DIY swimming pool cooler.  by Dave7F
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Build a mechanically drafted, counter-flow cooling tower for your swimming pool. These would be especially useful to people living in gulf coast states and the SW deserts.

For more detailed instructions: DIY Pool Cooler
 
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Step 1: Obtain or build some kind of "tower".

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First you will need a "tower". Pictured are a couple of options we have used. The first was made from a couple of HDPE barrels. The second is made from PVC pipe, fittings, and corrugated roofing material. Your tower will need to have some sort of catch basin at the bottom, and area for fill material in the center, an area for a water sprayer systems, and finally you'll need a fan that fits the top.

Learn more at: www.davidwilbur.com
HotinDallas says: Feb 21, 2012. 7:32 AM
Great idea Dave! I did find a small product that looks great and worked amazing! Check out www.swimminginbathwater.com. I purchased these and ran them through the summer. In Dallas we had consistent 105+ degree days and the pool remained at 86 degrees!
kstanley4 says: Jul 27, 2011. 8:06 PM
I also live in Dallas my pool temp 93 it feels like bathwater.Great ideal !!! I was thinking of a tower letting the water run down pine slats with the tower open allowing the wind to be your evaporating fan..??do you think that would work??
cmorris12 says: Jul 20, 2011. 5:32 PM
looks like you turn the fan down ..... blowing over the water tricling across the fillers(coils)... in that your making a radiator ( some what ) right.
Bartboy says: Jul 4, 2009. 7:07 PM
So it cools the pool? lol
Dave7F (author) says: Jul 6, 2009. 11:59 AM
It cools the pool and in turn, cools me! I am just about to hook it up and run it for the a third season, with some minor modifications to improve efficiency (fan is now integrated into the barrel to remove nearly all parts that could rust, larger pipes for better water flow, etc.),. If I get around to it, I will post some pictures of the current version.
Bartboy says: Jul 7, 2009. 11:41 AM
I've never been somewhere where the pool was too warm...
james1913 says: Aug 18, 2010. 3:11 PM
Guess you haven't been to Dallas after months of 90 degrees.
Bartboy says: Aug 19, 2010. 10:08 PM
Nope. Although, it was 110 in alberta where I'm visiting currently.
cowscankill says: Jun 22, 2010. 2:39 PM
LOL. When I walk into my pool, my body temperature goes up.
enomis1971 says: Jul 9, 2009. 2:26 PM
You should live in South Louisiana.....
Bartboy says: Jul 9, 2009. 5:02 PM
Mmmmmm...... hot sauce Canada is nice...:P
Redgerr says: Jun 23, 2010. 11:52 AM
im with Bartboy, i have never heard of one of these however it seems like it would work, very cool
Bartboy says: Jun 23, 2010. 1:58 PM
Well, I might use it in my house in Ontario, but I don't have a pool there. In Canada, we pay a fortune for pool heaters...
Redgerr says: Jun 28, 2010. 9:54 AM
pool heaters is where its at, expencive.. but warm none the less
mikewrobel says: Jul 5, 2010. 6:51 AM
I assume the fan blows up (based on some other internet research)?
harry88 says: Jul 2, 2010. 10:43 AM
you could do the reverse with a metal jug and your old baseboard heaters
miiwii3 says: Jun 26, 2010. 2:14 PM
if only this worked in reverse...
Tray says: May 14, 2010. 4:26 PM
Im going to give this a shot, in a smaller size for my worm hotel.   Composting worms slow down when they get too warm.  There is another Ible that details building an ice chest based worm hotel that is plumbed with cooling tubes fed from an iced water bucket.  This system would eliminate the need to periodically fill a feed bucket with ice.  Run all the pumps off of a battery that is solar charged, and viola.  COOL IBLE!!
TrPPnN says: Apr 14, 2010. 6:20 PM
Hahaha... heater?  daniel... here in the desert, we can't turn off the sun when we want... can you? if you can... you've got to show me how... perhaps write an instructable!
teslafan100 says: Mar 10, 2010. 6:45 PM
nice!
Danny_Payne says: Jan 24, 2010. 10:08 AM
 cant you just turn the heater down? that way, you will save energy!
Dave7F (author) says: Jun 23, 2008. 11:59 PM
It occurred to me that this, or a smaller version, might be useful to the water cooled CPU crowd. If you live in a dry climate, it would act as a humidifier for your computer room/office keeping static electricity down at the same time....naah, nobody out there is crazy enough to build that.
kill-a-watt says: Dec 26, 2009. 7:08 PM
thermoelectric says: Mar 4, 2009. 1:25 AM
You would be suprised, Many people would be interested in that but the CPU wiuld most likely make too much heat for the cooler to disperse.
beehard44 says: Sep 26, 2009. 2:34 AM
PLAN B: Grab an ice maker and plug in the inlet to ur pool and put the ice outlet to your pool. Added feature: Millions of floating toys in your pool!!!!!!! PLAN C: Pour liquid Nitrogen to the water!!!
mr.incredible says: Sep 2, 2009. 5:42 AM
This is the same way commercial air conditioning works. Large buildings use cooling towers which is the same thing you have here. The water temp from the evaporation process gets down to 60 deg even in the hottest Florida heat.
Sandisk1duo says: Jul 8, 2009. 11:19 PM
well if it's 110 outside, and your pool temperature is 90, using your device would be warming the water
Dave7F (author) says: Jul 28, 2009. 12:35 PM
Actually, no. Please see my comment to crazyrog17.
crazyrog17 says: Jul 14, 2009. 8:00 AM
Could you clarify this a little bit? In the first few steps, explain the ambient wet bulb temperature for everyone and how it works to cool your pool. Did you pump the water into the barrel/sprayers? How? Is the fan blowing down into the barrel and being exhausted at the bottom or pulling up out of the barrel blowing out the top?
Dave7F (author) says: Jul 28, 2009. 12:34 PM
The easiest way to explain how it cools the pool (even if the water is 90 and the air is 110), is with an phenomenon many of us have probably experienced. If you are wet (even with 90 degree water), and you stand in the wind (even 110 degree wind), you will feel cold. This is because of the heat that is removed by the phase change as the water turns from liquid to vapor. In the case of the pool cooler, the wind is produced by the fan and the cooled water is returned to the pool. The water is pumped by the pool's normal pump. On many pools there is an aerator device (a simple sprayer nozzle). I removed this and installed a threaded reducer to allow attaching a short garden hose that feeds the sprayer assembly. The fan is blowing up and pulling air in at the bottom. The water is flowing down. The design is based on industrial "counter-flow" cooling towers.
hleon says: Jun 6, 2009. 12:43 PM
since it is evaporative, wouldn't the pool LOSE water, since it is being transferred to the air?
Dave7F (author) says: Jul 6, 2009. 11:53 AM
Yes it does, but only just enough to cool the water to the ambient wet bulb temperature. It is a small price to pay compared to not being able to cool myself in the pool.
altgrave says: May 29, 2009. 3:03 PM
i've never seen this idea, either, but i do recall lukewarm pools in new jersey. ugh! nicely done!
Patented says: Jun 25, 2008. 6:25 PM
Lol! In Canada we try to make our pool warmer!
bmlbytes says: Sep 4, 2008. 1:20 PM
I was thinking the same thing. Here in Minnesota, we make our pools warmer. Some people put hot tubs outside, so you can swim with the snow all around.
Dave7F (author) says: Jun 25, 2008. 10:59 PM
Living in a desert, I envy that!
T3hpw9ag3 says: Jun 27, 2008. 9:01 PM
You live in a desert? you must take great care of your lawn, it looks more green than my lawn in Illinois! anyway, nice instructable
Dave7F (author) says: Jun 28, 2008. 2:26 PM
That nice lawn is actually my brothers -- he lives in area that has flood irrigation. MY lawn is much smaller and only looks that nice after a couple of monsoon storms.... Anyway, Thanks!
jojo200517 says: Jul 4, 2008. 9:41 PM
That is pretty nice, I hope you washed the barrel out damn good, since I spy a corrosive placard. The pool place tossed in a cheapo fountain when we got ours, and occasionally I put it in when its horribly hot in the summer. It does seem to drop the temperature a few degrees.
looking4ideas says: Jul 4, 2008. 2:16 PM
My mom lives in Doha they have cooling and heating lol
curecreator says: Jul 2, 2008. 6:46 PM
Nice job with the pool cooler i live in a hot area but my pool is surrounded by evergreens
LinuxH4x0r says: Jun 28, 2008. 1:27 PM
Awesome!
Chefboy6382 says: Jun 22, 2008. 8:01 PM
very ingenious idea! I assume you are using a pool "jet" to carry the water into the sprayer to cool?
Dave7F (author) says: Jun 22, 2008. 9:18 PM
Thank you very much. If I am understanding correctly, a pool "jet" is another name for the "aerator". Yes, the gray hose connects the sprayer to where the pool "jet" was. I replaced it with a threaded reducer that fits a standard hose.
Chefboy6382 says: Jun 23, 2008. 1:44 PM
Thats pretty awesome cool. Thanks again and keep up the great work
SeamusDubh says: Jun 22, 2008. 11:41 PM
Wouldn't this increase the evaporation rate of your pool requiring you to fill it more often?
Dave7F (author) says: Jun 23, 2008. 10:04 AM
I have not attempted to measure this. I assume it does somewhat, but the design of the cooler is such that it will evaporate only enough water to reach the ambient wet bulb temperature. At that point the evaporation stops.
Mr. Rig It says: Jun 22, 2008. 11:02 PM
Cool idea. Pun intended. Isn't this the same thing/concept as a swamp cooler?
Dave7F (author) says: Jun 23, 2008. 10:01 AM
It is very similar, but this is designed to cool the water rather than the air. The air coming out the top is very warm and humid.
killerjackalope says: Jun 23, 2008. 5:58 AM
yeah evaporative cooling, though I think in this case the idea is to minimize evaporation to just enough to cool the water...
Dave7F (author) says: Jun 23, 2008. 10:02 AM
Exactly!
killerjackalope says: Jun 23, 2008. 10:01 AM
As a reverse system you for winter you could preheat water going to the heater using a set of black pipes as a solar water heater...
killerjackalope says: Jun 23, 2008. 5:57 AM
Nice one, really simple and useful project, it's also better than using active cooling, which probably doesn't achieve much better results...
=SMART= says: Jun 23, 2008. 2:16 AM
Nice , ive never seen a pool COOLER before :D
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