home made pool heater

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Roy Berry
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Home made pool heater

Postby Roy Berry » Thu 30 Jul, 2009 11:37

I made my own solar heating unit that gives me a couple of extra months each year, I am in south Ga. Regular flexible black sprinkler piping that comes in 500 foot sections was used on the top of my tin shed, using 1 and one half inch pvc pipe to branch the section out to six units. this setup flow is regulated with a bypass valve before the filter inlet so that flow can be regulated for the season, with saltwater freezing is less of a problem, just donot bury the pipe unless you insulate it inside a ie. 6 inch pipe, heat loss to the ground. Becareful this will increase you CL loss due to heatup in the piping so you will have to increase Cl to the pool to makeup for loss. Good Luck.


Isaiah
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Home made pool heater

Postby Isaiah » Mon 10 Aug, 2009 04:37

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.
hel a ve

home made pool heater

Postby hel a ve » Sat 15 Aug, 2009 12:54

I hope someone can help me out. During the past spring I was watching my local PBS station during "Green Week". The programme was about a competition of various university designs for green living in D.C.. One team, I don't remember which, had a solar fence constructed of wood framing and vertical black PVC pipe was used for the privacy section instead of 1x6's. This design was not only functional but pleasing to the eye. I have not been able to find a site covering this competition, hopefully with pic's so I could copy the idea. Right now all I have is an image stored in my brain and at my age the it is getting fuzzier by the day.
pettyrules

home made pool heater

Postby pettyrules » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 21:26

I built a solar heating system 3 years ago and it works just fine. I cut into the 1 1/2" LINE EXITING THE PUMP AND TEED OFF A 1" WHITE PVC LINE TO THE METAL ROOF OF AN ADJOINING SHED. HERE IT BRANCHES OFF INTO 7 RUNS OF 1/2" BLACK POLYETHYLENE TUBING, EACH RUN WITH 2 COILS OF 100' TUBING. THAT'S A TOTAL OF 1400' OF BLACK TUBING. THE WATER IS THEN COLLECTED BACK INTO 1" PVC TUBING AND RETURNED TO THE FILTER EXIT LINE TO BE SENT TO THE POOL. IN BETWEEN THE TWO TEES IS A BALL VALVE WHICH I CAN CLOSE PART WAY TO FORCE THE UNHEATED WATER INTO THE SOLAR SYSTEM, WITHOUT DRIVING THE PUMP PRESSURE UP VERY MUCH. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FURTHER INFO, CONTACT ME AND I CAN PUT TOGETHER A DRAWING FOR YOU.

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woodchuck
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My Pool: 15' ag 48" high
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home made pool heater

Postby woodchuck » Fri 28 May, 2010 08:22

I like the idea of a car radiator placed over my old grill. What size pump would be strong and slow enough to push the water through the radiator? Will it need an air relief installed somewhere along the line? Any thoughts on this rig?
yuseifudo9755

home made pool heater

Postby yuseifudo9755 » Thu 24 Jun, 2010 15:45

use 1/2 inch black pvc piping and use a y valve for a sink and attach it to your pool filter and attach the 1/2 inch black piping to one side of it and the pool piping to the other one and run it halfway around your pool and then put it back in your pool and that should heat up the water.
burgh

home made pool heater

Postby burgh » Tue 06 Jul, 2010 15:51

I helped my neighbor design and build a solar heater for his above ground pool. We went with a couple of 4 x 8 sheets of 1/2 inch pt plywood painted black on one side - and attached coiled black rubber garden 5/8th hose to the plywood, connected the two pieces with cable to drape over his 12 x 8 shed roof (next to his pool). We put a new valve in the pool just below the normal water line. The water runs from the valve into a 45 gallon holding tank and is pumped into the hose via a sump pump with a float switch. A standard sump pump check valve keeps water from draining back from the roof. The timing and rate of flow of the system is controlled by the valve on the pool and also by adjusting the length of the float switch on the pump. We decided to not tie into the filter system, as we didn't want to reduce the effectiveness of the filter. Our design called for 300 feet of hose, but we may add another 100 feet to lengthen the season. cost with hose and $30 sump pump from harbor freight, plywood and other misc parts about $320 :thumbup:
jjboods
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home made pool heater

Postby jjboods » Wed 25 Aug, 2010 10:28

I have what is technically listed as an 18x36 inground pool. It is actually a "keyhole" shape. So it's basically a 16x24 rectangle with an 18' diameter circle on the end. The cirlce is the shallow end. The rectangle is the slope down to an 8' deep end. I believe it is about 24,000 gallons.

I have been researching heaters and DIY heaters and would like some opinions/advice.

I don't want to put strain on the pump and am hesitant to mount a commercial or DIY system on the roof of my garage. The pump and filter are in the garage. There is a line in through the garage wall and a line out through the garage wall. I could easily T off the line out and route it to a "collector" which I am considering "mounting"/leaning against the garage.

So here is the very simple plan...

5 sheets of 4x8 plywood painted black and connected to make a large 20'l x 8'h "sheet".
On that I'd run 20' of 1.5" PVC across the top(from the filter) and a 20' length across the bottom(back to the pool). I'd then connect those lengths of PVC with as many 8' lengths of black poly that I could fit on the 20' sheet of plywood. My pump is 1.5 HP and the PVC are 1.5".

So...does everyone think this will work and generate enough heat and what size poly would anyone/everyone recommend?
duraleigh
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home made pool heater

Postby duraleigh » Wed 25 Aug, 2010 13:50

So...does everyone think this will work and generate enough heat and what size poly would anyone/everyone recommend?
Of course, the answer is, "It depends". Some of it depends on how far North you live and what your expectations are.

My general impression is that you do not have enough square footage of heater to have much effect on your pool. A good rule of themb is to have at least 1/2 the sq footage of the pool in solar panels.....you'd need 300 sq ft plus and only are planning 160 (absolute max)

Secondly, your system would be very innefficient compared to the folks who makes those panels for a living (like FAFCO) and the chances of you having leaking issues with all those poly connections is almost guaranteed.

Perhaps a better alternative would be to purchase the panels and install the job yourself. There is more than one discussion thread on these at troublefreepool.com
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jjboods
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home made pool heater

Postby jjboods » Wed 25 Aug, 2010 14:01

I appreciate the input, however...isn't this a "home made pool heater" thread? And you are pointing me towards a manufactured product.

Also, I installed underground irrigation for years...I can assure you I'd have ZERO leaks.
duraleigh
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home made pool heater

Postby duraleigh » Wed 25 Aug, 2010 19:23

.I can assure you I'd have ZERO leaks.
Then you should give it a go. I think you'll need to make it a little larger to make it effective but there's no technical reason why what you have in mind wouldn't work.
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jjboods
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home made pool heater

Postby jjboods » Thu 26 Aug, 2010 07:54

Do you/does anyone have any input on the setup. Individual lines vs coils? The size of the poly I'm using? I'm actually thinking I'd use 1" instead of 1.5" due to cost.
duraleigh
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home made pool heater

Postby duraleigh » Thu 26 Aug, 2010 10:17

With a 1.5 hp pump, you would probably be happier staying with the 1.5" pipes. 1" pipes restrict the flow and will result in a noticeably higher pressure in the system. With just about any solar heater, a large flow volume is helpful.

I'm not sure what you mean about "individual lines vs coils".
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jjboods
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home made pool heater

Postby jjboods » Thu 26 Aug, 2010 10:26

I figured the 1.5" is a better option for pressure and circulating more water through the heater. I wonder if black PVC is cheaper than poly. Then I can glue the fittings and have less of a chance of leaks and better vacuum creation to help flow.

Running individual 8' sections from top to bottom instead of mounting one continuous coil of poly.
duraleigh
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home made pool heater

Postby duraleigh » Thu 26 Aug, 2010 10:33

PVC won't be cheaper but it is probably the best. Multiple 8' runs will be far better than trying to run a single coil.
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