Houston resident here, pool has been in mid 90s this summer after we refinished from white plaster to blue pebble sheen. Decided a chiller was necessary to enjoy swimming, but didn't want the high install/operating costs of a heat pump. One of my neighbors put the Glacier in and was super happy with it, so I decided to pull the trigger. Here's a brief overview of my DIY install with some notes, and I have a few questions at the end for the TFP community.
Apart from the sump pump pipe detaching from the bulkhead fitting during shipping (simple re-cement fix), install was a breeze. Jandy diverter valve + actuator (added after I took the pics) just past the filter, to the recommended 2" ball valve to control flow to the spray wands in the chiller. For the return, we had an existing 1-1/2" dedicated return line for an old pressure side cleaner that we no longer used, so I tied into that. Because it goes direct into the pool, no additional ball valve or diverter valve was necessary (not going back into the suction side of the pump). I also used unions at the chiller connections to make maintenance easier.
GPC-25 chiller was $2400 out the door, I probably spent another $500 for the pipe, fittings, pad, diverter valve, actuator, wire, conduit, etc. So just shy of $3k all in.
A few notes on things I did that differed from the "official guidance" of the manual:
QUESTIONS FOR TFP:
Apart from the sump pump pipe detaching from the bulkhead fitting during shipping (simple re-cement fix), install was a breeze. Jandy diverter valve + actuator (added after I took the pics) just past the filter, to the recommended 2" ball valve to control flow to the spray wands in the chiller. For the return, we had an existing 1-1/2" dedicated return line for an old pressure side cleaner that we no longer used, so I tied into that. Because it goes direct into the pool, no additional ball valve or diverter valve was necessary (not going back into the suction side of the pump). I also used unions at the chiller connections to make maintenance easier.
GPC-25 chiller was $2400 out the door, I probably spent another $500 for the pipe, fittings, pad, diverter valve, actuator, wire, conduit, etc. So just shy of $3k all in.
A few notes on things I did that differed from the "official guidance" of the manual:
- In the Glacier manual it says to NOT use a wall return, but that really did not make much sense to me from a thermodynamic point of view. The main goal should be to evenly distribute the cold water, right? I have the nozzle pointed to the middle of the pool.
- The return line is 1-1/2" not 2", but the sump pump is small enough that the difference in FOH is not relevant IMO.
- In the manual is says to use a 1" ball valve for the drain, but the thread is 3/4" so I just did a 3/4" valve. It doesn't take that long to drain.
- They recommend running the VS at "high speed" during operation, but obviously I want to minimize power usage when running at night. I found that my VS pump at 1200 could produce just enough pressure to "walk" the spray wands in the chiller, so I set that as the default chiller VS setting and fine tuned with the ball valve.
QUESTIONS FOR TFP:
- Does your chiller still work if running when ambient > water temp (ie evaporative cooling), or is it a simple heat exchanger?
- The manual mentioned nothing about bonding, but I always like to err on the side of caution when it comes to wiring safety. Neither the sump pump or the fan motor had bond wire lugs, so I decided to bond using the fan mounting cage (bonded to fan motor case, which is also bonded to the sump via connected grounds). Theoretically it makes sense to me but want to ask for your thoughts.
- The Glacier manual says that it can be fully automated using the solar VA, relay, and temp sensor settings (set to heat pump with chiller mode?). The sump would have to be wired direct (as I have it), so that basically the fan just turns off and on when you want to stop cooling. But I thought that with a solar setup the VA would also switch once the set point is reached to stop diverting water to the solar heater?
- First of all, can my old Aqualink PDA do a chiller mode? (See firmware below)
- If so, what is the logic for control? Basically I just want the system to stop cooling when the set point is reached, either by only deactivating the fan, or switching the VA to stop flow to the chiller too.
