New Experiment Involving Pool Water

vwhead77 · 05-01-15, 08:19 AM

Next experiment up : heating your pool while cooling your house. Idea is to circulate the water from the pool filter through a [stainless steel] coil or [eventually] an array of coils located in rooms inside your home. The exchange of heat will cool the room with the pool water and return warmer water back to the pool - make sense to me. Here we go

MN Renovator · 05-04-15, 08:15 AM

Is there a compressor somewhere? Either you'll have a cold pool or a hot house with a warm pool unless I'm mistaken what you are doing?

Comfy pools are usually 80-90f. I personally like the 85-88f variety. Not sure how warm you are aiming for the pool and house to be.

vwhead77 · 05-05-15, 06:10 PM

No- I'm simply redirecting some of the water on the outlet side of the pool filter. That pool water will flow through a coil with 12V fans blowing through the coil hopefully transferring cool air into the room. That water is circulated back to the pool, hopefully, a little warmer than what it started at. I'm more interested in cooling the room than heating the pool but I'm thinking it's a desirable side affect.

vwhead77 · 05-23-15, 08:44 AM

The results are in. 87 degree ambient. 72 degree pool water. 74 degrees at the coil. 82 degrees return water to pool. 76 degree room temperature. Hmmm. I just had a thought...I wonder if I can recirculate the 'room' air rather than pulling in pure outdoor air?... Sketch Book!!

jeff5may · 05-23-15, 12:37 PM

A number of ecorenovators have successfully accomplished your goals. Some points to consider are:

Burying your supply water loop pipe will provide lots of free cooling. Since your latitude is far North, this works in your favor. Cooler supply water equals more heat transfer.

Recirculation of indoor air will pull more sensible (temp changing) heat out of your house. Due to the medium temperature of your cooling Hx, it will not take much latent (moisture) heat out of your indoor air. Depends on your local climate, but your house may end up feeling balmy like a cave if nothing else is removing humidity.

Slow AnD low flow of air is the way to go. With close approach temps in the hx, forcing as much heat into the water as you can takes a few seconds, mainly the latent portion. If the air flies right through, you are just wasting fan power.

Please keep the pics and details coming. There have been a lot of similar discussions started, where the OP had something good started, then vanished. Many of us still wonder how well these rigs actually perform over an extended time period. There have been a sizable amount of phase change systems documented well, but not many of these passive setups.

vwhead77 · 05-24-15, 07:42 AM

Yes, points taken and were considered in construction. I do have the supply line buried about 8" is all I had energy for [lol] but I did leave unions and 'clean-out' T's so I could drain the line for winter. I only lose 2 degrees in the 40+ foot run in full sunshine. For the return line, I decided to use black hose and leave a nice coil on a small silver tarp - that gains quite a bit of heat for the pool. I am also able to 'spray' the return water to cool it a bit if the pool starts to get too warm.
I don't know where I got this window fan but it is really perfect for this application - it has high/low settings and thermostatically controlled - I can set it anywhere from 65 deg to 80 deg. I have it on a realistic setting of 75 degrees. As you pointed out, there is no real humidification happening at the coil but it's a far cry cooler than just a plain window fan. Yesterday, I enclosed the coil and made an intake to only pull air from the room - make s a BIG difference - very comfortable to sit in front of for sure. The room it is in has 'French Doors' and is isolated from the rest of the house -you can definitely feel the difference. Cool ;p

05-01-15, 08:19 AM	#1
vwhead77 Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Watkins Glen, NY Posts: 48 Thanks: 19 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	New Experiment Involving Pool Water Next experiment up : heating your pool while cooling your house. Idea is to circulate the water from the pool filter through a [stainless steel] coil or [eventually] an array of coils located in rooms inside your home. The exchange of heat will cool the room with the pool water and return warmer water back to the pool - make sense to me. Here we go Attached Thumbnails

05-05-15, 06:10 PM	#3
vwhead77 Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Watkins Glen, NY Posts: 48 Thanks: 19 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	A bit further into it No- I'm simply redirecting some of the water on the outlet side of the pool filter. That pool water will flow through a coil with 12V fans blowing through the coil hopefully transferring cool air into the room. That water is circulated back to the pool, hopefully, a little warmer than what it started at. I'm more interested in cooling the room than heating the pool but I'm thinking it's a desirable side affect. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Daox; 05-23-15 at 01:21 PM..

05-23-15, 08:44 AM	#4
vwhead77 Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Watkins Glen, NY Posts: 48 Thanks: 19 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	It's Working!! The results are in. 87 degree ambient. 72 degree pool water. 74 degrees at the coil. 82 degrees return water to pool. 76 degree room temperature. Hmmm. I just had a thought...I wonder if I can recirculate the 'room' air rather than pulling in pure outdoor air?... Sketch Book!! Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Daox; 05-23-15 at 01:23 PM..

05-24-15, 07:42 AM	#6
vwhead77 Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Watkins Glen, NY Posts: 48 Thanks: 19 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Yes, points taken and were considered in construction. I do have the supply line buried about 8" is all I had energy for [lol] but I did leave unions and 'clean-out' T's so I could drain the line for winter. I only lose 2 degrees in the 40+ foot run in full sunshine. For the return line, I decided to use black hose and leave a nice coil on a small silver tarp - that gains quite a bit of heat for the pool. I am also able to 'spray' the return water to cool it a bit if the pool starts to get too warm. I don't know where I got this window fan but it is really perfect for this application - it has high/low settings and thermostatically controlled - I can set it anywhere from 65 deg to 80 deg. I have it on a realistic setting of 75 degrees. As you pointed out, there is no real humidification happening at the coil but it's a far cry cooler than just a plain window fan. Yesterday, I enclosed the coil and made an intake to only pull air from the room - make s a BIG difference - very comfortable to sit in front of for sure. The room it is in has 'French Doors' and is isolated from the rest of the house -you can definitely feel the difference. Cool ;p Attached Thumbnails

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05-04-15, 08:15 AM	#2
MN Renovator Less usage=Cheaper bills Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 939 Thanks: 41 Thanked 116 Times in 90 Posts	Is there a compressor somewhere? Either you'll have a cold pool or a hot house with a warm pool unless I'm mistaken what you are doing? Comfy pools are usually 80-90f. I personally like the 85-88f variety. Not sure how warm you are aiming for the pool and house to be.

05-23-15, 12:37 PM	#5
jeff5may Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: elizabethtown, ky, USA Posts: 2,428 Thanks: 431 Thanked 619 Times in 517 Posts	A number of ecorenovators have successfully accomplished your goals. Some points to consider are: Burying your supply water loop pipe will provide lots of free cooling. Since your latitude is far North, this works in your favor. Cooler supply water equals more heat transfer. Recirculation of indoor air will pull more sensible (temp changing) heat out of your house. Due to the medium temperature of your cooling Hx, it will not take much latent (moisture) heat out of your indoor air. Depends on your local climate, but your house may end up feeling balmy like a cave if nothing else is removing humidity. Slow AnD low flow of air is the way to go. With close approach temps in the hx, forcing as much heat into the water as you can takes a few seconds, mainly the latent portion. If the air flies right through, you are just wasting fan power. Please keep the pics and details coming. There have been a lot of similar discussions started, where the OP had something good started, then vanished. Many of us still wonder how well these rigs actually perform over an extended time period. There have been a sizable amount of phase change systems documented well, but not many of these passive setups.