Cooling a Hot Pool

[rlanthony@excite.com]

My pool is way to warm. 90-92 degrees pool temp is the norm this time of year. How can I cool this thing down. Mostly sun from 10 AM to 5 PM, Central Texas. I've looked at air chillers but at $2600.00 no way. Would running the Polaris fountain help, other than running the pH up? Run the filter more at night? I would really like to cool off and not warm up when getting in.
Rick

[Phillbo]

Do you have an aerator? I run my pump at night with the aerator on.

[KurtV]

If you're in a hot, humid area like the SE U.S,, there's not much you can do. If you have solar heat, running it at night so that the panels radiate heat into the (slightly) cooler night air will help some. Likewise, some kind of fountain (as Philbo suggested) will produce some evaporative cooling, but with high humidity there'll be very limited benefit.

If you're in an arid climate a fountain will help quite a bit.

[matt4x4]

1. Run your pump at night only, this will move the water around at the surface allowing it to cool off better than just leaving a still non moving layer exposed.

2. If you are able to tie into your system easily enough near the pump using a couple of bypass valves, get a 100 foot coil of the black relatively stiff 2" hose and redirect your water through that while running the pump over night, this will act like a cheap low grade solar panel and do a heat exchange through the exposed plastic with the cooler surrounding air - you can leave the hose in a coil, so the area you would require for this is approximately 4'x4' near your equipment pad/shed.

[Spensar]

2. If you are able to tie into your system easily enough near the pump using a couple of bypass valves, get a 100 foot coil of the black relatively stiff 2" hose and redirect your water through that while running the pump over night, this will act like a cheap low grade solar panel and do a heat exchange through the exposed plastic with the cooler surrounding air - you can leave the hose in a coil, so the area you would require for this is approximately 4'x4' near your equipment pad/shed.

When I read this, I wondered about burying the coil if you were doing some construction such as building a shed.

[duraleigh]

If you have about an hour to build it, this will work:

http://www.troublefreepools.com/viewtopic.php?t=2501

[rlanthony@excite.com]

I hooked the polaris fountain up last night. I run the filter from 4-10 PM and from 4-10 AM. The temp last night was 92. I will check this evening to see if any cooler. I will change the filter times to run longer at night to get some surface and evaporative cooling with the fountain. Don't have an aerator. We'll see.
Rick

[joelq]

Rick - I'd be very interested in whether or not the Polaris fountain helps. I live in the Dallas-area and as you know, we're going through a spell of 100+ degree days. The pool temp was 94F when I got in at 8pm last night. I think 94's just a little too warm.

Let us know how it works out for you!

[aylad]

I live in the Dallas-area and as you know, we're going through a spell of 100+ degree days. The pool temp was 94F when I got in at 8pm last night. I think 94's just a little too warm.



I'm near Shreveport, so we're getting the same weather as you Dallas folks. I've been running my pump only at night and so far have managed to maintain no higher than 90 degree water. It helps too that the kids turn the slide on while they're swimming--the introduction of that much water actually will cool the pool by a couple of degrees over a couple hour period.

Janet

[cleancloths]

well you could always pump some water out and refill, I'm sure the tap water is cooler than the pool.

[aylad]

well you could always pump some water out and refill, I'm sure the tap water is cooler than the pool.

It would work, but in some areas (I believe Dallas is one), they have water restrictions that would make draining/refilling a problem. Also, depending on your fill water composition, draining and refilling can really mess with your chemical balance.

Janet

[Watermom]

And, with the high temps that much of the country is having, it would only be a matter of days until the water temp was back up there again. So, it could be a short lived fix.

[matt4x4]

Well, there's full proof that Ben is totally AWOL - Duraleigh's post wouldn't have lasted more than 5 seconds and Duraleigh would now be permanently banned from Poolforum even though he has given years of insightful and extremely helpful advice to many a lost soul on this forum.

One thing that keeps coming to my mind about using a fountain is loss of water to evaporation - bearable if you have a water source to replenish from, not so bearable when you have to pay to truck your water in.

Burrying the hose would definitely help, however, in climates with frost (where hot water problems would likely be less prominent), it may cause an issue when it comes to draining the hose at year's end.

[sammm]

One thing that keeps coming to my mind about using a fountain is loss of water to evaporation -

Wouldn't it also drive up PH levels?

[matt4x4]

Actually, aerating will lower your pH, but yes, it will have some effect on your water - however, raising your pH is easier than lowering it - simply add borax.

[KurtV]

Actually, aerating will lower your pH, but yes, it will have some effect on your water - however, raising your pH is easier than lowering it - simply add borax.

Aerating will raise pH but without raising alkalinity (much). So the end result, after adding acid to lower your pH again, will be lower alkalinity.

[duraleigh]

Matt and Kurt,

I have been pleasantly surprised at how little water is lost to evaporation. Over the 3-day period I just completed, I lost little more than 3/4". In this heat, I would expect 1/4" daily anyway, so it appears the extra evaporation is pretty minimal.

Secondly, I can't give really valid data on pH because my stupid pool wants to raise pH all on it's own. It has done this for the five years I've had it.....don't know why. I typically add acid about weekly and I supect I've had to add a little more because of the aeration (I keep sloppy data) but it's not anywhere near double....probably more like 25%. I need to check Alk but haven't done so yet.

Lastly, I agree with Kurt that it should be pretty inneffective in high RH. When the temps get in the upper 90's, it's pretty hard to get RH much above 50% in midday here so that's primarily when I run it.

All in all, I would rate it right up there with Ben's kit as the best money I ever spent on my pool.

[matt4x4]

oops - sorry ! Don't know what I was thinking there except that maybe I was in need of another coffee!
A fountain is something I can't do simply because I can't afford 1/4" a day, heck - I can't afford 1mm a day!
My solar blanket is on unless we swim, if the pool gets too hot I just change my timer to run at night and keep the solar panels on - tend to be able to drop 5 degrees that way

[KurtV]

oops - sorry ! Don't know what I was thinking there except that maybe I was in need of another coffee!

Happens to us all.

[rlanthony@excite.com]

We've had clouds and cooler temps the last couple of days. So not much solar heat getting to the pool. When it was sunny I checked the temps it went from 92 to 89. Not much cooler. I will check the ph and alk this weekend to see if it is changing. I did run across a comercial mister device I'll see if I can find it again and post a link. It seems to be very similer to the device posted, but prebuilt. It was about 29.00 and hooked up to an eyeball socket. Compared to the forced air fan type at 2600.00 I think it may be worth a try. I have notice some more rapid water loss, not much but just about 10% more than normal for this time of year. Thanks for the input.
Rick

[brent.roberts]

Contrary to Matt's suggestion of running the pump at night to mix the water I would suggest that maybe the opposite would work.

If the water is more or less stagnant, the hottest water will rise to the top. You can ofter feel this when you swim in stagnant water. Colder at the bottom.

So if you want to lose heat, maybe you should let it rise to the surface and cause more evaporation for cooling. Everyone I know says the greatest loss of heat when you're trying to get a pool warmer, is off the surface.