attic heat exchangers for pool heating

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kjcole

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Jul 3, 2008
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Solon, Iowa
I haven't seen these discussed much. Do we have any users here? Since my attic is usually unbearable on sunny days, I'm intrigued by the thought of pumping my pool water up there and into a heat exchanger. Thought I'd seek info from experienced users before going this route vs solar panels.

Kelly
 
I've read through the web site for this one: http://www.solarattic.com/ But I have a problem with any company that won't list their prices in public. Either the price is insanely high or it varies depending on how badly they want to sell one that day. Makes me pretty skeptical...

The concept seems good, but my attic gets the hottest when I don't need the pool heated. :( I also would be concerned about having that much water flowing through my attic. A leak or break could flood the house out pretty badly if no one was home to notice it. :shock:
 
I am sure that it will work just fine. I however would not want water in my attic. Having been through a run away wash flood I could only imagine what broken pool pluming would do. I have all of my equipment in my garage. My pool is 10 degrees warmer than my neighbors pool at any given time. Yes, it gets real warm when I don't want it to. It does however warm up real quick in the spring.
 
Using a solar panel on the roof would be more efficient since such panels are typically 80% efficient and absorbing 90+% of the sun's energy (with the difference representing thermal losses back to the air). In our original solar installation, there was no panel over our bedroom and that was the hottest room in the house with sun on that part of the roof longer than any other area. So we had another panel added (over the bedroom) and it has made a HUGE difference in keeping the room cooler and a small improvement in keeping the pool water warmer. It was an unanticipated, but positive, side effect. Pulling the heat from the sun into the pool before it heats the roof, attic, and room below has worked out well.

On the hottest days, the solar turns off early as the pool reaches the desired temperature so the removal of heat stops at that point. So we don't get that maximum cooling on the hottest days (unless we want our pool to be 90+F).

Richard
 
I saw that Redneck heater a while ago when I thought about doing the same thing. I wonder how efficient it is? :idea:

Also, I agree with Chem Geek. Using solar panels o top of the roof has many advatages. First, if a solar panel breaks, it's ouside the house so nothing floods. Second, solar panels are cheaper to operate being that they don't need to run anyhing extra(compressor, fan motor). And third, Solar panels are more efficient as Chem Geek pointed out. They are probably cheaper to.

HTH,
Adam
 
kjcole said:
I haven't seen these discussed much. Do we have any users here? Since my attic is usually unbearable on sunny days, I'm intrigued by the thought of pumping my pool water up there and into a heat exchanger. Thought I'd seek info from experienced users before going this route vs solar panels.

Kelly
Click to expand...

You know your attic is hot because of the sun hitting the roof, right?

If you have solar panels, which are designed for the roof and keep the water outside of your house, your attic will be cooler. The solar panels will absorb the energy, therefore cooling your attic.

I would just go with solar panels and skip this unproven technology. Solar has been around for 30 years for pools (we had the FAFCO system in the 70's in Pennsylvania).

Just my opinion. :)
 

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As I stated in a previous post I work for SolarAttic however I do want to address one of the major concerns expressed in this forum. The potential of leaking and pumping thousands of gallons into the attic.

1st lets remember what causes a pool heater to fail in the first place.

Fossil Fuel Heaters ( Gas- LP ) use a flame burner heating up the coils and water to high temperatures eventually causing the coil to fail and leak. This typically will occur within 7-10 years.

Heat Pumps: contain a condenser which puts extremely high pressure and heat in the neighborhood of 150-180 degrees. That is why a quality heat pump will use a less efficient titanium core to hold up from continuous heat and pressure, otherwise a copper coil would quickly erode and start to leak within a couple of years.

The SolarAttic Pool Heaters have neither a flame burner or condenser the two main causes of pool heater failure.

Now lets talk pressure: Each and every coil that is put into our systems are tested at a continuos PSI of 450 if you were to put any other pool heater on the market through this test they would simply blow apart. The average inline plumbing pressure inside the SolarAttic pool heater is a continuous PSI of 20. To put that into perspective its about a 1/3 of the pressure than what is currently in your domestic water plumbing inside your walls.

So now you take out the burner, condenser, and pressure what else could go wrong and cause this system to leak? Some say plumbing itself could start leaking inside the attic. Ask any plumber the weakest point of any plumbing is the connections and joints in the plumbing lines. We recommend using a Schedule 40 flex pvc connected outside the overhang and run a continuous pipe to the heater in which it is connected inside the attic. This means no joint or connections in the attic that could leak over time. By connecting the pipe outside the attic if it dripped it would be outside or if it leaked at the connection of the heater it would sense the moisture and shut off. The controller would refuse to turn on the system protecting the home owner from possible leaking into the attic. FYI: Solar panels are prone to leak causing home damage that is why in most states you are required by the insurance company to carry additional coverage incase of the panels leak and damage the home.

To recap it all: Our systems do not have a flame burner, condenser, high PSI or have issues of leaking into the attic. Im do apologize for such a lengthy post but to my knowledge not one person in this forum contact me direct to discuss the potential of leaking into the attic so I brought the information here.

Now I put out the invite again if you still have concerns about our units just give me a call or shoot me a email and lets talk about it.

FYI: SolarAttic manufacturing alternative solar pool heaters for 23 years. Our pool heaters are 100% made in the USA and CSA certified.
 
James, re the solar attic.
Why don;t you make the coil of cupro-nickel or titanium to last longer? From what I understand it is built with a copper coil.
I have a salt water chlorinator and fear the copper will corrode. Can you shed some light on this?
Thanks
 
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