Air conditioned Heat

Cabana Boy · Jul 13, 2007

Okay,

I read a post here about a guy who is using the hot air exhaust from his air conditioner to warm water that is being passed through a radiator.

I can't find that post (searched several terms), and I want to ask the guy some more questions...so hopefully he will see my call. :cop:

I talked with my brother-in-law about it (he knows HVAC and is mechanically inclined), and he could help me with it. I know it won't create a big rise in tempature, but my funds are limited and this seems like it will work.

Hello?!? :wave:

haze · Jul 14, 2007

I posted that idea some time ago on Poolforum as a way of capturing the heat of the A/C

But it was only a suggestion, no actual unit built.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=4416

I would imagine as long as you place the radiator on top of the condenser and pipe water through it, you would capture the heat. I suggested wiring a circulation pump to the condenser fan so it only runs when then A/C unit was exhausting heat.

Cabana Boy · Jul 15, 2007

Thanks Haze! :goodjob:

Michael Silvester · Jul 15, 2007

That's a pretty neat idea!

Cant say I've ever heard of
that one before.

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

civicturbo · Apr 18, 2011

I see that the last post is from 2007 but it came up in my search's today so for added data in this thread I'll drop in here. These guys will do what the original poster was getting at http://toad.net/~jsmeenen/pool/ I talked to the guy on the phone, very knowledgable.

JasonLion · Apr 18, 2011

This kind of system can work, but the amount of heat you get compared to the investment is low. The swimming pool needs huge amounts of heat in the spring and fall, when your air conditioning is not working very hard, if at all, and the pool rarely needs heat in mid-summer when the air conditioning is really working hard and has lots of heat to give.

civicturbo · Jul 8, 2011

JasonLion said:
This kind of system can work, but the amount of heat you get compared to the investment is low. The swimming pool needs huge amounts of heat in the spring and fall, when your air conditioning is not working very hard, if at all, and the pool rarely needs heat in mid-summer when the air conditioning is really working hard and has lots of heat to give.

that might be true for some about the temp but not for us, we find that last year when the po was 88 deg it was Perfect! felt awesome! the pool is only up to 84 right now and has been alot cooler than that over the last 6 weeks since openeing it for the season. the cover is huge and takes alot of effort to move so it stays off unless the water gets really chilly. the overnights here can be quite a drop from the day temps and I noticed that the pool likes to hold it's temp to whAt ever he overnight low was. So I could have really used the heat the last 6 weeks. the AC has been keep between 80-89 in the house and has still been running alot I would say 45 mins of every hour! there on ( we have one per floor) so I would have love that heat go into my pool instead. these setups can help the efficiency of the AC soo much that the A coil needs to be upgraded to a larger one over stock because of iceing. I spoke with a tech at GandS mech. for about an hour. He was very knowlegable and actually incouraged me to get the tools (about $600 worth) and do it myself! I liked that I'm a diyer that's why I come here.
when I have the money I'm going to do this, I'm currently designing the control circuit that would tie an AC unit or two into a pool pump and automate the whole process with saftys