Homemade Pool Heater

[Ivan1547]

I can't take all the credit for this, my wife saw this design being used for heating a hot tub.

In Alberta our pool is only up for a couple of months. Last year the pool did not warm up at all. The 19000 Liters stayed cold until we drained it.

This coil is made up of 100 feet of 1/2" copper tubing with hose ends attached. Hook it up to the pool with a utility pump, place the coil over a fire, the fire heats up the water in the coil and passes it back to the pool.

The water coming into the pool was about hot enough not to put your hand under it for very long.

It heated the pool in about 8 hours and it is staying warm.

Ivan

 

[Willl]

Your kidding right ?

This actually heats your pool ?

 

[Tig]

Keep in mind Willl, in Ivan's neck of they woods you could see snow flakes in all of the 12 months of the year.
Good job Ivan. I've never seen that done.

 

[CBW1999]

Great job!
My neighbor had something similar many years ago. Instead of the barrel, they used a small charcoal grill. It was easier to keep adding fuel without interupting the heating, they could place a hood over it as well to increase the heat.

The only thing different, the coil was plumbed in directly to the retun line right into the pool. That way, they could slide the small grill in and out as needed when heating. Since the flow rate was higher, the return water wasn't super hot entering the pool- so you could swim with it heating.

 

[CurlyDave]

My neighbor had something similar many years ago. Instead of the barrel, they used a small charcoal grill.

Now that is a real head-scratcher.

In most places, the cost per BTU, or cost per calorie for you Canadians, of charcoal is higher than for natural gas. Although ready-made gas pool heaters are usually pretty pricey.

 

[Ivan1547]

Yep, it warms it up.

I don't have a temperature gun or gauge, but it went up in temperature at least 10 F.

The current temp is around 65 F.

 

[Lil_FarmerJim]

And I thought my pool was cold at 84Deg F.

Looks like a good start to me, from a safety standpoint I see some issues with it tipping over if some one was to trip over the hoses. I would suggest lowering the coils into the burn barrel and putting a 45deg bend in the ends. that way there is less chance of a kink cutting the flow of water and with it closer to the flame the water will heat more efficiently. And as was said before you could add a gas burner at the bottom to improve efficiency as well.

 

[Stargazer]

In Scouts we did a similiar thing with a bucket and 2 fittings (1 at bottom 1 high up) smaller coil (10'?) and let natural convection move water in campfire. Always had hot water for dishes whatnot.

 

[Stumppuller]

Ok - Stage II: Now tip the barrel on its side & line it up with one of those kerosene space heaters. 47 - 80 K BTUs of instant heat.

 

[Wheatland KB]

Hey there fellow Albertan.

I did something similar but used a gas barbeque burner. I like the wood fired idea due to the cost of Lp gas. I often thought about building a solar panel with a bunch of black tubing coils, although this year that just might have cooled the pool down a few degrees.