Commercial Pool Cooler

Update: We are now into our 4th pool season with these. We have a 27,000 gallon pool in Dallas. In July and August, the water temperature will rise to about 92 degrees if we don't use the cooling sprayers. With the sprayers, the pool stays around 82 degrees. We run 9 hours per night, from midnight to 9am. We have 5 return jets. We installed 2 of these coolers, and blocked the other 3 return jets. We have a variable flow pump, Pentair Intelliflo VSF, with the flow rate set high enough to make sure that water is coming out the top holes of the spray tower, and the spray from these top holes lands about 3 to 4 feet out into the pool. When we bought these spray towers, each one came with one screw plug to block a jet. A quick trip to the hardware store was needed to buy enough plugs to block the jets not connected to the 2 sprayers. A bit more info about our setup. We have an adjustable flow rate pump (Pentair VSF), this is more advanced than adjustable speed (RPM). Being able to set the flow rate makes it easy to dial in how hard to push water out of the sprayers as well as making sure the pool water is turned over enough times per day for cleaning/chlorination purposes. This pumps ability to keep a consistent flow rate is useful to maintain a consistent sprayer output even as the filter slowly builds up back pressure between cleanings. Our pool equipment is next to our bedroom window. To keep the pump noise down, we prefer to run the pump as slow as we can get away with. Slower pump = less noise. Another benefit of running slower is that pumps are much more energy efficient at lower speeds (slower speed = more gallons filtered per kwhr of electricity used). However, the cooling towers are more effective at higher flow rates where they spray farther through the air, causing more evaporative cooling. It is a tradeoff.

No joke, this pool cooler (I bought 2, first 1 and then a 2nd after the first worked so well) lowered our pool temperature a full 10 degrees. Middle of AZ summer daily high temps range from 105-118 degrees resulting in a consistent pool temp of 94-95+ degrees. After installing this and running at night during the cooler temperatures for about 3 nights, my pool temperature in the morning would be about 83 degrees and in the afternoon around 85 degrees --- a noticeable (wonderful!) difference. Pool store guys told me this would only lower my pool temp 2-3 degrees, and let me tell you, they were wrong. This turned our whole pool experience into a totally new and improved experience. And, the sound that comes from this cooler adds a new energy and relaxing element to your pool (we run it when we're swimming just for the sound and look) We were considering buying a mechanical pool chiller for about 4 years but could not bring ourselves to spring for this $1200-3000 luxury item over more imporant things like a new home air conditioner. But, after doing some looking online and finding this pool cooler, at only $50 per unit(!), this pool cooler did the exact same thing that's advertised for the high-priced pool chiller! Kid you not, when we have guests over to swim now in the middle of the day during 110+ degree temps, nobody wants to get out of the pool because it feels so refreshing. And people continue to rave throughout their swimming day how good it feels. This is the best kept secret in pool accessories. And, to top it all off, it literally took my 5 minutes to install. I know I probably sound like an infomercial leaving this review, but I never leave reviews (don't have the time), and our family and friends have been hearing me go on and on about this pool cooler for weeks now. And they don't disagree. Final word of advice, don't even hesitate, just buy the dang thing. You will....not.....regret it.

Well, I thought I would add my experience, since others may be curious about the effectiveness of this product. We live in Houston, and the pool temperature has gotten uncomfortably warm in the past month or so. I checked the water temperature with a thermometer, and we were right at 92 degrees. This was after draining some of the water out of the pool and refilling to reduce the temperature from 96 degrees. After pricing a pool chiller at my local pool supply store around $3k, I decided to look for more affordable options. I was skeptical that this product would make a noticeable difference, but at around $50, I figured it was worth a shot. The kit comes with adapter to connect to return jet on side of pool. I hooked this up to one of the return jets, and the spray was initially pretty weak. The kit does come with some 1 1/2" plugs to plug up other returns if this is the case. However, I thought I would try hooking it up to the Polaris port in the pool. That got the job done, this thing squirted all the way across the pool at that point. Anyway, left it running over night so that it would run while the air was cooler. Checked it in the morning, managed to get the water temperature down to 86 degrees. So, it works. A lot depends on the amount of pressure that your pool pump is delivering, and I image the size of your pool, air temperature, etc. I think If I had used this before draining water out of the pool, the effect would have been more dramatic, but I am happy with this purchase. Having said that, you could probably rig this up with PVC from your local builder supply store, so I guess you are paying for the holes. Installation took all of 5 minutes. You remove the eyeball from the return jet, then screw in the supplied adapter. You might need a plastic key for this part, which you can get on Amazon or at your local pool supply store. I was able to remove mine without one, but is simple enough either way. I'm sure that if I had started with this before partially draining the pool, it would have reduced the temperature a little more, so I think the claim of 8-10 degrees is realistic, depending on temperature and the size of your pool.