A Cheap Pool Cooler for the end of Summer

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Rangeball,

You bet! The decking around the aerator stays wet and if there's much breeze at all, it will blow completely across the pool of, sometimes, completely out the other end! However, those are the tiniest drops. I would estimate the loss to be far less than 5%. The biggest issue is, sitting beside the pool, you sometimes get a chilly little misting from the blowing drops.

Mbar,

Great icons!! I wish I was as computer-smart as so many of you. Thanks also for the compliments. As I said before, I've gotten enough attention that I canceled that therapist appointment but it was premature. When Froggybabies mentioned the BOGO idea, I went into relapse! :shock: :shock:
 
Oops! Didn't mean to push you over the edge, there, Duraleigh! I can be a stinker like that sometimes; always looking for a bargain. I am also a little jealous; my husband much prefers golf and fishing to home/yard/pool projects. I have to get a little :rant: to get him to get stuff done sometimes. Oh, well; c'est la vie!

Take care!
 
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I made a very similar one last summer. We have a lot more shade this year at our new house so it hasn't been nearly as hot so I haven't had to get the cooler out, but it is getting a little warm here lately.

I used an oilfilter wrench (they're more pliers than wrench) to remove the eyeball.
 
Hey duraleigh, or anyone else, very interesting and effective device. I see you mostly use it as a cooler, which is super. For my need, I would need for it to be more of an aerator to ease my high TA issue. I plan on building something similar to this tomorrow. Now, for more of the aerator effect side of the device, would it not be better if after the nozzles rise above the surface, to 45 degree angle it back into the water. I'm thinking this would increase the aerator effect. Instead of spraying into the air and falling into the water, which I agree is great for cooling, direct the nozzles back into the water at an angle. Would that make it a more effective aerator?

I was thinking of attaching it to the auxiliary pump inlet, being as I won't need it with my next Aquabot. That why I won't need to be remove the eye socket. I left the auxiliary pump in my system in the event I may need it. I think this would be a perfect use of it.

Thanks to all,
Mister Mister
 
MrMr,

I agree that yours is a better plan for what your doing but for a different reason.

I think you would lose some of the effectiveness. The method of reducing T/A involves creating additional surface area so the CO2 can outgas. The additional surface area comes from the bubbles.

By shooting it into the air, you not only create more surface area by creating bubbles when the droplets return to the surface, but you also have more surface area by creating the droplets themselves.

However, it really is a VERY effective cooler....something you don't want this early in the season. For that reason, your idea of pointing the streams downward is probably a much better idea. A good plan may be to design the pvc in such a way that it has removable heads.....one set pointing down at 45 degress and the other pointing up so you could use it later as a cooler.
 

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I built a simple one that plugs into my Polaris socket. This way I do not need to mess with the eyeball sockets, but the con is I have to run the booster pump for it to work. Simple design, the most expensive part was the polaris socket. It ran be about 12 bucks, the rest I had around the house from the sprinkler project. I did have to tweak the size, number and position of the holes to make it work for the pool, hence the sleeves after the T.
 

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What's your temp been, duraleigh? Just curious since you are a couple more hours in-land than I am.
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As soon as the pool gets above 86 or so, we turn on the "cooler". It brings it back down around 84 pretty quick. Even in the close to 100 heat we had a couple of weeks ago, the pool never got above 86-87. I have it pointed underwater now. nightime temps in the 60's and it will honestly cool it down too much.

Crabboy, I like that design. Next time you fire that thing up, show us an "action" picture....I bet it's pretty cool.
 
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froggybabies said:
Love it! Can you make these a BOGO with the test kit? :wink:
Our pool temp hasn't gone below 91 for two weeks, I may have to see if I can rig something like this!

Take care!
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:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Sorry folk, I guess I buck the trend but I like 91 degrees, that's perfect for me.... :oops:

My kiddies would love one, I like the selling it with the Kit idea....
 
Threaded 1.5" out of the pool wall, Tee-d off 1.5" for about 2' both ways.

Then 3/4" for the four "uprights" (I used four 1.5 x 1.5 x .75 reducing Tee's to connect)

Capped off the uprights and drilled 1/4" hole in the top of each one.

No magic in that design...make it out of whatever you have. The four 1/4" holes seemed to work out pretty good as far as the height of the fountain....I would stay fairly close to that total surface area (.78 sq. in) so you can elevate the water as much as possible. If it doesn't shoot high enough, cap off one of your returns....no harm done....your psi will go up quite a bit, tho.
 
hairco,

hows this sound?

when you build your sprinkler, or fountain, or cooler, add an additional "leg" that will shoot straight into the pool, and put a VALVE on this leg so you can turn it off or on at any given time.

I guess you'll have to use a 3-way valve for it to turn the sprinker side off, or use two 2-way valves.

PVC ball valves are surprisingly inexpensive and build in flexibility into your accessories.

Good luck!

Steve
 

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