming pool heat pump at my home that was left over from a successful run test 10 plus years ago. It probably has the old freon 22 that was discontinued in 2010. I like to watch heat pumps working in the field for a few years before I distribute them if at all possible. (Not always possible, but I try) I had a few on a live webcam for 3 years where you could drop in 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in all weather conditions to see how they were performing. Many gas heater manufacturers used the videos as training tools. I might do that again. The problem is that my above ground pool collapsed last year, and then my neighbor and pool buddy who got my free heat pumps moved away with one of my test pools. My beautiful wife and the CEO of Green Plant Supply suggested last week with a hint of menace in her voice that I get that old test heat pump running and heating a pool before her Fourth of July holiday party. So, trying to be a good husband, I rented an above ground pool from a junk removal company to use until I could build a proper swimming pool for her. We would have a mini theme park in the backyard. Needless to say, I am writing these posts from the doghouse. I am really happy that I put in Wifi for Mr. Snuggles-Worth the elderly Dachshund. I might have to take her to a hotel or motel so she can swim. Have a safe holiday. We are here for you. Marcus Miller  Maybe I can also use it for aquaculture, hydroponics or aquaponics?
Marcus Miller, President
Green Planet Supply
1 888 205 7766 National Office
360 348 7574 Cell
marc@heatpumpheroes.com
www.heatpumpsuppliers.com
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“Mine is installed and working, I called Marcus a couple times on Saturday, All I can say is he is awesome, and very patient. I did end up calling a local contractor to hook up the desuperheater pump, and the drain valve. the furnace is cranking out the heat.
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The highest compliment that we can receive is the referral of your friends, family and business associates
Heat pumps are my life; especially for swimming pools and aquaculture / hydroponics applications. Since I missed hockey-sign ups, I have not been getting my usual exercise. I have not been feeling the healthiest and was looking for some good clean swimming fun with my family. I was eagerly anticipating a work-out swim in a heated indoor hotel pool to make my heart beat a bit. I am not saying that I stay at the best hotels regularly, but this one was pretty nice and I had expectations of warm water. I stuck my toe in the water and shivered. I was going to skip the swim as I am stressed and not the best traveler, and I don’t want to get sick. My daughter was there and wanted to swim too, so she cold shamed me into getting in the water with her. I did a 1/2 hour of laps and felt better. I want to reach out to all my hospitality industry bu and campground buddies to keep your pool warmer. 82 F is where I am happy. Many people like at least 86 F. I also jumped into the cool spa that I know wasn’t anywhere near 104F or 40C. Brrr. If gas / electric heating is too much for your bottom line, don’t drop the temp. Please look into saving $1000’s a year with my pool heatpumps. You can tell what book I am reading this week by the title of this post. That is my freezing truck in a hail storm in the photo.
