cfherrman
TFP Guide
I get more sun than Ohio, and it would take a couple of days of full sun to go from 77 to 80
Thanks for the info! I'll have to look into that. I tried to keep the heater off today to get a baseline, but I knew I wanted to swim in the evening and caved. I watched the temp from 8:00 AM till noon and it stayed steady at 77 degrees. That's when I turned on the heater. The water was 86 degrees when I got home at 5:00 PM. I've mentioned before that the resolution of my WiFi thermometer isn't the greatest, but it was reporting 86 and I verified it to be accurate with an analog thermometer.If you want to do more calculations - you can use a weather underground PWS (Personal weather station near you or maybe add one in your backyard) and track INSOLATION (Incoming Solar Radiation) to calculate how much heat is gained from the sun. This is mine - PWS Dashboard | Weather Underground
$80 - heaterOut of curiosity, how much are you invested in this setup including plumbing, pumps, the heater, etc.
Great experiment btw!
I would make one recommendation to your amazing project. Rather then running the pool water through the heat exchanger of the heater, run the heated water through shell tube heat exchanger made for pool water. So you'll need 2 pumps. One to circulate from and to the heater and the other pump for the pool water. The two waters remain separate.It looks like today is going to be the last day of swimming for us this year. The forecast is calling for much cooler weather over the next 10 days. And even though this week has been hot, the shorter days and cooler nights have kept the water temperature under 80 degrees. I scheduled the heater to turn on this morning at 5:00am and the water went from 77 to 86 in 10 hours. And after solar energy is removed from the equation, I'm still getting the same .7 degree/hour rise from this heater as I did in May. The two D batteries that power the ignition have held up. This system has been more hands off than I thought it would. And controlling and monitoring it with my phone is my favorite part.
I still think it's absurd that this thread is in the "Agree to Disagree" part of the "All Things Not Pool Related" section on this forum. That's quite a disservice to so many people who would benefit from the things learned with this setup. It's not only viable, but I'd say it's advisable to anyone who's handy. If money doesn't grow on trees where you live and you don't own 3 vacation houses, or you bought a cheap pool and aren't about to spend twice that on a heater for it, why not give this a shot?
It looks like today is going to be the last day of swimming for us this year. The forecast is calling for much cooler weather over the next 10 days. And even though this week has been hot, the shorter days and cooler nights have kept the water temperature under 80 degrees. I scheduled the heater to turn on this morning at 5:00am and the water went from 77 to 86 in 10 hours. And after solar energy is removed from the equation, I'm still getting the same .7 degree/hour rise from this heater as I did in May. The two D batteries that power the ignition have held up. This system has been more hands off than I thought it would. And controlling and monitoring it with my phone is my favorite part.
I still think it's absurd that this thread is in the "Agree to Disagree" part of the "All Things Not Pool Related" section on this forum. That's quite a disservice to so many people who would benefit from the things learned with this setup. It's not only viable, but I'd say it's advisable to anyone who's handy. If money doesn't grow on trees where you live and you don't own 3 vacation houses, or you bought a cheap pool and aren't about to spend twice that on a heater for it, why not give this a shot?
I gave a lot of thought to that setup, but could not source a heat exchanger cheaply enough to make it feasible for me. Additionally, part of this experiment is a torture test of the water heater since so many people assume that pool water will destroy its heat exchanger in short order. And I certainly don't disagree with that hypothesis, but it is just that, a hypothesis, until tests like this are conducted. And with this water heater costing $80, it's fairly disposible should the pool water prevail against it. Obviously a second exchanger (and pump) would also add running costs and complexities to the system, and until I'm convinced it's necessary, I'll continue with the current, simpler setup.I would make one recommendation to your amazing project. Rather then running the pool water through the heat exchanger of the heater, run the heated water through shell tube heat exchanger made for pool water. So you'll need 2 pumps. One to circulate from and to the heater and the other pump for the pool water. The two waters remain separate.
Yes, it costs $.25/hour (gas and electricity combined) and achieves a .7 degree/hour rise in my 8,000-gallon pool.Have you costed this out just how much per running hour?