Hot water...

[newpoolguyinmo]

Hi All,

Having one of the hottest Junes on record here, our pool water temp is now 90 degrees. The only way I know to lower the temp is to drain and refill which would mean starting over with balancing, adding more CYA, etc. Thought of trying to put in some block ice but don't know how well that might work. What does everyone else do to keep your pool water from feeling like a bath?

 

[duraleigh]

Hi, Dave,

This works and it's cheap!!

a-cheap-pool-cooler-for-the-end-of-summer-t2501.html?hilit=cheap pool

 

[bk406]

You "my pool is too hot" people are a little sickening. In New England, my heat pump still kicks on in the morning most days for at least a couple of hours

 

[britinusa]

My heat pump also runs for about 2 hours when I turn it on, mostly as my pool only gets 3 hours of sunlight a day!
I have 47 trees around our back yard!

 

[adauria]

Huh, I am definitely noticing temps in the low 90s here too... not exactly refreshing.

Do you think aerating with a pair of deck jets will help cool the pool as described in that other thread with aerators? Best to do day or at night? Does it increase the pH significantly?

Thanks!!

-Andrew

 

[MikeInTN]

Dave and Andrew,

Either build your own fountain like Duraleigh did, or you can buy one either online or from a pool store. They usually connect to your return via a plastic hose, or attach directly to your return. Run it at night, and you should see your water temps drop. I've been running mine at night, and I'm getting about a 6 degree temp drop overnight. You can run it during the daytime too if you'd like, although the temp drop won't be as much as overnight. Kind of refreshing to let the water rain down on you though during the day - you'll be surprised how much cooler the drops of water feel compared to the pool.

Or, if you have a solar heater connected to the pool, I've heard you can run that at night and cool the water as well.

edit: Yes, it will cause your pH to rise, but you can keep it in check with muriatic acid. This may lower your TA too (basically the same method to lower TA), so keep an eye on that too.

 

[orthofish]

I'm going to be using my deckjets to shoot my water up in the air. Water is 90 degrees. With my pump on high I can get quite a bit of elevation. Probably not as high as Dave's but high enough to get some cooling affect.

 

[duraleigh]

Lynn,

It's certainly worth a try but you may not be able to get the deck jets to produce drops of water rather than a steam. The smaller drops you can get, the more significant the cooling.

Is there any way you can attach a "nozzle" of some sort to produce a spray rather than a stream?

 

[adauria]

Thanks guys. I will experiment with deck jets and see how that goes before trying the fountain or to modify the jet spray. Running the pump overnight shouldn't be an issue either.

That, or just wait for the summer temps to really kick in here. I'm sure 91 degree pool water feels good when it's over 100 outside (until the water gets hotter)

-Andrew

 

[svenpup]

You "my pool is too hot" people are a little sickening. In New England, my heat pump still kicks on in the morning most days for at least a couple of hours

Why do you think I moved from RI to CA?

 

[Britmandogs]

:blah: :blah: :blah:

I was excited yeterday when the temp finally hit 80

 

[JohnT]

:blah: :blah: :blah:

I was excited yeterday when the temp finally hit 80

I'd be glad to ship you 6 degrees if you can figure out how to ship it.

 

[poolgirl22]

:blah: :blah: :blah:

I was excited yeterday when the temp finally hit 80

I'd be glad to ship you 6 degrees if you can figure out how to ship it.

And 6 more from me....this is crazy for JUNE!!!

 

[Britmandogs]

We're finally suppose to hit mid 80's for the next week or so, the kids thought the pool felt like a bath tub last night at 80, hopefully 85 is on its way...then I can finally get in.

 

[orthofish]

Lynn,

It's certainly worth a try but you may not be able to get the deck jets to produce drops of water rather than a steam. The smaller drops you can get, the more significant the cooling.

Is there any way you can attach a "nozzle" of some sort to produce a spray rather than a stream?

Hey Dave. I think if I aim them up in the air more I'll get drops. I was going to ask you though, I have 4 different patterns I can use, one being a mist. Could I use that and get more cooling, or would I get too much evaporation :?: I normally just use the 3 stream pattern with my pump on low and have the valves wide open. With pump on high I have to adjust them or else they shoot out into the yard

 

[duraleigh]

I considered making mine "mist", too. It would take a lot more holes to produce the kind of volume you need.

Eventually, I decided against it as I felt the water would blow out of the pool. (I still get some that doesn't make it back in if it's at all windy)

Anyway, the more water surface you can expose to the air, the more cooling you will experience. Misting would be great if you can move enough water volume and keep it in the pool. Both of those things might be hard to do, though.

 

[orthofish]

I've never tried the mist pattern with my deck jets, but I think I'm going to with all this heat we're having. I'll just swap out one of my jets and give it a try. Might be just the ticket If I like it maybe I'll keep 2 misting and the other 2 with the 3 streams. I'll let you know how it goes :-D

 

[newpoolguyinmo]

Thanks for the ideas. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one that didn't like bath water to swim in! I was going to build a fountain like Dave's in the picture out of PVC, but the threads on my return are in between 1-1/2" and 2" pipe threads. Any idea what that could be? Are all eyeball return collars a standard thread size?

I went ahead and ordered a fountain online and should get it next week. It said it would cool water temp by as much as 15 degrees which would be great. Will just have to keep an eye on pH and TA and adjust as needed.

Another person I talked to here said they froze one gallon water jugs and put several in their pool to drop the temp. That would work too and would not affect the chemical balance but maybe more hassle to carry them back and forth from the freezer to the pool, if you have a freezer big enough to hold that many. I think the fountain idea will be the simplest.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[lmm1845]

I just posted in another thread but we hit 97 degrees in the pool today I had already ordered two misters and received and installed them today. The fountain we tried last year did absolutely zip. If I can get 6 degrees overnight at least I'll start at 91, but I suspect I'll be right back up to 97 tomorrow afternoon.

Has anyone tried running the pump 24x7? Wondering if there would be enough cooling to make the extra cost to run it worthwhile....

 

[duraleigh]

Wondering if there would be enough cooling to make the extra cost to run it worthwhile....

I certainly think so. Typically, I only run mine during the day.

The evaporative process requires the temp/dewpoint spread to be reasonably wide to be effective. In other words, there's no evaporation if the humidity is 100%.

At night, the humidity approaches that 100% level and very little evaporation occurs. In the day, especially in the Southwest where there is no humidity, the water evaporates quite readily and that's where you transfer the heat out of the water.

Droplets of water from a fountain landing on you in the daytime heat will feel COLD. Evaporation makes the fountain/sprayer/cooler work....not temperature differential.