Using your kitchen faucet to heat the pool

[NullQwerty]

It takes 8 BTU to raise a gallon of water 1 degree. Just as a SWAG, let's say the pool is at 80F, water heater is at 120F. Each gallon of water from the water heater then has 8X40=320 BTU more than the pool water. Divide that by the 24,000 gallons in the pool (ignoring the gallon added), and you will have .013333BTU, which would raise the pool temperature by around 1/1000th of a degree. The BTU content of the water in the heater starts dropping as soon as you start using it, so this is best case. Even with a 100 gallon tank, you are talking about raising the pool temp by only 1/100th of a degree. The cost would be astronomical too.

Pool heaters are on the order of 400,000 BTU per hour. You aren't in the same ballpark.

NERD ALERT!!! Just kidding. Thanks for the great response! Saved me time and money.

[Brock]

I swear I should patent this. But someone should make a matt that is black and would sink to the bottom of your pool. Like a solar cover, but that sinks and is black to absorb the sunlight. Then once the pool is as warm as you want it you take it out. It amazes me all the people that have really light blue or almost white colored pools and then wonder why they never warm up. A friend of ours is building a new pool, she originally wanted black pebble Tec but the dealer told her the pool would get to warm. We are in Wisconsin for crying out loud! For the 2 weeks it is really hot you could run a fountain, but for the other 12 weeks you need all the heat you can catch.

Maybe I am crazy and it wouldn't help.

[prh129]

What you describe is exactly what a solar heater does. Instead of sitting on the bottom of your pool it either sits on the ground or on a rack or on your roof and it hooks up to your pool pump. It heats the water as it passes through using the sun and using a solar blanket at night will help keep the heat in the pool.

Peter

[Brock]

I understand that it is the same thing as a solar heater, but it would be in the pool, cost no money to run, no pumps, no messing with plumbing and doesn't take up any more space then the pool already does.

[tmmort]

Interesting idea, a "black bottom pool". One problem, though, you have no way of turning it "off" and the pool might get too hot.

At my location, solar heating simply extends the season; that is, we're able to open sooner and close later. During the mid-summer, I usually have my solar off completely or else the pool gets way too hot.

[Brock]

Exactly, it would have to be a mat like material heavier then water, like a solar cover, once your pool is up to the temp you want you take it out rool it up and put it away.

[imfignewton]

Some one should come up with a crystal type structure as an addative to the plater finish that could change the color of the pool with the flip of a switch. That way you could have a black pool for heating in the cooler months and a white pool during the hot summer months. Just dreaming