Can Boiler Mate heat swimming pool?

[Rory]

We got a home equity loan last summer and my wife's share went for a swimming pool, while mine went for the Tarm and install. Does that seem fair?
Anyways, I told her that we could probably heat the pool with this thing, and she hasn't forgotten. This morning we were discussing the tail end of the cleanup plumbing when I mentioned that we'd be freeing up a zone when we removed the Boiler Mate that used to make our domestic hot water, and she asked if we could use that zone to heat the pool. I took the concept a bit further and wondered if we couldn't heat the pool water with the Boiler Mate - saving the expense of buying a flat plate heat exchanger. I imagine the biggest issue would be whether the internals of the Boiler Mate could stand up to chlorinated water.

Any thoughts?

 

[2.beans]

the pool water will kill the inside of the boiler unless its stainless. then in turn should make your pool have a nice orange tint to it. id sell the old boiler and buy a hx and use your tarm.

 

[steam man]

I used a shell and tube stainless HX as a zone off my boiler for my pool. It works great. Heats about 1 deg+/hr for a 26000 gallon pool.

Mike

 

[BrownianHeatingTech]

We got a home equity loan last summer and my wife's share went for a swimming pool, while mine went for the Tarm and install. Does that seem fair?
Anyways, I told her that we could probably heat the pool with this thing, and she hasn't forgotten. This morning we were discussing the tail end of the cleanup plumbing when I mentioned that we'd be freeing up a zone when we removed the Boiler Mate that used to make our domestic hot water, and she asked if we could use that zone to heat the pool. I took the concept a bit further and wondered if we couldn't heat the pool water with the Boiler Mate - saving the expense of buying a flat plate heat exchanger. I imagine the biggest issue would be whether the internals of the Boiler Mate could stand up to chlorinated water.

Any thoughts?

I would suggest calling Amtrol and finding out what they say. I know SuperStor has an indirect that is used for pool heating, so the concept itself is possible, but you would need to check with the manufacturer for the details of whether that particular product is usable.

the pool water will kill the inside of the boiler unless its stainless. then in turn should make your pool have a nice orange tint to it. id sell the old boiler and buy a hx and use your tarm.

BoilerMate is a brand of indirect water heater, so he wouldn't be running pool water through his boiler.

Joe

 

[tom in maine]

I can't remember, but the if the Amtrol hx is cupro-nickle, you could probably get away with it.

 

[DaveBP]

You need to be careful about flat plate heat exchangers, too. Some models are brazed together with materials that don't hold up to chlorine. I would stay away from any that didn't specifically say they were rated for chlorinated pool water. That might eliminate many on Ebay.

 

[BrownianHeatingTech]

The other issue is the temperature being achieved. If you heat the water to a too-high temperature, within the heat exchanger, then you can "cook out" the chlorine into a gas, leading to much-quicker corrosion.

That's important because a lot of setups with plate heat exchangers for pools flow a fraction of the water through the PHE, but heat it much hotter (so it dilutes back down to the right temp, once it mixes back with the main flow). If you go too hot, the chlorine can be a major issue, so a larger PHE with less temperature-rise is the way to go, when using that sort of setup.

When using an indirect tank, you need to be aware of the same issue.

Joe

 

[2.beans]

I used a shell and tube stainless HX as a zone off my boiler for my pool. It works great. Heats about 1 deg+/hr for a 26000 gallon pool.

Mike

what is the "shell"? i want to heat my pool this year as well.

 

[steam man]

I used a shell and tube stainless HX as a zone off my boiler for my pool. It works great. Heats about 1 deg+/hr for a 26000 gallon pool.

Mike

what is the "shell"? i want to heat my pool this year as well.

It is a 316 stainless "tube and shell" style HX that is used on pools. It has a 1 1/2" ss coiled tube through a shell. The shell side is heating medium and the tube side is the pool water. They allow for large amounts of flow at a low pressure drop. Mine is separate from the main pool filter system. I use a 1 hp pool pump to go through a solar hx exhanger, a boiler (wood or oil) hx exchanger and a large cartridge filter. I get about 40gpm pool water through everything and then heat that. I use a 300,000 btu rated HX for the boiler water side on a 26,500 gal pool. Elevated chlorine levels can be a problem with SS but I watch that and haven't had a problem.

Mike