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HEAT SIPHON SUPPORT CENTER

COLD WEATHER ALERT - CLICK HERE IF YOUR HEAT SIPHON WON'T START

HSS ERROR on Digital Heat Siphon WITH GFI BREAKERS

If Your Heat Siphon RUNS but you think it's NOT HEATING the quickest way to see if it is "sick" is to take it's temperatue

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING - Take Your Heat Siphon's Temperature

Measure the air temperature out and the ambient air (air in) temperature using the same thermometer. Checking this temperature difference is a very quick way to verify that your Heat Siphon is performing as designed and delivering heat to your pool. Use The Goodman Graph below:

IMPORTANT EXCEPTION (THE LEACH COROLLARY):
IF THE DEW POINT of the air is ABOVE the AIR OUT TEMPERATURE THEN AIR OUT is LIMITED TO THE DEW POINT
EXAMPLE: Dew point = 59°F and Goodman graph says Air Out should be 52°F THEN 59°F WILL BE THE REAL AIR OUT

Finding the Dew Point from the Air Temperature and Relative Humidity

The Story of the Goodman Graph

One day a new Heat Siphon owner named John Goodman, who lives in Southern California, e-mailed us asking why his new Heat Siphon didn't seem to be performing according to the published specifications.

John has a Ph.D. in Physics and the History of Science & Technology.

Being the very curious individual that he is, John took it upon himself to try and measure the heat output of his Heat Siphon using a pool thermometer and recording the pool temperature gain and loss versus time with the unit running and off and trying to estimate the pool heat loss covered etc.

He reported that when he first turned his unit on the air temperature was 50° F to 55°F and after running for 6 hours, his 15,000 gallon pool had only gained 3°F from 59°F at 6 PM to 62°F at midnight.

Now doing the math he figured that raising 125,000 pounds of water by 3°F in 6 hours amounts to about 62,000 BTU/Hr or only 65% of the rated BTUH heat output for his Z575HP Heat Siphon.

A few days later, after the air temperature went up it did reach 85°F, but Dr. Goodman was now on a mission. He even bought an infrared thermometer to measure the pool temperature more accurately.

He wanted to know how the heat output and efficiency varied with air temperature and water flow rate.

After several lengthy email exchanges of detailed technical data, we convinced him that the simplest way to really determine if his Heat Siphon was working properly would be to measure the amount of COOLING it created while running. As we explained to him, " that heat must be going somewhere

and the only place it can go is in your pool water".

We told him that, we could specify the actual expected "cooling" difference between the air out and air in , for his model Heat Siphon, as designed.

AND if he measured the same temperature difference, it would prove that everything was "cool" with his unit's performance.

The only problem was - WE DIDN'T HAVE MODEL SPECIFIC DATA to provide to Dr. Goodman.

So we made him what we now call - "The Goodman Graph"

- named in his honor since he caused it's creation.

. . . continued on right sidebar

Dew Point Versus Air Temperature at various Relative Humidities:

CLICK YOUR PRODUCT TAB for HELP!

This Section of our website is devoted EXCLUSIVELY to TECHNICAL SUPPORT. Please click on the appropriate tab above for the product you need help with. Here are some graphics to help you identify your Heat Siphon and/or our hardwired POD controllers:

1st ROW

from LEFT TO RIGHT - 1. Digital Heat Siphon, 2. New Analog Heat Siphon, 3. Old Almond Analog Heat Siphon (pre-2004),

2nd Row

1. J-POD PumpJump (Pool Pump Time Clock Override) Hardwired Controller, 2. T-POD Pool Pump Hardwired Controller, 3. S-POD Pool/Spa 3 way Valve & Pump Hardwired Controller

3rd Row

from LEFT TO RIGHT - 1. External Digital Upgrade Kit-for older Heat Siphons without Digital Pocket in Backpanel, 2. Easy-Clock Plug-in Player Add-On Board for use wth S-POD and T-POD controllers, 3. Easy-Pic Plug-in Player Add-On Board for use with 3rd Party External Controllers

. . . Goodman Graph Story cont'd.

It turns out that Dr. Goodman's pool was actually more like 24,000 gallons and had copper plumbing, both of which would require more heat input than he calculated originally which explains his initial "puzzlement".

(He is now happy with his unit)

WAIT THERE'S MORE!!
The Leach Corollary:

CAN'T GO BELOW THE DEW POINT

Just about the time we thought the Goodman Graph had answered the performance question, a chemical engineer named David Leach, who also owns a HEAT SIPHON emailed us saying that the GOODMAN GRAPH ISN'T WORKING.

According to his thermometer in Jacksonville FL the "air in minus air out" was 7°F and the Goodman Graph shows 12°F for his model at an air temperature of 70°F . BUT HIS POOL WAS 92°F.

It would seem that his Heat Siphon was really working well as it could keep his pool 22°F above the air temperature AND it was getting the heat from the air but why was the temperature drop not 12°F which was about the amount of cooling that equated to the heating his unit was delivering?

When we checked the weather data for Jacksonville, FL that day the HUMIDITY was very high - above 90%

Once his Heat Siphon cooled the air to the dew point, it began condensing water out of the air and this "heat of condensation" was providing the rest of the heat to his pool without lowering the air temperature any further.

After some calculations, we realized that since there was an infinite supply of moisture in the air, THE DEW POINT TEMPERATURE was pretty much the LOWER LIMIT of Heat Siphon's air cooling - and The Leach Corollary was born:

CAN'T GO BELOW THE DEW POINT