Pool water too WARM..

[Joe Fabeitz]

I've mastered all of the usual challenges associated with owning a in-ground swimming pool for the last 20 years, i.e. chemistry, opening / closing, etc. Of course, at the begining of the season, a heater helps to bring the temperature up to a comfortable range (83 - 86 degrees). Now, however, a succession of hot, sunny days in Georgia have increased the water temp. to

90 degrees which is not all that refreshing. Therefore, the problem herewith submitted is: How to lower the temp. of 24,000 gallons of water, 4 - 7 degrees, in a reasonable, economical way. BTW, using ice or dry ice is not feasible. Simple physics calculation show that rather large amounts would be required, (like 750 lbs. of ice). Also, please do not reply with a suggestion I visit the local pool store to ask advice or "Google" for info. I've exercised the obvious options and am looking for real solutions from clever, experienced folks like the ones that visit this NG.

Thanks in advance.

[Greg]

Do you have solar collectors? If so run them at night. That will radiate heat out if it is cooler than the pool water. The other option is evaporation. Make a waterfall or fountain. They sell floating fountains that connect to a return but you should be able to make one.

[Tom]

edge of the pool. It sprayed a fountain of water up into the air, falling back into the pool. Running that at night would always cool the pool from a

90+ temp back down to a comfortable mid 80's temp after a couple of days. Of course, you may have too much humidity in the air in Georgia for it to do the job and thus they may not be standard equipment there.

[SQLit]

I had a pool with 20k gallons and running the aerator on the side over night would cool the pool down for the next day. This worked even in the monsoons when the humidity gets pretty high. Dew points approaching mid 50 degrees F. The only problem with this is if the air is dirty the dirt ends up in the pool and the evaporation is pretty high causing more filling. A cooling tower if available would work, I have a friend that uses that method for cooling his pool. Pump the water thru the cooling tower and then turn on the fan if needed. Years ago I did an office building that had heat pumps that were cooled by a cooling tower. It was over 100 inside so the mechanical guy and I jumpered out the controls and let the tower run on low over night. The building was less than 80 degrees in the morning. The super yelled for an hour cause he thought we had turned on the compressors, When he found out what we had done he moved his office inside the building and we ran the tower on medium and high.

[SteveB]

Mine was hanging in the nineties. I have solar collectors. I run the filter from 3AM to noon, and turned the valve back on the solar manifold. Easy to keep it at 86. If yours doesn't have solar, I suggest you run it at night.

STeve

[Joe Fabeitz]

I tried running the water backward thru the solar collectors at night but the neighbors complained that the solar panels gave off too much light and were keeping them awake......

.;-) just a little engineering humor.

Seriously, you guys are awesome. I bought a pool fountain (about $50) from the local pool store and ran it overnight. Dropped the temp to 83 degrees.

Everyone's invited to my house this weekend for a beer or a Fabeitz-arita.

[J Kelly]

Thats a really low dew point. It was in the low 80's here yesterday (Iowa). When we get low 60's here we jump for joy.