So "This Old House" has a short video on youtube about how you can hook up some kind of heat exchanger to take the heat running through your AC, run it through a heat exchanger that's hooked to your pool pump and "heat the pool for free and reduce your power bill". Y'all ever heard of this? Obviously it wouldn't work in the deep winter when the air isn't running, but here in Florida we run our air April-October (at least), so getting a couple of extra months of swimming and a reduction in power bill is appealing. But is this real life stuff?
A/C Heat Exchanger to Heat Pool?
- Thread starter dcjbhm
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 58,747
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
It is. There are couple threads on it here on the forum. It is called FPH Hotspot. Do a search of the forum. Select G for best results.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,492
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Hotspot FPH.
The main problem is finding an HVAC contractor knowledgeable enough (and willing) to do the installation as it requires setting up the Hotspot to redirect refrigerant through the new heat exchanger (there’s valves and controllers that need to be installed). You could also potentially void any existing manufacturers warranty on your A/C unit if it is still in force. It’s not a bad idea but it’s not mainstream yet so it’s very much an “at your own risk” installation. A few folks have had success with it in here and they definitely saw noticeable differences/improvements in their A/C performance.
The main problem is finding an HVAC contractor knowledgeable enough (and willing) to do the installation as it requires setting up the Hotspot to redirect refrigerant through the new heat exchanger (there’s valves and controllers that need to be installed). You could also potentially void any existing manufacturers warranty on your A/C unit if it is still in force. It’s not a bad idea but it’s not mainstream yet so it’s very much an “at your own risk” installation. A few folks have had success with it in here and they definitely saw noticeable differences/improvements in their A/C performance.
The concept has been used in Florida for decades to add heat to water heaters. It works quite well....but as mentioned the challenge is finding someone knowledgeable to make the installation and being willing to probably sacrificing the equipment warranty.