Wow,
And I thought I was the only "geek" that sat around and thought about
this stuff!

Ryan, I hear what you are saying. In general I seem to be getting a lot of
cautious/negative feedback on the idea. BUT, I have not heard one thing
from someone who HAS actually tried to do this. It makes me wonder, how
come nobody thinks it will work when nobody has even tried. Don't get me
wrong, there are some people responding to this who have far more knowledge
on refrigeration systems than I do. But, once again, they have never
actually tried THIS before. I have a cousin who IS an engineer, he works
for Copeland Compressors in Sydney Ohio. Okay, so here is someone who knows
this stuff WAY more than me and probably more than most of the people who
reply to this ng. His exact words to me were, "I cannot think of any reason
that we can't make it work." His idea was to simply put the water exchanger
inside the existing housing for the condenser (it is mostly open space
inside there except for the compressor itself and water condensers are
pretty small, (obviously if it wont fit then we will just have to install it
somewhere nearby). We then install a three-way valve on the Freon line, in
one position the Freon comes out of the compressor and goes to the
air-cooled condenser just like it always has. In the other position it
sends the Freon through the water-cooled condenser instead. This would be
an electrically controlled valve which would also turn the over-head fan OFF
whenever the water-cooled condenser was in use thereby cutting down on the
noise and saving electricity. We would use two sensors on the water line, a
pressure sensor, and a temp sensor, if the pressure drops too much it will
automatically switch to the air-cooled condenser, (once again, just like it
always has) or if the water gets too hot (say above 90 degrees) it will also
switch to the air cooled condenser. I realize that this may mean that on
the hottest days I will NOT be using the water-cooled condenser, on these
days the pool will heat to 90 degrees on it's own (so it uses the
air-cooled condenser. that it what it always has done no big deal).
However, if the water level on the pool is low on those HOT days, guess
what? We can run municipal water through the condenser and dump it in the
pool what the heck, I gotta fill the pool anyway, (we could even regulate
the municipal-to-pool water temp to get the inlet water temp for the
condenser right where we want it without overfilling the pool) now I am
cooling my house AND cooling the pool, win-win on a HOT day. And on those
days that the A/C is running and the pool is a little chilly it is win-win
again 'cause now I am cooling my house AND heating my pool.

One final note, my cousin will admit that he is not sure about the
"chlorinated water eating the heat exchanger" problem. I did get a reply
which lead me to this;
http://www.rparts.com/Catalog/Major_...vaporators.asp
(I'm thinking the tube-in-shell model)

So it rots apart after 3-5 years , buy another one. If you can extend your
pool season by 4-6 weeks per year it would probably be worth it, if it cuts
your electric bill and lightens the load on your A/C then it would
definitely be worth it!
Good Luck Man
Let me know how it goes, score one for the DIY's!!!
Craig