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.

 

[Nat]

As a long time pool installer I know it will work, and I also know it will cause a copper flash in your pool. All the white PVC pieces will turn a rusty color. Copper and clorinated water don't mix very well. Gas and electric pool heaters used stainless or cast because of copper flash. Can you remake it using either? Sorry to to be the bearer, but it will happen, maybe not this week but it will. later, Nat

 

[Charlesaf3]

cool.

How about doing solar, with pex tubing, to avoid the copper flash? Set it up so you get convective circulation and don't need the pump. Might take longer, but then you can let it run all summer.

 

[mjarrels]

How about a little corn whiskey on the side... looks like a still to me!

mark

 

[rhett]

hi Ivan1547, Great Idea!

Now for a long story and my suggestion for a more efficient dual benefit unit. As you might notice, geographically I might use heat 1 or 2 months out of the year. Still I like the idea of efficiency. Not knowing the layout of your homestead the suggestion may or may not be feasible.

The suggestion:
*A long term solution to heat the pool year round and also benefit by heating your garage/shop/nearby building.
*Upgrade the barrel to a wood burning barrel stove and incorporate the water heating element into it.
*Install a safe chimney and locate unit in a safe indoor location.
*Kits are available at reasonable prices, here are some links.
Barrel Stove Kit
Grate for Barrel Stove
Top Barrel Adapter Kit
Hot Plate for Barrel Stove
*Berry and insulate the Hot Water Feed and suction line to protect from freezing when not in use and prevent heat loss during the water cycling.
*Start a fire, turn on the pump enjoy warmer pool and heated building.
*For an even more permanent install use large pipe or have some steel plate rolled for the stove body instead of the thin steel drum.
*Use of copper is a great idea because of the corrosive nature of pool chemicals. (Edit: Nat brought up a point I was unaware of - "Copper and clorinated water don't mix very well.") I stand corrected
*Alternative or Dual Fuel is an easy option. Example: Natural Gas burner with lots of Lava Rocks to help retain and distribute the BTU's.
*Here are a couple of informative links.
Build a deluxe barrel stove
Bob Vila - DIY Wood Burning Pool Heater
-------------------

Man I know it has gotta be Cold Up There !!!
Well, my use for the coiled copper tubing is reversed. I have 50' of 1/2" copper tubing plumed into a refrigerator that is used as my compressed air dryer. Very humid here, and dry compressed air is important for many jobs.

Good Luck, Stay Warm
Rhett

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

a buddy of mine made a grid of black plastic pipe on his garage roof and plumbed it in to his pool....said it works real well........but our temps, are a lot different than your's....

he got the idea, i think, from another buddy who bought a large black bladder that goes on your roof and then circulates in to the pool.....on a sunny day, while swimming, you could feel quite a temp difference as the water entered the pool.....

just some thoughts....

but hey, if it works, go for it...

i've only been in our pool 3 times this year because of the cool summer, rain and lack of time.....

 

[BrentD]

Down here in Texas, my parents have a pool in their back yard that, even with 30 consecutive days of 3-digit temperatures, still has water too cold to be comfortable to swim in. (Temp needs to be raised about 10 degrees to be comfortable.) It's been like this ever since they had the pool installed. I installed a plastic solar panel grid on their garage roof that worked pretty well for a couple of years as long as they remembered to turn the panels off at night or it would dissipate all the energy it collected during the day. Unfortunately it eventually started springing leaks. My dad plugged as many of them as he could, but the panels eventually had to be retired.

Lately I've been considering another possibility... An air conditioner condenser dumps a lot of heat out into the atmosphere, and with air temps already over 100 degrees, it's efficiency is quite a bit less than optimal. I've been trying to figure out a way to make a second set of condenser coils that could either be immersed in water from the pool, or that has a heat exchanger arrangement that would draw heat out of the condenser and dump it into the pool. Just haven't quite figured out how to set that up. It would have the double benefit of increasing A/C's electrical energy efficiency and putting heat to good use that would otherwise be wasted.

 

[dodge man]

I have a store bought solar heater on our pool. If you get a few warm sunny days it will heat it up in a hurry. The problem is that we have had a cold summer and the heat disappears at night. We have a solar cover, which is something like a heavy duty bubble wrap. The problem with that is it causes algae in the pool. I don't know if thats from lack of circulation with the cover on or what. There are pool forums like this website and there are good ideas on them for wood heat. I know one thing, you don't want the water to hot. Also listen to the pool installer guy, if he says copper is bad listen and swap it out for something else. One thing I've learned in owning a pool, its really improtant to keep everything in ballance.

 

[rhett]

hi BrentD, the swimming pools chemicals will eat away the air conditioner condensers aluminum cooling fins and aluminum tubing if not copper. An arrangement similar to the Fresh Water Cooling System of a Marine Engine would be a good example of what would work and last. Constructing the water jackets, circulation pumps and plumbing would be a major project, but it may be benificial in the long run in energy savings. In honesty, if you were to do the task, I think you would be the first.

Possibly a Heat Pump type setup using the pool water/air conditioning might be a consideration. No experience here, just a thought.

Good Luck, Stay Cool
Rhett

 

[BrentD]

I wonder if the salt chlorination systems would be more or less prone to the corrosion problems with copper and aluminum? My parents use a salt chlorination system on their pool and it has greatly decreased maintenance.

(On that subject I'm eventually going to do a write-up on how to build a DIY electrolytic salt chlorination system. Those systems are really ridiculously simple. They're just a power supply that puts out 24 volts at around 15 amps to a metal grid preferably made of titanium or some other relatively un-reactive metal.)

 

[tessiers]

I have been thinking about hooking my maple syrup evaporator up to our pool, if I flow enough water through it it will never boil. It will boil off 25 gallons of sap per hour so thats a lot of heat. Flued pans will help with heat transfer, small circulator pump and a hose connection to the draw off valve and return to the feed line. What do you all think?