Heating pool water with vaccume tubes.

[ralphbart]

I have come across a pile of vacuum tubes with heat pipes installed. The only problem is I do not have a manifold for the tubes so I must make my own
manifold.I am using 1.5" abs and was wondering the heat exchange difference in just sticking the pipe end into the manifold, or making a copper heat
ex changer and putting that into the manifold and attaching the heat pipes to it .I was also wondering if water in the vacuum tubes would affect
operation of the tubes or not?Any and all help in this project will be greatly appreciated.

[billvon]

I have come across a pile of vacuum tubes with heat pipes installed. The only problem is I do not have a manifold for the tubes so I must make my own
manifold.I am using 1.5" abs and was wondering the heat exchange difference in just sticking the pipe end into the manifold, or making a copper heat
ex changer and putting that into the manifold and attaching the heat pipes to it .I was also wondering if water in the vacuum tubes would affect
operation of the tubes or not?Any and all help in this project will be greatly appreciated.

They won't work great. The big advantage of evacuated tubes is that they can heat water much higher than ambient, but you don't want to do that with pool water - you want to heat it a _lot_ of water a little bit.

But if they're free might as well use them. I'd get a large (1.5 to 2 inch) copper pipe as a manifold and make a good thermal connection between the heat pipe and the copper pipe, then insulate the copper pipe well.

[CraziFuzzy]

I would avoid copper piping on chlorinated water - the chlorine will accelerate corrosion of the copper. Stick to PVC for your pool water.

[Naptown]

Copper is the only thing that will take the heat of a stagnated evacuated tube which can melt PVC abs and cpvc.
You need to add an additional heat exchanger ( preferably titanium for longest life)

[MikeSolar]

As Naptown says, don't even try it. It is not easy to make a manifold that can house the bulb on the heat pipe, unless you have a milling machine. No plastics ever last long with solar unless it is a traditional poly pool panel. That is your cheapest and most effective route.

[izzabella]

Or else you can also go for the online tutorials which can help you theoretically but not enough instead you take a help of the professional.