"Tom Terrific" wrote in message
.net...
I had a idea that might save some energy. I've had ideas like this
in the past, but they're usually not practical - like heating my
backyard pool water with the condenser coil from my central air. The
pool gets heated, while the AC, presumably, cools the house more
efficiently.

I recently thought of running the compressor and coil from my
refrigerator and freezer outside. This wouldn't be such a huge
effort - a few feet of copper tubing and suitable insulation is all
that would be needed. This way, AC wouldn't have to pump the heat
out of the house after the fridge pumped it out of the box (kind of
like cutting out the middleman). Theoretically, the AC uses just as
much energy removing that heat from the house as the fridge used to
remove that same heat from the box. So, theoretically, the savings
should be about equal to the amount of energy that the fridge
normally uses (of course, these savings would only be realized during
the cooling season). The kitchen would be quieter, too.

What's wrong with this idea? How much energy might this be expected
to save? And could I heat my pool with it?

I think everybody has had that same idea about the refrigerator.
A refrigerator just doesn't use all that much energy. Mine is 1.5a (200w)
and only runs part of the time.
When your AC was on it would certainly save a little energy, but it would
cost energy when the heat was on; so you would have to make it covertible.
Your payback would be in decades.