Using the water in a pool to cool your growroom

[Underground]

It def is. And the opposite of that (water sprayed through air) is an even more effective method. And different liquids have different transfer abilities. Hence water/methanol injecting to create cooler intake temps on diesels. Anti freeze has a more difficult time than water disipating heat. But it reduces the freezing temps as well as increasing the boiling temps. If running a closed cooling system, a product called water wetter can be added to the water increasing it's efficiency. I was troubleshooting my buds hot tub this winter and running the air significantly reduced the temps.
If you really wanted to squeeze every last bit out of a system, just choosing the materials can make a difference. Most people will buy plastic pipe/tubing. If you were designing for highest possible efficiency, use plastic inside the space being treated. Plastic can not transfer the heat as well. This will keep the heated water from disipating much heat into the space, and keep the cooled water from warming.
Metal piping going to outside radiator would disipate some heat and reduce the cooling load. Not dramatically, but if you wanna squeeze every bit out.

 

[ttystikk]

Yeah, and it's these kinds of heat exchange scenarios I've been mentally running through for some time now. It's this line of thinking that led me to use chiller tech when others would just grab ac. It led me to use that chiller to do double duty to heat my house all winter- and to realize once and for all that heat energy is something to be used instead of dumped!

As I see it, the only downfall of my chiller is that I can't get hot water. Enter the heat pump, which sheds heat by heating water... and now the possibilities are endless! Hot water baseboard heat, heat plumbing under your sidewalk or driveway to melt snow, the obvious hot water for domestic use- and now, running a hot tub.

You see, heating a hot tub up and then running the jets to cool it looks completely innocuous to any observer. It is not conspicuous to infrared because hot tubs are supposed to be hot! At the very same time, the discerning and environmentally conscious indoor gardening enthusiast can simultaneously cool his grow and ease his- or her!- tired body. Hot tubs are expensive luxuries not only for their up front cost, but even more for the power needed to operate them. My tub is relatively small at seven feet square, and is an economy model; it only allows for half the jets to run at any given time, so the relatively small- at 4500 watts, it's still gonna eat a hole in your electric bill!- tub heater can keep up with the heat loss the tub jets cause.

That's a LOT of cooling potential, and it doesn't need cold weather to work, as a hot tub will still shed heat on a 90 degree day. This is the kind of energy redirection that multiplies efficiency and has the potential to drastically cut power bills.

It's time to take power consumption by support equipment seriously. Everyone focuses on the lights, but everything else uses power, and the biggest consumer is environmental control gear. Reducing their power consumption gives the same benefits as turning lights off, only you reap the savings while continuing to turn out product.

 

[Texas Kid]

Could just toss a big ass coil into your pool and circulate the water from your hydro system thru the coil in the pool to cool it before recirculating it back thru the system...

 

[ttystikk]

Could just toss a big ass coil into your pool and circulate the water from your hydro system thru the coil in the pool to cool it before recirculating it back thru the system...

This has been tried and unless the pool is drastically larger than the grow, it does not shed heat well enough to be an effective heat sink. That's why I asked the guy about 6 posts ago if he had set up a water fountain cooler for the backyard pool he was planning to use to cool his op.

On another thread, a guy is talking about using a mountain stream to cool his op, and THAT is genius! The difference is that since it's a stream, the heat is constantly carried off and replaced by more cold water.

 

[washburn4life]

Could just toss a big ass coil into your pool and circulate the water from your hydro system thru the coil in the pool to cool it before recirculating it back thru the system...

evapration of water cools more = spraying water through the air

 

[washburn4life]

This has been tried and unless the pool is drastically larger than the grow, it does not shed heat well enough to be an effective heat sink. That's why I asked the guy about 6 posts ago if he had set up a water fountain cooler for the backyard pool he was planning to use to cool his op.

On another thread, a guy is talking about using a mountain stream to cool his op, and THAT is genius! The difference is that since it's a stream, the heat is constantly carried off and replaced by more cold water.

I wasnt at my post! pun intended.

So Ive been super busy hard at work I gave up on the pool after I talked to a Air Conditioning guy who told me the pool is way to small and I need an acre size pool and the units are more money they standard AC units

 

[washburn4life]

I bought a 15 seer Goodman 3.5 ton A/C with 5kw heat strips, UV bulb, and HEPA filter and a 15 seer Goodman 5 ton A/C with 5kw, UV bulb and a electric air filter.

The UV bulbs were $200 the Electric air filters were $400 and Hepa filter $200 were a extra 1000 bucks. I hope this drasticly helps mold n mildew problems and yield = bottem line, Any one have any first had experiance with these products in grow rooms

all I need now is a HVAC tech think i got one

 

[washburn4life]

I would like to know more about these chillers you say there twice as efficent as standard AC and can run all winter long

 

[ttystikk]

I would like to know more about these chillers you say there twice as efficent as standard AC and can run all winter long

It's a little late now, you already bought AC. Check out hydro innovations online, they have a good explanation of how it works and they have modular components to help the user set up their spaces.

 

[washburn4life]

It's a little late now, you already bought AC. Check out hydro innovations online, they have a good explanation of how it works and they have modular components to help the user set up their spaces.

I am a contractor I am always doing jobs

 

[ttystikk]

I am a contractor I am always doing jobs

Well in that case, this is going to be a snap! Water lines, manifold and valves, that's it.

 

[ttystikk]

Here is how my thinking has evolved over the summer, for those still following this thread.

Having looked at heat pumps, it turns out they are not suitable for my purposes due to the fact that they have a reversing circuit, and they do not heat or chill water. They are more efficient than stand alone AC, however- and I honestly don't know how they would stack up to my chiller in terms of ultimate efficiency.

The device I desire is known as a 'water cooled process chiller', where the process of cooling the grow op, and the water cooling refers to the hot water jacket around the compressor section of the chiller unit. This heats water to as high as 160F, although I think 120F would be preferable, and allows one to use a similar system of hot water lines- no reason not to use Pex, they made it simple!- to send heat to anyplace one might like it; out to the greenhouse at night in the winter, heating fish ponds, heating the hot tub, the house, the hot water for domestic use. Run loops under the driveway and never shovel it again!

Meanwhile, both sides of the circuit can benefit; while the hot side heats a warm water fish pond to near swimming pool temperature in the winter, a cold water tank kept near 60F could keep cold water fish like trout, and in the winter could easily be used to augment the cooling of the cold side circuit. This cold water fish pond could even be used in a cold water chiller only scenario... hmmm...

 

[washburn4life]

That would be totaly RAD if you built a house from the ground up to be energy friendly grow house indoor with a greenhouse attached

 

[ttystikk]

That would be totaly RAD if you built a house from the ground up to be energy friendly grow house indoor with a greenhouse attached

I plan to do exactly this. When I'm finished, the house will pay ME to live there!

 

[ttystikk]

That would be totaly RAD if you built a house from the ground up to be energy friendly grow house indoor with a greenhouse attached

Okay, you can do some of this research yourself. Google fuel cells. They are already available with a hydrogen reformer and thus can be hooked up to your natural gas line. They are very expensive, but they pay for themselves by making more electricity than they cost in natural gas... and the payback is three years or less.