House heat pump to heat pool??

[gimp]

oops...I posted this in the "catch-all;" I guess that is the newbie in me!!

I have heard that it is possible to "vent" a heat pump to heat my inground pool. I have an electric furnace that is heat pump compatible and am considering a heat pump. If it would heat the pool as well it would be great! Anyone ever heard of this?

[imeduc]

I think you have it wrong here. No you cant tie your heat pump into the pool . They do make a heatpump heater for the pools and it works just for the pool to heat the water. You dont say where you are but I for sure would look into solar for the pool heater. I have on 3 pools now and it has worked like a top . After its in it dont cost anything. You have to run the pump to clean the pool so it heats the water at the same time. What you have now for the home I would go for a heatpump for sure. But it will do just the home.

ED

My mistakes dont define me they inform me.

[LazyPup]

Your electric furnace may be listed as "Heat Pump" compatible, but it is not a heat pump unless it has a specialized type of central Air unit installed as well. The term "heat pump compatible" is only informing you that the furnace cabinet has a space provided to install the air conditioning evaporator coil unit.

In order to understand the function of a heat pump it will be necessary to explain some basic theory of Air Conditioning.

All substances, with the exception of carbon dioxide and one other compound which eludes me at the moment have three states of matter, solid, liquid and gas. In the case of water we identify the three states as "ice" (solid), water (liquid) and steam (gas).

It is commonly believed that water boils at 212 deg.F, but in truth that is an incomplete statement. Water boils at 212deg.F at standard atmospheric pressure, however, in a deep vacuum water boils at 40 deg.F and at 50lbs pressure the boiling point of water is over 250deg.F which explains why the smaller 4 and 6 cylander auto engines require a pressure cap on the radiator.

In an air conditioning system liquid refrigerant enters a low pressure area in the evaporator. The refrigerant absorbs heat energy by boiling to a gas, in the same way that a pan of water absorbs heat as it boils to steam on your stove.

The heat laden low pressure gas then passes through the low pressure suction line to the compressor. The compressor then increases the pressure of the gas to a point where the liquid will condense back ot a liquid at normal ambient temperatures.

Most residential Air Conditioning systems use fans and air heat exhanger coils to build evaporators and condensers, however in heavy commercial and residential geothermal AC systems and Hot water recovery units they use a water cooled condensing system.

To make a water cooled condenser one line is built inside another. The refrigerant is passed through an inner line and water is passed through an outer line that surrounds the refrigerant line. The heat in the gaseous refrigerant is then absorbed by the water.

A heat pump is a variation of an Air conditioning system inwhich the direction of flow of the refrigerant can be reversed. During the cooling system, heat is absorbed from the air in the house, and released through the condensing unit outdoors. When the heat pump is set on Heat the function of the two coils reverses. The outdoor coil now becomes the evaporator section where heat is absorbed, and the indoor coil becomes the condensing section where that heat is released.

If you live in a northern climate where even mid summer temperatures of the swimming pool are a bit too cool for comfort you could gain some advantage by installing a heat recovery unit on the AC and cycling the pool water through the heat recovery unit, however, it would not suffice for heating a pool during winter months simply because you are not operating the Air Conditioning system.

I once worked maintenance in a Motel in Chicopee Massachusetts that has 6 large walk in coolers and freezers. The refrigeration plants for those refrigerators and freezers was equiped with water condensers and the excess heat from the refrigeration units was able to maintain an olypic size pool at a minimum of 60 deg. F throughout the entire winter.

[gimp]

Thanks so much for the info! I live in the Northwest. It doesn't get terribly cold, but not swimming weather in the winter. I knew about the furnace and heat pump compatibility thing, but really appreciate the information. This site is awesome! I have already referred several people to it.

[imeduc]

Might try and go to http://www.warmair.net to compare fuel cost there.

ED

My mistakes dont define me they inform me.