simple question: putting a 200w aquarium heater in the pool for a month. It would cost 14 bucks in electrical useage per month. Would it actually DO anything though.? 15k gallon IG plaster, no cover here in AZ.
Soooo.. Found an old Aquarium heater. Hmmmm
- Thread starter Agentbolt
- Start date
Agentbolt said:
Will it do something - sure, it will waste 14 bucks. Seriously, I doubt you would ever feel it in the slightest.
Maybe I should clarify, I'm not saying I expect this thing to turn my pool into a bath or anything, I'm just wondering if it would speed up the "opening" process to get the water to a swimmable temperature. 200w of heat 24/7 is still 200w of heat, it'd be slow as heck but maybe it'd shave a few days off the time it's going to take the pool to heat up. 'Twas just a theory. A dedicated water heater is kind of ridiculous to have when swimming season here is like 7-8 months long, not to mention really expensive, and we have no interest in swimming in the winter anyways. Those solar floaties you can throw in to warm it up faster don't seem to work, all the other options I'm seeing cost a minimum of 400-500 bucks, so I figured maybe this would do, you know, SOMETHING to help. I'm just throwing the little thing away if it doesn't work anyways.
That aquarium heater is designed to hold 50 - 100 gallons at temp. It cycles on and off and has a relatively low duty cycle. It wouldn't last long if on all the time.
Keep in mind that your pool light puts out about the same wattage (150?). Almost the same heat output and not much.
A few margaritas is the best way to get the water feeling warmer for a spring swim.
Keep in mind that your pool light puts out about the same wattage (150?). Almost the same heat output and not much.
A few margaritas is the best way to get the water feeling warmer for a spring swim.
Just a rough guess but nightime cooling and evaporation would very likely consume 50-100 times the amount of btu's the pool heater could put out.
I think poor ole' Mr Heater is headed for the trash bin.
I think poor ole' Mr Heater is headed for the trash bin.
491040 BTU added to the pool in a MONTH or 16368 in a day..
SO it WILL raise the temp 1 degree in one day assuming >>>>NO HEAT LOSS<<<
1 degree in 1 gallon of water = 1btu
1 watt = 3.41 btu. this is regardless of the source being light motion or resistance. in the end a watt is a watt
put a fan and a heater of same wattage in a perfectly sealed container the temp will raise the same amount in each
SO it WILL raise the temp 1 degree in one day assuming >>>>NO HEAT LOSS<<<
1 degree in 1 gallon of water = 1btu
1 watt = 3.41 btu. this is regardless of the source being light motion or resistance. in the end a watt is a watt
put a fan and a heater of same wattage in a perfectly sealed container the temp will raise the same amount in each
Before you toss it in the trash, let me plug freecycle.org ( http://www.freecycle.org ). It's sort of a grass-roots group that advocates getting excess or unwanted goods into the hands of folks that can use them. Generally, local groups form and set up email groups where people can post the things they want to get rid of, and others accept them. Details of where and when to come by and pick up the items are worked out, and everyone is happy. There is a Wake county group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WakeFreecycle/
We've both shared and gotten many many things with our local group. It beats trashing usable items, and has, at least for us, been a far, far better experience than "that list of Craig's".
We've both shared and gotten many many things with our local group. It beats trashing usable items, and has, at least for us, been a far, far better experience than "that list of Craig's".
Ohm_Boy said:
Sweet! That will certainly work. This idea sounded a LOT less stupid at 7 this morning incidentally.
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