Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

2 Posts

Sep 27, 2006 06:32 am

Hi ...I'm trying to figure out if there is an inexpensive and practical way to net energy or better use out of an inground gunite swimming pool we don't use much anymore. Maybe like a giant energy store/sink with a heat-pump if the calculations would work. I don't necessarily need to use the pool for swimming anymore, but the ideal would be to make any modifications reversible yearly ... or at least in case we move one day and the new owners want to recover it's use. (Like if I needed to insulate it, line it with plastic, spray foam and install a pond liner, etc.) I also thought about building a greenhouse cover over it and using it like a giant cold-frame. My climate is North Alabama and the pool is ~20K gallons, 16'x32' with the long axis oriented North and South.
Any ideas are appreciated ....Thomas

Dean Westerfield

2 Posts

Sep 27, 2006 09:45 am

Re: Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

Thomas:
Are you a resident of Huntsville? I live in Huntsville. I have a situation similar to yours. Want to use a water well as an energy source for heat exchanger for forced air system. I have found a few suppliers of this type of product. For example see http://www.geomaxusa.com/.

Stay in touch.

Dean Westerfield

Tom M

462 Posts

Sep 27, 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

you may be able to use your pool for cooling. Dumping waste heat from a heat pump or ac cooling line, into the pool will cool your home and heat your pool at the same time. You may need to incorporate a heat exchanger though. If you want to use the pool to store heat for later use, try instead thinking of using the mass in your home to store heat. Storing heat in pool water is probably a waste of time since it will lose more heat to the surroundings than you can store.

Thomas R

2 Posts

Sep 28, 2006 07:31 am

Re: Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

Hi Dean, I live close by in Meridianville. I am a big fan of geothermal. Since both my HVAC units are fairly new, I was looking for something else ... maybe more "home-brew" than high tech. Do use your well water?

Dean Westerfield

2 Posts

Sep 28, 2006 01:25 pm

Re: Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

Thomas:
I don't use the well for anything at this point. I have an antique house. The well is over 100 years old and is quite large - perhaps 3 ft. diameter and 30 ft. deep. Clearly there is a lot of thermal energy locked up in that much water. I was also thinking of accessing the water for landscaping needs.

My HVAC is nearing the end of its useful life (20 years), so I am seriously considering a geothermal replacement.

Thomas Hardy

30 Posts

Oct 3, 2006 01:11 pm

Re: Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

Using an in-ground pool is a very efficient means of implementing a heat-pump system. We have done that very successfully in the past. During the summer, the heat pump will heat the pool water with the energy it takes out of your home. You probably will need a solar collector to actually cool the pool water at night if you find it gets too warm in mid-summer. In the winter, you can pull heat from the pool water. A good solar cover should be all you need to keep the system from freezing. We call this system a solar-geotherm hybrid and with the proper engineering and installation it is quite effective. In your climate this type of system should reduce your air conditioning by 10 - 30% (depending on electrical costs and average air temps) and could cut your heating bill in half (compated to fossil fuel heating).

A home-brew approach might be possible. Keep in mind that using pool water will require a cuprinickel heat exchanger to keep the chlorinated pool water out of the rest of the system. There are a host of other issues to consider as well (buiding a water/air heat exchanger to co-locate with your outdoor HVAC components, etc.). Hope this helps.

Tom Hardy, PE
HVTA, Inc.

Randy Allen

5 Posts

Oct 12, 2006 09:25 am

Re: Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

http://www.waterfurnace.com/content.aspx?section=residential&page=loop

I stumbled on this company that is an exhibitor at this year's Bluegrass Energy Expo in KY.

The illustration for the pond installation, though out of scale with regards to your application, would certainly seem to say that, appropriately scaled, your idea would definitely work. I'd say you'd have to do some math to figure out what you would get out of the system and how you could best use it, but seems to this armchair RE enthusiast that you could totally make your pool thing happen...

just my $.02...

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Using a pool to net energy instead of waste it.

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