Water flow, a quick question

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dazzst
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Water flow, a quick question

Postby dazzst » Sat 28 Jul, 2012 14:49

Hi all,

I have an Intex 15' above ground circular pool which I have added a 9kW heater and decent filter pump. The question I have is that a friend of mine has a 12' permanent pool and his water return from the heater is lower than the intake whereas my setup is the reverse. His heater which is the same as mine is set to 32 degrees celcuis and his pool is like a bath. Mine is set slightly higher but doesn't seem to get above 29 degrees which is why I'm questioning whether I should have the return flow lower.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Daz


TSH Tech

Water flow, a quick question

Postby TSH Tech » Sat 28 Jul, 2012 21:55

Your friend is wise.

Water moving though a heater a leisurely pace will absorb more heat than if it is shot through the heater at full speed.
dazzst
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Joined: Sat 28 Jul, 2012 14:42

Water flow, a quick question

Postby dazzst » Sun 29 Jul, 2012 04:12

Thanks but I think you mis-read my post. I simply wanted to know whether the intake to the pump should be from the high or low side of the Intex pool
czechmate
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My Pool: 16 x 32 gunite21000 gal., Diamond Brite Blue, Swimquip XL pump, DE36
Location: Texas

Water flow, a quick question

Postby czechmate » Sun 29 Jul, 2012 12:26

TSH Tech wrote:Your friend is wise.

Water moving though a heater a leisurely pace will absorb more heat than if it is shot through the heater at full speed.

Your comment is totally of base, Sir.
Heater have clearly marked intake and output. There is a spring loaded by-pass that will let about 75% of water volume to by-pass the heater. If the water supply is connected backwards you will face 3 major problems:
1. the extreme pressure will slowly strip copper particles and deposit them in a pool, causing blue map like stains in the bottom of pool.
2. Your pool back pressure at the pump wiil be quite higher sowing the cleaning cycle dramatically and costing you extra money in eklectical bill or limited cleaning, if you use normal time 4-6 hr run.
3. Here is the worst one. Due to the restricted volume flow, in the winter the pool will start freezing from the skimmers out and in a few days even with pool running, the filter can, pumpcavity and heater coils will freeze. THIS IS NOT AN ASSUMPTION.
It happenned to me on the brand new pool in 1974 in Texas. Heater manifolds busted and it was a total loss.
Installation was done by a licensed plumber and Contractor refusd to warranty.
I discovered the error, since it was piped in copper, called the contactor and it was all replaced free!
TSH Tech

Water flow, a quick question

Postby TSH Tech » Sun 29 Jul, 2012 14:57

dazzst wrote:Thanks but I think you mis-read my post. I simply wanted to know whether the intake to the pump should be from the high or low side of the Intex pool


heh, got it, low meaning height, not water flow. Yes, pull the water from the lowest side of the pool to be heated. If you can envision a cross section of pool water with infrared thermal readings, you would see that warmer water stays toward the top and cold water stays toward the bottom. I hope this helps


czechmate wrote:Your comment is totally of base, Sir.


Strange, I believe you read into my comment a little too deeply. I still stand by my comment, but not under the guise of advocating backpressure to achieve restricted flow on pool equipment.

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