Using A/C to heat pool?

[moreyes]

Does anyone make a a/c unit that takes the heat from the condensing unit and rather than dumping it into the air puts the heat into the pool water?

[haze_1956]

Interesting you asked that, as the same thought had occurred to me !

I was at a friends house who had just put in an Inground Pool with an electric heater, which is only about 5 feet from his house A/C condensor. I looked at the two units sitting almost next to each other and thought "paying to get rid of heat and make heat at the same time. What a waste of money"

Surely some company must have made the connection.

Google-time :)

[Player101]

I thought about that exact same thing also. The heat wasted from the A/C should be recovered to heat a pool. Could you imagine how efficient that would make the A/C unit; being water cooled and heating the pool at the same time? In this time of energy conservation ideas like this should exist. If it's not already out there a person could make lots of money making an AC pool heater combo.

[cwstnsko]

I don't have any current links, but I did find a company that makes this set-up when I was researching prior to having the pool built. It was expensive, but dramatically incresed the efficency of both tasks. Here in AZ, it would only work for a month or so in the spring and fall. Then the pool water would get too hot.

Along similar lines, I had a discussion with a factory rep about installing a heat pump, and he said you CAN get measurable efficiency gains by placing the pool heat pump right next to the A/C unit. If you wanted to get tricky, you could construct some panels to either encourage or discourage the mixing of the air streams depending on the season.

[haze_1956]

After due thought. I think I have found the downside of this idea.

Which is that a house is an enclosed space with finite BTU's to take.

Once you have the house cooled down, your heat source is gone, or at best limited to the heat gain of the building.

Not as effecient as the limitless outdoor heat.

And it sounded so good on paper too !! :(
.

[cleancloths]

I recently read about a laundromat that does exactly this. There is some company out there that makes an evaporator modification that lets the evaporator from the central a/c dump its heat to water (i.e. a swimming pool).

[sparks999999999]

http://www.ecosmartinc.com/catsolar2special.php

http://www.heatsiphon.com/


here's a couple i've seen before.

[cwstnsko]

http://www.ecosmartinc.com/catsolar2special.php

http://www.heatsiphon.com/


here's a couple i've seen before.

I hadn't seen the 1st link before, that's interesting, but I wonder how effective it would be.

The second link just looks like a regular pool heat pump with lots of bells and whistles.

I think what the thread started out asking about is referred to as a "water source" home heat pump with the pool being the water that the house A/C dumps the heat into.

I did a little searching, but still haven't found the link I was looking for.

This link is starting to get close: http://www.dulley.com/docs/f458.htm

[gonefishin]

After due thought. I think I have found the downside of this idea.

Which is that a house is an enclosed space with finite BTU's to take.

Once you have the house cooled down, your heat source is gone, or at best limited to the heat gain of the building.

Not as effecient as the limitless outdoor heat.

And it sounded so good on paper too !! :(
.


But you don't have to depend on the A/C as your only heat source. You can use in in conjunction with solar or a gas "kicker" unit.

I wouldn't say it's a bad idea at all. The biggest problem for me is that my A/C unit is on the complete other side of my house :(


I'd say keep rolling with the idea!

dan

[cwstnsko]

This is really getting to what I remember: http://www.toad.net/~jsmeenen/pool/

That's the ticket! It can be made to switch back to air when the pool gets too warm

[moreyes]

Hmmm.. that is interesting, I am in the A/C industry and that is what I did with mine.

I was just wondering if anyone else has done this.

[haze_1956]

But you don't have to depend on the A/C as your only heat source. You can use in in conjunction with solar or a gas "kicker" unit.



My point was that the house is a limited heat source, and once you start supplementing from a second source, no money saved. I doubt converting would be cost effective.

I like the idea in principle, "free heat!" I just don't think a combination A/C-Pool heater is practical.

Perhaps a lower cost idea such as running a heat exchanger above the A/C unit to catch the exhausted heat. A basic example being, use an old car radiator and a small pump, wired to the A/C fan, to circulate water when unit is running? Something simple like that.
.

[matt4x4]

Around here, AC runs when it's HOT out, my heater is needed when it's COOL out, unless I want a hot tub on those hot days, I wouldn't be using it.
Now, anyone up for converting your AC to top up the water in your pool, I could certainly use that feature???

[sparks999999999]

Around here, AC runs when it's HOT out, my heater is needed when it's COOL out, unless I want a hot tub on those hot days, I wouldn't be using it.
Now, anyone up for converting your AC to top up the water in your pool, I could certainly use that feature???
if you have a pool that is in shade a lot like mine you will not see anything above 80 except on the hottest hot spells - and even then it may only go to 82 tops. most of the time my pool stays around 76-78.

[Poconos]

Off the top of my head, a water to freon exchanger is more efficient simply because you don't need the fan for a freon to air exchanger. All depends on the water and air temps though. If you have a pool, that's a great heat sink for home central air cooling. All you need is a little donkey pump for the water to cool the condenser for the home A/C. Lot quiter too. Have no idea what the $$$ savings would be cooling the home A/C condenser with 80+ degree pool water but I'd bet it is significant. It all depends on the region of the country and climate. All I can say is up here in Northeast PA I'd be using the pool water if I had central air for the house. If I didn't have a pool that could use heat I'd be using stream water which is cooler yet. Just my thoughts.
Al

[Brock]

Don't know how I missed this.

I have a "heat pump" setup to heat the pool. I am currently using 2 E-Tech 6000btu heat pumps to heat the pool. The heat pumps are meant to be hooked up to a hot water heater but I am using them on the pool. The units have their own small water circulation pump so I simply dropped a 1/2 inch intake line in the pool and a 1/2 return line and I am good to go. The big advantage is that I get 5000btu cooling per unit or 10,000 btu of cooling total (about 1 ton). I have these units hooked up to my furnace fan to circulate the cool air around the house. The two units will maintain the pools temp running flat out 24 hours a day and I use the central AC much less, a win-win situation. The units pull about 2.1 amps each at 240 vac. I am using about the same power as I did before installing them so I am guessing my central AC is running that much less, and instead of dumping the heat outside I am heating my pool with the excess heat. I haven't run the boiler on the pool in over 8 weeks now. Of course this setup won't help me in winter, but any time I have to cool this is the way to go.

I am seriously considering upgrading to a marine AC unit. They work very similar. They use water to get rid of the heat and blow out cold air. I am thinking of about a 16,000 BTU unit. Right now I can maintain the pool with 10,000 BTU but not the hot tub. This should allow me to only run off peak (cheaper electrical rates) and run the central AC even less and hopefully heat both the hot tub and pool with nothing but waste heat from the AC.

But yes, if you pool is outside in the sun you won't have much of a heat sink and wouldn’t make a lot of since, but since ours is inside, way underground and never gets sun and always need heating.

So check out "marine air conditioner" on ebay or any marine supply place. You just need to run a 1/2 to 3/4 inch line to and from the pool to where ever the unit is and somehow get the cooling in your house.