pool water and pex tubing

ryan_7

I have a customer that is installing a new in ground pool. He wants to install pex in the concrete walk around the pool, to use as a solar heater. Does anyone know if we can use pex tubing for this. And has anyone done this? If so how good does it work and any tips would be greatly appreciated.

RadPro_2

I've heard of people running tubing in concrete walk around pool. They say it can remove heat from the scorching walk and prevent the burnt foot syndrone, and put it into the pool water where the heat IS wanted.

I cant tell you if they used a heat exchanger or not. Im not sure I would run pool water thru the pex. Lets here from makers....

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John Ruhnke

Do not run pool water through the pex......

PEX and chlorine are not a good mix. The pipe won't last long. Even if the PEX is aproved for use in chlorinated water you still can't do it. The chlorine levels in a pool are much higher then in drinking water. Regular P.E. pipe would be a better choice.

The idea is a good one. Just use a heat exchanger to isolate the two different water types.

JR

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hr

I think a sidewalk

would offer a pretty low grade heat. Measure the temperature of a sidewalk on a hot sunny day to get an idea of temperatures you have to work with.

Next would be the square footage of walk available to be a collector.

Then you need to transfer the BTUs from the slab to the pool. I would suggest a heat exchanger as opposed to running pool water through the pex. You would need to consult with the pool pump manufacture or the pump curve to see how much extra capacity would be needed to flow through the pex. No doubt a bypass would need to be piped in to prevent running the pump off it's curve.

Plenty of swimming pool heat exchanger available on the market. Most as built with a grade of stainless steel to handle pool water chemistry.

Pex does have a CL (chlorine) listing. Contact the pex manufacture to see what those limits are.

Personally I would think a few swimming pool specfic collectors, and a solar pool cover would give you a lot more bang for your bucks.

Plenty of info and pricing as well as sizing info available if you "Google" swimming pool solar, etc.

hot rod

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