heating a swimming pool

ddenny

my friend needs a new boiler for his home and also wants to use it to heat his built in swimming pool. anyone have experience with that? is he better off going to a pool installer or does anyone have experience with heating a swimming pool?

Solid_Fuel_Man

All the hydronic pool heating setups I've seen were piped as a zone. I don't think I'd oversize the boiler for it though. I'm assuming the pool would be drained in the winter.

I'd consider bringing pool water into an always heated space, or a glycol loop out to the pool area with plate HX on either end.

I've seen some older I stalls with Everhot "all copper" tanks heating the pool water basically as a high output indirect. I'd check with some pool people what holds up to the pool water.

hot_rod

You can find free online pool heater sizing guides. See what size is needed for the pool first.

http://poolheaterguide.com/what-size-heater-do-you-need.html


Then run a load calc for the home. unless it is a sizable home, I'll bet the pool requirement will be much larger.


http://www.usboiler.net/heat-loss-calculator.html

Gordy

Put it like this. A 24' diameter above ground needs 150k heater which will raise the pool temp 1/2 degree per hour. Some of my monthly pool heating therms were higher than heating 3400sf in the month of January.........depending on month, and solar activity.

Zman

Systems with pools where the owner is not super picky about pool water temps can be "deprioritized". This eliminates the need to combine both loads when sizing the boiler. The pool's temp may drop a few degrees but the house will never be cold.

JohnNY

Run some tubing under the blacktop in the driveway and let the sun heat your friend's pool.

Henry

We have done a number of pools using a titanium heat exchanger and a modcon. If salt is used, even a marine grade S/S flat plate hx will leak! This one is 400,000 BTU. It is run as a zone. Becareful of the flow rate of the pool pumps. Too much flow and there is insuficient heat transfer.

mknmike

I might be digging up old bones, but I’m researching and trying to design dream scenarios for a house I recently purchased with a pool.  On the list of possible enhancements include:
- upgrade cast iron natural gas boiler to modcon
- install heater in the garage, maybe AC making it finished space.  Natural gas line is being run to the garage.
- install a heating loop under the driveway to not have to shovel snow, but perhaps this could double as a pool water heater??  There’s a brick patio next to the pool that also has to be redone, so maybe loops go under this too.

I was thinking of buying an identical modcon for the house as the garage, so if we ever need parts, I could steal them from the other unit.  

Is a titanium heat exchanger required for a Bromine pool?  It gets chlorine shock occasionally.  

Zman

mknmike said:

I might be digging up old bones, but I’m researching and trying to design dream scenarios for a house I recently purchased with a pool.  On the list of possible enhancements include:
- upgrade cast iron natural gas boiler to modcon
- install heater in the garage, maybe AC making it finished space.  Natural gas line is being run to the garage.
- install a heating loop under the driveway to not have to shovel snow, but perhaps this could double as a pool water heater??  There’s a brick patio next to the pool that also has to be redone, so maybe loops go under this too.

I was thinking of buying an identical modcon for the house as the garage, so if we ever need parts, I could steal them from the other unit.  

Is a titanium heat exchanger required for a Bromine pool?  It gets chlorine shock occasionally.  

This would be better as a new post.