New plan to heat Dutch Springs...

[thor]

BoomerNJ previously posted this on SB:


New plan to heat Dutch Springs...

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This was posted today on their FaceBook page & I thought you all would like it...

Heating Dutch Springs

If we had a nickel for every time anyone asked us to heat the lake, we may have enough money to install the heaters. Over this winter I have worked on the math problem of what would it really cost to heat the lake (I'm slow at math), below are the results. Remember, I'm not a math whiz, engineer or mechanically inclined whatsoever.

The lake:

50 acres in size
217, 800,000 Cubic Feet of water
1 cubic foot of water=2.205 pounds (weight)
480,249,000 pounds of water in Dutch Springs

BTU's:
A BTU is the amount of energy required to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit ... water weighs about 8.34#/gal ... so 8.34 BTU's are required to raise 1 gallon of water 1 degree F.

The Lake (again):

To raise the water temperature from 40 to 70 is an increase of 30 degrees F. It would require:
120,158,299,800 BTU's to uniformly heat Dutch Springs to 70F

The heaters:

A standard in ground 400,000 BTU pool heater costs $3,000.00 with shipping.

The bottom line:

We would need 300,396 heaters to heat the lake and maintain the heat of the water.
The cost of the equipment alone would be:

$901,187,249.00

The fuel required to run the heaters from March-July, then again from October-February:
$202,222,994,051,855,700,000.00 (202 quintillion dollars)

The Real Bottom Line:

With installation, upkeep, fuel, other supplies and installation, we are looking at:
$202,222,994,051,900,000,000.00

Perspective:

Adding up the entire world's currency:

$5 Quadrillion US Dollars ($5,000,000,000,000,000.00)

I think a dry suit is cheaper.

[awap]

I believe 1 cu ft of water weighs about 60 pounds. So it might cost a bit more than you had planned.

[John Yaskowich]

I'm wondering if it might be better to install some sort of upwelling device to circulate the water and let the sun provide your heat. Imagine a large (safely enclosed!!!) waterjet pointing up to force the cold water up from the bottom and into circulation. It would break up the thermocline and heat the whole mass of the water - maybe not to bathtub temps but at least even things out some.

[lucidblue]

They should just buy all of us season pass holders drysuits and save tons of money.

[CFDAlden]

I saw that on their FB earlier. They need to think Geothermal... Hell, it would only take a hundred years or so to warm up the whole lake(quarry).

[navyhmc]

Originally Posted by awap

I believe 1 cu ft of water weighs about 60 pounds. So it might cost a bit more than you had planned.

Actually, you're close: 1 cu ft fresh water weighs 63 pounds. But Thor is correct on his math. Hey, I"ll put a dollar in.

[ScubaToys Larry]

Originally Posted by navyhmc

Actually, you're close: 1 cu ft fresh water weighs 63 pounds. But Thor is correct on his math. Hey, I"ll put a dollar in.

62.4.... but whose counting?

[navyhmc]

Originally Posted by ScubaToys Larry

62.4.... but whose counting?

True...but given the mineral content of Dutch Springs with a TDS of 340mg/L, that brings it up to 62.923.

[maddhadder]

I did a quick search and found a 20x40 pool solar cover for abbout $300 shipped.
They are 800 sqft.
An acre is 43,560 sq ft.
50 acres is 2,178,000 sq ft.
That will require approx. 27,223 pool covers
Total cost of covers $8,166,900.
Still working out the math on rolls of duct tape required to assemble, and a crane to lift it, or maybe a helicopter, or several. Ok, maybe this plan needs some minor tweaking, but at first glance it should be significantly cheaper than the $901,187,249.00 initial setup cost of the heaters. Just a thought.

[mocepts]

Originally Posted by maddhadder

I did a quick search and found a 20x40 pool solar cover for abbout $300 shipped.
They are 800 sqft.
An acre is 43,560 sq ft.
50 acres is 2,178,000 sq ft.
That will require approx. 27,223 pool covers
Total cost of covers $8,166,900.
Still working out the math on rolls of duct tape required to assemble, and a crane to lift it, or maybe a helicopter, or several. Ok, maybe this plan needs some minor tweaking, but at first glance it should be significantly cheaper than the $901,187,249.00 initial setup cost of the heaters. Just a thought.

Forget the pool cover, have you ever seen those little fish you drop in your pool that put off that film that is supposed to heat your pool? Just get a few thousand of those and throw em in.