Making a pool chiller out of a chest freezer?

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flint8ball

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Jul 6, 2017
2
Yuma AZ
I thought that maybe this would be an option, but I've searched online and haven't found anything about it. I'm guessing probably because it won't work :confused:. I was thinking of using a chest freezer with a replacement thermostat that allows it to be controlled to a temp above freezing (that part is confirmed). Then cut a couple holes in it and coil return line coming from the filter in the freezer allowing the pool water to chill prior to exiting back into the pool. I figure I can coil 50' in a chest freezer, probably more). Would the water simply not be in the freezer long enough to make much difference? What if I filled the freezer with water to surround the pool return lines with cold water rather than air? Would I burn out my pump having all that return line? I live in AZ and just put in a smaller (9x18x52) above ground pool. I'm going to put a fountain on it and use some umbrellas, but I thought this freezer idea would make for a nice redneck pool chiller.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
 
Air is a lousy conductor of heat. You want to chill air then chill water with the air. Why? You would do better to cut away some plastic to expose the evaporator coils and build a tank around it to run the water through. For that matter, why not set the freezer up as a spillover system and just let it fill with pool water enough to submerge the evaporator before spilling out? A simple faucet or needle valve would let you regulate the flow so it doesn't overflow the top.
 
Welcome to TFP!

Sorry to say, not a chance. Chest freezer compressors run at about 1/100th the capacity of a pool heat exchanger. You will burn out the compressor before you even drop the pool temperature a single degree.

Just to put the math out there, you have about 5500 gallons, or 44,000 lbs of water. It takes 1 BTU to lower 1 pound of water 1 degree. A large chest freezer is about 800-1000 BTU/hr capacity, so at the higher end it would take 44 hours of continuous operation to drop your pool one degree. Running a fountain at night will lower the temperature more at a much lower cost in both materials and electricity.
 
What if you filled the freezer with water around the coils which should in turn freeze then run the water through the coil? This might get the maximum cooling effect but you would need a lot of coil inside the freezer to drop the temp enough. Just a guess
 
Darn you, Arizona. I've never thought to myself: "hmm... How do I make my pool colder?"

Maybe just fill up the freezer with water, Let it freeze solid overnight and drop giant ice cubes in? Don't think it will help much but it would look cool if you could get a freezer sized Ice cube in your pool.
 
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