Need a inexpensive way to cool the pond water. Phoenix AZ current temp HOT!!

"~ janj JJsPond.us" wrote in message ...
,,.How about a fine mist of water.

Which reminds me. Isn't AZ where they came up with those fine misters above
a patio to keep it cool? Why not above and around the pond? ~ jan

Evaporative coolers work incredibly well in AZ and NM. Last summer I was out in AZ, it was about 110F outside before a rainstorm came in, within minutes the air temp was about 60f. Unfortunately I don't think an evaporative cooler would work well in cooling a pond, not the way you described anyways, the transfer of heat from water to air is not very good, so a lot of water would be wasted for minimal cooling value.

A better solution would be to run the water through some aluminum radiator coils, and to mist water over the radiator coils. Perhaps run a water line through the pond, before going to the sprinkler system, that would help, again minimally.

I think probably the most practical solution would be to cut the tops off of a couple 2 liter soda bottles, fill it with water, then just dump the ice into the pond every morning, which really won't help, assuming my math is correct.

Assuming 4L of ice, in a 90F (32C) 700 gal (2650 L) pond
heat taken up to convert ice to 0c water
4 kg x 334 (kJ.kg-1) = 1336 kJ
heat taken up to convert 0c water to ambient temp
4kg x 4.18 (kJ.kg-1. K-1)x 32 (º K) = 535.04 kJ
kJ absorbed = 1336 + 535 kJ = 1871

temp drop of pond
-1871 kJ = 2650kg x 4.18 (kJ.kg-1. K-1)x N(º K) = .16 ºC or about 3 ºF

Seems to me to be an awful lot of work for such minimal gains.

A better solution would be to run the water through some aluminum radiator coils,
and to mist water over the radiator coils. Perhaps run a water line through the pond,=
before going to the sprinkler system, that would help, again minimally.

If those aluminum radiator coils were buried somewhere cool, you'd have a heat
exchanger, and it would be effective. The challenge will be that the ground
gets pretty hot in AZ in summer. So finding that cool spot will be work, and
the digging will be deep.

C//

A quick Google on evaporative cooling turned up the following.
http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/...e_coolers.html

It states that evaporative cools in dry atmospher can cool the hot air
by as much as 30 degrees. The plus is that they use much less engery
that a AC unit.

It would seem one would need a evaporative cooler to chill air then an
air/water heat exchanger to cool the pond water. It sounds doable.

Up here in British Columbia I dont have to worry about the pond getting
too hot - especially with the summer we are having.

Courageous wrote:
A better solution would be to run the water through some aluminum radiator coils,
and to mist water over the radiator coils. Perhaps run a water line through the pond,=
before going to the sprinkler system, that would help, again minimally.


If those aluminum radiator coils were buried somewhere cool, you'd have a heat
exchanger, and it would be effective. The challenge will be that the ground
gets pretty hot in AZ in summer. So finding that cool spot will be work, and
the digging will be deep.

C//

Greg Cooper wrote:

A quick Google on evaporative cooling turned up the following.

http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/...e_coolers.html

It states that evaporative cools in dry atmospher can cool the hot air
by as much as 30 degrees. The plus is that they use much less engery
that a AC unit.

It would seem one would need a evaporative cooler to chill air then an
air/water heat exchanger to cool the pond water. It sounds doable.

Not necessarily. Any fountain is going to work as an evaporative cooling
mechanism - the finer the spray the more effective (but also, the more
water the pond loses by both evaporation and wind-drift).

If those aluminum radiator coils were buried somewhere cool, you'd have a
heat exchanger, and it would be effective. The challenge will be that the
ground gets pretty hot in AZ in summer. So finding that cool spot will be
work, and the digging will be deep.

Again, that's for a "perfect" solution, but you don't need refrigeration,
just enough cooling to keep the pond at a nice temperature. I don't know
Arizona, but you only need to be down a couple of feet to be significantly
cooler than daytime air. Basically, if you can get the heat exchanger into
any soil that stays under 80F, you should be cooling the water below the
danger zone for your fish.
--
derek

It would seem one would need a evaporative cooler to chill air then an
air/water heat exchanger to cool the pond water. It sounds doable.

I saw a recent DIY prototype of an evaporative cooler for an aquarium.
Basically, the guy created a tube into which he dropped water (from the
aqarium) as well as two blowers. Air and water blew down, into the
aquarium, where they bubbled and sloshed. It was very effective at
cooling his aquarium.

C//