Heat Pump in Pool House - Air Circulation Best Practices?

[FloridaMan]

Hi all. I have a newly installed heat pump. It's in a partially walled off little pool house that also covers my equipment. It works great, but after doing some reading, it appears that this may not be very efficient as the covered Pavillion, even with plenty of air gets quite cold. My questions are as follows:

1. Is this actually causing my heat pump to work less efficiently?
2. If so, what are my options? My thought was to simply leave on opening in the back part of the fence to allow even more warm air to come in?
3. Can you redirect the exhaust? I've heard of people doing it but I'd rather not.

I suppose I could have them come out here again and put it outside if its a huge deal, but wanted to get the opinion of the experts on here. What would you do?

Followup related question. I get a lot of drainage from the condensation right to the floor. I know they make drainage kits but does anyone have any experience in either making their own or a clever system of diverting the water to where I want it to go (about five feet). What sucks is this thing only sits a few inches above the ground. I should have come to this forum before listening to the pool guys because I feel like this should be up higher.

 

[scottts]

Well, you are trying to suck a lot of heat out of the air to put it into the water. If the pump can't get hot air to it then its job is harder. That said I can tell you my unit in wide open air still very noticeably cools the air around it when it's running.

I can't see how much headspace there is above the unit or how open the area really is. from the picture so its hard to say. If it's heating enough then it's getting enough heat from the air into the pool. Where you'll see the effect is in your electric bill. If it has to work extra hard then the bill will be higher.

All that said, the manufacturer has a diagram in their manual that shows the recommended spacings around the unit Tropical Clearances

 

[FloridaMan]

Thanks, it meets all those requirements in the manual, I was just uncertain as to the efficiency and heat times. My apologies on the picture. It 's the same on all the other sides as in the back.

 

[scottts]

Seems like you're probably OK. If you see that the heat pump has trouble heating when your outside temps are low that might be an indication that improvement is possible, but if it's working, I'd leave it.

 

[swamprat69]

Measure the air temperature by the sides of heat pump when it is not running. Run the heat pump and again measure the air temperaure by the sides of the heat pump. If there is a significant difference between the air temperatures then you are losing some efficiency.

 

[swamprat69]

Installation instructions recommend 8 ft verticle clearance above top and 1 ft clearance between coil sides and walls

 

[revitup]

Your warranty could be affected if the clearances do not meet specs.

 

[FloridaMan]

Installation instructions recommend 8 ft verticle clearance above top and 1 ft clearance between coil sides and walls

My install manual does not say that. Link

 

[swamprat69]

Sorry, misread the labeling as is most cases the "front" of the unit would be the front of the exposed "coil" and the "back" of the unit would be the access panel with no exposed part of the "coil". I would still take temperatures with the unit both not running and and running to check if there is any cold air recirculation taking place which would effect both efficiency and low air temperature cutoff point if any.

 

[FloridaMan]

Sorry, misread the labeling as is most cases the "front" of the unit would be the front of the exposed "coil" and the "back" of the unit would be the access panel with no exposed part of the "coil". I would still take temperatures with the unit both not running and and running to check if there is any cold air recirculation taking place which would effect both efficiency and low air temperature cutoff point if any.

Thanks, will do.