I would think you could tell whether the heat pump was working by touching the output pipe from the pump. It should consistently be warmer than the input pipe. Also make sure that your solar system is not running at night. Our neighbor had a solar system malfunction; it ran all the time and the roof heat-collector grid acted as a giant cooling radiator during the much cooler nights.
At least you are not trying to heat to 80 degrees using a "standard" electric pool heater. Last January 2014 a newbie family to our neighborhood heated their pool to above 80 all month and ended up with an electric bill in excess of $900!!. This year they, along with the rest of us, are using the community pools during the Winter.
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All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
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