Anyone Have a Winter Pool Dome - Ameridome or Others?

Lol. I'd better be able to get wifi AND Bluetooth in there or I won't be able to play my "physiotherapy" set on spotify ;)

For Kim: temp report:I have an air temp sensor that I haven't installed yet, but I will tell you that yesterday it was unseasonably warm here for Oct. (mid sixties) outside and it was actually quite HOT inside before i put the solar cover back on. The water was 94, which I'm sure contributed ;)

The air blower cycles on and off according to an automated barometric switch, so without the dome air heater on, it stays quite comfortable. I havent run the dome air heater yet as I had a few connection issues to sort out today and I was beat.

But even when it dropped to below 40 last night, hubby and I had a nice swim ;) here's the chart showing average inside-dome differentials with and without the heater assembly...even without, you net a good 15 degrees or so:

image.jpg

Installation Notes for posterity/those who might consider a dome.

The MFG supplies a very detailed anchor drilling diagram and instructions are very thorough. Mine required drilling 47 anchors and was a custom size. Requires a 1/2-inch bit. I hired a friend who used to install pools do this part because anchor work is old hat to him and with my knee injury, I can't kneel ;)

After you've snapped chalk lines and drilled anchors on all your straight lines and before installing eyebolts, you unpack the dome, which is not unlike unpacking a liner...the directions on the box are critical and it takes a few peeps to float it into position without water logging.

The fastening system is to slip the aircraft cable in the vinyl-covered skirt of the dome into each eyebolt after prying the eyebolt open a bit. Eyebolts are every 3-feet on the straight runs, and vary on corner radius (eg 2 ft, 4 ft.). You cut through the vinyl sleeve at each location to do so.

Because of the cuts, we initially affixed only 4 points then inflated the dome to confirm that our position was centered. That way we could adjust a few problem areas with additional anchors if necessary, which ultimately, we did (we're up against a terrace so our footprint required a couple of 2' radiuses, which can be fussy.) Next, you drill the radius anchors. You then zip tie the cable inside the eyebolt to ensure it can not slip out in a wind condition, etc.

The eyebolts and anchors are readily available in the world, so I see why the mfg uses them, but I'd love it if they were instead turnbuckle or caribinger style clips...though same might not weather as well. The advantage of eyebolts with zip ties is it simplifies annual replacement. There are also plugs to preserve anchor wells from debris etc. for summer when the dome is down/stored.

The kit also ships with a vinyl repair kit and runs of vinyl in your colors and clear.

Overall, the mfg of the dome seems quite decent, with some njce design considerations such as easily replaceable zipper sections and a supplied replacement zipper. It comes with a 3 year warranty. High heat will degrade the vinyl faster, so mfg recommends taking dome down before full summer, and says those in northern climates typically get anywhere from 7-12 years.

The seams on the dome are mfg'd and sealed using radio frequency just like liners.
In my case, there are two spots on two ceiling seams that look a bit uneven to me and former pool guy, with a bit of light leak/translucence. We're a bit concerned these areas might be the first to go, so documented it, but since it appears to be air tight, and considering the install labor spent and late season, are disinclined to return it for evaluation at this point. The simplest fix may be to reinforce those two seam areas when the dome comes down in spring, since shipping the done was a $500 proposition ;). Pool pal says we should discuss this with mfg.

The blower is unbelievably quiet - pool pal was amazed by this.

I'll report more as we go along ;)
 
Good morning. Just a quick temp report for posterity.

Its 42 degrees this morning and I ran the pool heater and ergo dome air heater overnight from midnight til now (6:30 am).

Air inside the dome is 63 degrees, water is 94. Not bad considering pool cover is on.

I noticed yesterday that during a 45 min swim/vacuum with the cover half open and the heater and pump off, before connecting the dome air heater, that I gained 3 degrees inside the dome but lst less then a third of a degree on the water ;)
 
^sort of...leaving the l-zipper door open a little immediately activates the blower for air exchange. I've actually been surprised at the air quality so far...no trace of chloramines smell whatsoever...not sure on blower energy cost but since I'm running the pump less, not sure I care. The blower is 1/4 hp. Even if I ran I 24/7, I doubt it would use more energy than the pump but I might be all wet on that ;)

Running the air heater decreases fog dramatically (it runs via pool water diverted from return, then back into pool.) I was concerned this would act like a chiller temp wise but no real sign of problem so far in terms of energy use. Might be another story in winter ;)

Here's a pic from this am with air warmer running...you can see how much clearer it is:

image.jpg
 
^Fingers crossed. I'm sure there will be winter shenanigans and lessons learned ;)

For posterity: Predicted energy costs

My blower is 7.5 Amp, 115v, which translates to about 862 Watts per hour. A Michigan KWH is 14 cents. So my absolute max blower operation cost at 100% should be about $2.89/day. In reality, I'm hoping for less than half that, whch at $1.45, might be around $40ish per month. By running my pump only 8-10 hrs currently (only with heat to avoid chiller effect) in my case it offsets blower cost. This would not be true for those who run their pumps less than I do.

Gas cost will depend on run time required to maintain 94. Right now, inside dome on unseasonably warmer day, I lost less than 3 degrees yesterday. The dome air, by comparison, lost 12 degrees. My heater at 266btu should generate a degree an hour in theory at a MI gas cost of about $1.40 per degree. So if I can get back up to temp over night in 12 hours in colder mos., I'd be looking a $11-$16 in daily gas cost.

My goal is to operate in winter if possible at less cost than the new Audi allroad I might have otherwise bought ;)
 
First spot of trouble in paradise:
Last night I was about to go to bed and noticed dome seemed shorter...lol. Went out and the stupid WiOn remote control power stake had failed completely...not only offline, but completely dead.

The blower is 115 v, 7.5 Amp...the stake was rated for 125 V and 10 Amp...so there shouldn't have been a problem. Either the mfg makes junk OR the constant cycling of the blower with 1/4 hp motor exceeds the rated amp??? Shouldn't, but I have no other explanation.

May need to look into a Lutron controller for the outlet....but GFCI is supposed to be a bit spotty for RC. It will be a season of trial and error around here and automating dome deflation remotely might prove a fantasy ;) while I search for the answer I will leave blower connected old school ;)
 

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During startup, an electric motor can draw as much as 7 times rated amps for a second or so. Maybe the stake wasn't able to deal with that?

+1

You have to know the "breaking current" of a motor - literally the amps drawn when the shaft is locked from spinning. That's your initial surge current.

WiOn's are toys. They are not capable of contacting reactive loads. You're going to need heftier automation. I suggest you look at Intermatic to see what they have.
 
Thanks for the tips, guys! I was suspicious that may be the case but didnt have the background to be confident ;)

The GFCI can likely be tied in to the Intermatic pe653 that hasn't yet been installed...will see what my electrician friend recommends. I can't control the PE from iPhone when away, but the simpler solution may be to deflate dome if I'm gong to be out of country for a few days ;) I just wanted offsite control if high winds cranked up.
 
Update: Temp Monitoring - contributions welcome ;)

I've installed ambient weather sensors in the water, the dome (air), the blower cage near the exchanger, and my insulated box protecting the PVC pipes coming out of the pool house.

I'd previously been preserving water temp/reducing heat use by keeping the water still and only running the pump and heater from midnight to about 8 a.m., which was working brilliantly.

However, I'm contemplating the best way to keep the dome air heater working below its rated capability...I am supposed to blow out the line/exchanger any time it drops below freezing.

Friday night temps were 28 degrees and last night 33 degrees.

Going forward, I may have to keep water circulating in order to keep the exchanger temps above freezing. Alternately, I have set up a quick disconnect on the pool return to which the hose is attached, and i CAN just blow the line out while in the pool and reconnect the next morning. But I thnk my preference if I could manage the heatloss would be to keep the air warmer going...even though this has the effect of "chilling" one of my returns when the blower is blowing, which is about 50% of the time 24/7.

So yesterday, I left the pump running with the heater off.

This morning, at 33 degrees, here are my temps:

Water: 89...dropped from 94 in approx 16 hours (it will take me about 5 hours to get back to 94)
Air Dome Air ...54 degrees
Blower housing...54 degrees
Insulated pipe box...69 degrees

So with my hot water flowing, I'm getting about 20 degrees differential on the dome air, inside the blower, and a nice 36 degree differential in the thermax-insulated pipe box.

What I'm going to try to figure out is in below freezing temps, how long I could keep water still before the air blower exchanger risked freezing.

Any guesses or ways to calculate how long 90 degree water sitting still inside the unit would take to drop to freezing (with freezing air moving over it) would be welcome.

If I don't lose TOO much heat running the pump longer, I will just do that.

Two things are clear to me now:
1. Hubby's notion of creating a loop from our home boiler to run through the air blower exchanger is super idea because I'd never have to think about it again ;)

And
B. I really need to get my electric guy motivated to come out and install the Intermatic so I can set schedules and independently control items...eg manually turned swg off since there's ample FC, etc.
He's been swamped and is doing the work in trade in his off time.
 
Fun, mind blowing factoid:

Our gas bill reads to mid Oct for Nov. bill. Our Nov. bill was actually LESS than our May bill. We'd started using the solar cover Oct 1st, so half that bill was 94 degrees constant with air differentials as high as -60 and cover before the dome ;)
We used an average of 18 CCF per day over that period for a cost of $362.
 
MUSINGS on HEATLOSS RATE

In hoping to project best practices for extremely cold weather come jan-feb, ive been trying to figure out rate of heatloss.
I am also trying to work this out to know how long I've got in the case of a power outage before I'm in serious trouble. My equipment would be okay because I can use the gas stove on manual override to keep the pool house warm where its located. But I probably should look into having a quick way to reroute at least the pump with a small generator.

Right now, I lose about 4 degrees over 14 hours, or .28 of a degree. The air inside the dome is running between about 12 degrees warmer than outside at night and about 20 during day.

To calculate rate of loss, I believe you multiply air differential to pool water, multiply by square footage of surface, multiply x5 for BTUs of loss.

So with a 100 degree differential (eg -6) times 600 SF x 5 = 300,000 BTU.

It takes roughly 200,000 BTU (24,000 gallons x 8.35 lb per gallon=204,000 BTU ) to move my water temp 1 degree.

So on a -6 day, notwithstanding the insulating effect of a) the dome itself and b) my solar cover...in theory I would lose roughly half a degree more an hour than I could produce. Ergo, I couldn't keep up (heater is 266k btu x80% efficiency= 212,000 btu/hr max capability). (This also means that I can't really use much more than 2 CCF per hour even if I wanted to.;)

However, if the solar cover prevents 70% heatloss by evaporate, then perhaps I really wouldn't lose 300k btu...in which case I could chose to attempt to preserve heat, or drop to lower temp and await warmer temps, lower the dome cover for extra heat preservation, etc. Below-zero days only occur by the handful here, and are usually offset by a cluster of days in the 20s.

I realize few have cause to ponder these things, but I welcome any tips, calcs or creative ideas for deep freeze management in this uncharted territory ;)
 

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