"Pumbaa" wrote in message
...
I just got blasted for putting this on alt.hvac (apparently they don't
help
do-it-yourselfers) so I hope to heck that I don't irritate anybody on this
ng.

Hi All,
I am not an HVAC guy, just a home owner with a question, I believe
this
is the place to find an answer. I live in Memphis TN, pretty dang hot in
the summer, pretty mild in the winter. I have an in-ground pool, it is
roughly 26,000 gallons. I also have a garden variety AC, it is a 2.5 ton
unit. My question is this, could I use a water cooled heat exchanger as
opposed to the standard over-head fan air-cooled condenser? The water
would
be chlorinated pool water. It seems to me that I could kill two birds
with
one stone here. I mean the A/C and the pool pump are going to be running
anyway, why not give it a try? I know that the temp gain from a 2.5 ton
unit won't be that much, maybe a few degrees per day, but what the heck, I
am just wasting the heat now (as if summer air needs to be any hotter).
Also, on the hottest of days the pool gets up to 90 degrees all by itself,
I
figure on those days I can just run municipal water through the heat
exchanger and discharge it on my lawn, water here is CHEAP, so that is no
concern and it would not be that often. Also on those hottest of days I
would think that even 90 degree water would condense Freon better than 100
degree air, perhaps making life a little bit easier on my compressor. I
think that the real advantage would come early and late in the pools
season,
that's when the water is a bit chilly for a swim but the ambient temp is
just high enough that the A/C is running. Any input from the ng here
would
be great. And, I know that I cannot use an aluminum exchanger, the
chlorine
would eat it up (chlorine levels in a properly maintained pool are about
1.5ppm, however, when you shock the pool once a week it jumps to about
5ppm
for a while), I'm thinking copper or plastic (if such a thing exists).
Thanks
Craig

Actually here in Arizona those were very common 15-20 years ago. I actually
worked with a guy that had two in his house. Unfortunately he had to replace
the heat exchangers every couple of years. The last exchangers he bought
were from something that you would use on a boat in the ocean. They lasted
less than 3 years. He finally got ****ed and changed over to the common air
cooled system.
He was pretty happy about the system, it warmed the pool in the winter. He
said he gained something like 3 months a year more swimming. Summer time
he had to run the aerator all night long because the pool was very warm.

If you can find an exchanger that can resist the chlorine, or convert your
pool to one of those natural bio pools where there are plants and fish in
the water that you swim in, I.E. no chlorine maybe you would have a chance.

If I had a source of water that was un-chlorinated I would consider this,
other wise, I really do not like working on mechanical systems about the
house.