" writes:

On Dec 12, 4:08Â*pm, Dan Espen wrote:
"Bruce L. Bergman (munged human readable)"

Another huge problem is the pool chemistry has to be kept Very Rigidly
Controlled or the pool water will rot out the water cooled condenser
REAL FAST - or clog it up with scale to the point it won't work
anymore, same outcome. Â*Most people can't or won't be that anal about
the pool water, and the condensers can rot in a year or two.

It's not as huge a problem as you think.

For one, a pool should be kept near neutral.

I have a pool heater and years ago, after 2 years, the water manifold
developed a leak. Â*The first thing the pool guy was asking is "did you
keep the water near neutral?". Â*I did, but was unable to get any kind of
discount on the replacement.

When putting in the replacement, I noticed the interior is coated with
plastic. Â*So, there's no water to metal contact.

I've been running heaters for more than 6 years now and I can tell you
the water in contact with a heated metal unit does not create any
special corrosion problems. Â*A condenser shouldn't be any problem at
all.

I'm not sure what all the controversy is.

If this guy had his AC unit near his pool pump he just did what was
reasonable. Â*The alternative would be to have a big fan roaring near the
pool with hot air being blown around. Â*That's not something you want
near a pool.


Using water cooling is going to be quieter and save blower energy.
I believe other posters are correct, this won't heat the pool much but
it will save energy, be quiet, and not heat the air near the pool.

If you watch the TOH video, the problem was not
the AC condenser unit making noise. It did not appear to be
particularly close to the pool. The problem was the pool is
shady and the homeowner wanted to heat the pool. The side
benefit was the alleged substantial savings in AC costs.

Yep, just watched the video.

The AC unit is right next to the pool plumbing.
They mention energy savings and pool heating.

For me, the savings would be noise and the hot air blowing around.
Any heat input in the pool is going to be very small.
It's going to take a huge amount of hot air to heat that amount of cool
water. Better to cut a few of those trees down.

--
Dan Espen