We show you how to make a $100 pool heater with parts you can buy at any big box store. We spent under $100 and were able to heat 3 gallons of water nearly 7 degrees each minute.
I did a similar experiment 10 years ago in southern Arizona under full sun. The water going in was 80 degrees and the water coming out was over 110 degrees. Flow rate appeared about the same but I didn't measure it. However, in a 15,000 gallon pool the amount of heat gained didn't compensate for the heat loss overnight. After many experiments with black irrigation tubing and several hundred dollars in costs, including getting a used Fafco 4'x8' solar panel to test, I tried a solar blanket. Like day and night. A solar blanket is a thousand times more cost effective. It doesn't so much heat the pool as it keep evaporation from cooling the pool, day or night. Even during our high humidity rainy season it prevented heat loss partly due to evaporation but also due to insulation (reducing radiation, conduction and convection heat loss). That being said, I once tested using heating coils and using a pool blanket in the middle of summer (100 degree highs are not uncommon in the summer here). Pool was a little over 80 in the morning after cooling down overnight. It was a full sunny day with no clouds. When I got home the pool was 105 degrees! I had a pool sized hot tub! If I had just used the coils the temp would have been around 90, without the coils the pool temp would have been around 87. So my testing, 192 sq ft of coils and connectors (I have a hose bib on my pool pump so I didn't need to buy a sump) overall costing about $300 and passing through it what appeared to be about the same GPM as you have in your video will raise my pool temp 3-4 degrees above what it would have risen without it. It looses all the heat overnight and has to heat it again the next day to the same temp. Compare to a $100 solar pool blanket which cuts heat loss due to evaporation overnight and during the day. The first day gets you about 2-3 degrees warmer simply from blocking evaporation, so the first day is not as good as the solar coils. However, the second day starts you off 4-6 degrees warmer than it otherwise would have been without the blanket and you get another 2-3 more degrees heating that day for a total of 6-9 degrees over what it would have been without the solar blanket. The efficiency starts dropping at that point, but you get far better results for your dollar with a solar blanket. -- The disadvantages of a solar blanket are that you have to keep the pH above 1.2 and the Chlorine below 3 ppm (removing it to shock) otherwise the plastic will degrade and you will end up with tiny popped plastic bubbles floating around your pool and clogging the filter. No solar blanket warranty covers broken bubbles. But if you have a salt water chlorine generator it will be very easy to maintain these levels since it is constantly raising pH and can be set at a lower generation rate (as you will also need less chlorine while using a solar blanket). HINT: Use a SCH 40 PVC pipe capped at both ends (so it's airtight and will float) and slide it under the middle of the solar blanket (short way, not long way) and you can easily lift off and roll up the blanket if you have someone helping from the other end. I hope this is helpful to someone.
It's all true. Solar blanket makes a big difference. I had good results with the cheap intex solar mats. Link 3 or 4 of them with a solar cover and you're good to go. My small pool will easily go up 10F+
Thank you brother. I really appreciate this information. My backyard is shady ass all get out thanks to my neighbors MASSIVE trees. It's a blessing and a curse. The pool is not hot enough to swim in on most days. The water is usually around 72-76 degrees. I have never seen it go above 83. I'll give your recommendation a shot. I live in PA by the way. Thanks again.
In planning stages for a similar project also in southern AZ. You are correct evaporation certainly cools the water and in Tucson we lose 100" a year. At certain points of the year that's an inch a day. I have dogs so blankets are a no go for fear of them drowning. I'm thinking 500' tube, pond pump and a solar panel I already have. The warmer the water the more chlorine, but I made a solar copper ionization thing that seems to be working great so not too worried about that. My biggest concern is finding the right pump that will carry the water to the roof but be slow enough flow for the water to heat up.
@@roycerichardsphoto I live in PA also, my parents don't live too far from me, maybe 15 miles, and my mom has a pool and I was looking for DIY ways to heat her pool. She does have a solar cover, but I wanted to be able to try something more. It's been a crazy year for temps in PA this year, yesterday it was sunny and only in the mid to upper 60s, then this morning it actually got down to 32 degrees. I live in north, northwestern la right near the PA/NY border.
I worked on a campground in Scotland. The pool was heated by passing water from the pool through two metal household radiator units. These were situated in a small purpose built glasshouse. The whole heating surfaces were painted Matt black to absorb more heat. The supply pipes were insulated to prevent heat loss. The whole set up was quite simple. It was very efficient indeed even with moderate sunlight, extended the usable period of the pool considerably. Cost was virtually nothing. Brian Williamson.
I live in Michigan ...I have a 24x52 round above ground pool. I made a similar system to this but with a few differences. I built a wooden tray and lined it with black plastic for better sun absorption as well as insulation. On top of that I put a 600 watt plant warming mat then I put 100 ft. of coiled 1/2 in. black poly tubing on top of that and covered that whole thing with more 6 mil black plastic for even more sun absorption and added insulation for heat retention. I used a 1000 GPH fountain pump to push the water through the tubing. Before I started my unheated pool water was a rather chilly 68 degrees. After using my home made solar heater as well as my 8 mil solar cover I can keep my pool water just over 80 degrees consistently, even with night time air temps of 50 degrees. The solar cover is vital to maintaining, and insulating the warmth in the pool. Without it I lose any temperature gain from my DIY solar heater, and the solar cover also adds warmth as well. The whole thing is about 3ft by 3ft. and I have it stashed on an inconspicuous sunny side of the pool. I also put the whole thing on legs about 3 ft. high to keep the cold ground from cooling off the tubing. Obviously this is not nearly as efficient as a gas heater but it does give us about an extra 2 weeks in the spring and 2 weeks in the fall that we didnt have previously. The whole thing including solar cover cost me under 150 bucks . I only use it in mid May till mid June and then again in MId August till mid Sept. Then I close it down for the winter.
We made a heater by using a 55 gallon drum and placing a 30 drum can inside. We filled the space between the two with a copper coil and sand then built a fire using fireplace wood. We used a bilge pump for the circulation pump and achieved 110 F @ 4 GPM. Took a while to heat the 19 foot round pool but it worked.
I have a 16' round (5000 gal) above ground pool and pretty much did this. 4 - 100ft 1/2" poly tube and submersible pump. Today in Indiana temp is 76* and good sun. I've raised the temp of the water from 69* to 73* in about 4ish hours. The setup is pushing out close to +5* difference from ambient temp of water. Is it pretty? No. Does it work? YES. Way better than the 2 dome solar heater setup I did a few years ago.
By my calculations, that's a 2.2 kW heater you have there. I live in New Mexico, so we get a lot of sun. I recently made a solar heater like this using 400 feet of garden hose and tubing placed on the roof of my house. I'd prime the whole line with water first so the water coming down would act as a siphon for the water going up so my 1/10 HP transfer pump didn't have to work very hard. I'd get a 15 degree F temperature rise at 1.8 GPM flow rate, which corresponds to 4 kW. Not bad for the 150 W I was using to drive the pump.
This is great, but you have to keep the pool open (i.e. evaporation loss). Just cover it with a cover, and let the sun bake it. Wouldn't that be better? Of course a system that allows you to have both a solar pool heater and a cover would be the best.
I watched your video it was great question for you I have went to the market got everything that you said to buy but I’m wondering how you connect the two together?
I have a 20,000 gallon pool with a 400,000 BTU gas heater. Takes about 6-7 hours to heat it up 10 degrees. This is a clever idea but the delta T (difference in water temp entering and leaving the system) is much too low and the flow rate is much too low. You have a very large pool with a lot of surface area and you will never over come the losses from the outside air and evaporation. It takes 1 BTU to raise 1lb of water 1 degree F. You are pumping (5 gal/min * 8.34 lbs/gal * 60min/hr) = 2,502 lbs per hour and raising it 4.7 degrees which is about 12,000 BTU/hr. With a perfectly insulated system (no heat loss) and an estimated volume of your pool of 40K gallons it will take 27 hours in the sun to raise the temperature 1 def F
Yes this is correct! The amount of water leaving his return is doing nothing. I've tried this, solar blanket, small heat pump and after all that wasted money I could have purchased a 180k btu heat pump and been done with it. You must have return flow heated at desired temp let's say 80 degrees to even make a difference on my 20k pool. I'm not a math genius but common sense tells me pump flow at 80 degrees is better than 2 gallon per hour dribbling out at 180 degrees. Not to mention spring and fall where I'm at gets into 50s and 60's so heat loss will happen no matter what cover or not. One cold night could kill a week's worth of solar heat its like pissin in the wind with the diy solar heater. Next year I will take this advice and get a nice sized heat pump or gas heater it's the only way to go if your serious about heating the pool.
But how much did the pool itself heat up? Kind of the point. At least put the intake on the other end?? Might work on a sunny day with a timer to allow the water to sit in the hose 20 min and then dump.
i'm not sure but i think that if you put the coils in series instead of parrallel it would work better because the water would run trough more tube so it would have more time to heat up.
Actually that is not true. Heat will transfer faster to the pipe when the temperature of the water is colder (Heat Transfer 101), also the flow rate is reduced. So with a parallel connection you get more heat from the sun into the pool even though the water comes out cooler.
you should connect the coils of hoses in one continuous flow, and not using T's to branch off each coil. You should get more efficient distribution, better heating.
I'm moving to Florida so I want to cool my pool in the summer and hate it in the winter so I was thinking about doing something similar but using a larger pipe and putting it on top of the roof to heat during the winter and burying pipe maybe six feet down or so and coiling it and letting the ground actually cool the pool I'm not sure if it will work I'm looking for videos and I haven't found any
I'm trying something similar in an Albuquerque summer. I already dumped my entire water heater into it already and that didn't work as well as I thought
Pretty cool! 800 ft ~$96 It should be warmer if you place on your roof on something black. It is probably better to elevate it above the ground as it might lose some heat warming the white stones around the pool. Do you if those hoses release some chemicals when heated?
could be fun to know if you can predict when the pool will be at a given temp if you know the flowrate and the inlet and outlet temp of the heater coil or a solar heater mat
I have to chime in with the other comments. This is a half done project. Measuring the temperature of the water coming out of the tube is like stopping sex in the middle of it. You ain't done!! How much does the T of the water increase over a period of time, 24 hours, 7 days, etc... Increasing the T of ~1% of the water by 7 degrees is unlikely to result in measurable increase in entire body of water. [EDIT] I just did the math. A pool that size depending on the environment should be using a heater with a BTU rating between 80,000 and 110,000. The system you've described generates 453. If I've done the math right, that's 0.3% - 0.6% of the needed energy.
I see a few issues. 1 it's hard to tell if you are measuring the temp of the water or touching the side of the piping which would be considerably warmer. 2. That little amount of water leaving the hose is neglible compared to the remaining amount of water in the pool that is cooling down at the same time. This would likely make a significant impact with a solar blanket though. The other thing is to remember to shut it off at night when it would be cooler out than inside the pool.
wow 72 here in cali is a bit on the colder side i will deferentially not complain about the "cold pool". Amaizing job its an easy low budget pool if you do not mind the question where do you guys live you guys have an amazing view @Dan330
@@JustEnjoyingLife73 I think he mean the typical installation which imply a wood casing painted in black and a glass on top of it to somewhat close it to create a kind of greenhouse. Like a car in the sun with closed windows: heat will accumulate.
Thank you for sharing your project and results. I used a hose instead of tubing. The sun is not heating the hose (using 200 ft, coiled like a spiral, 100 ft on top of the other 100 ft.). Why is tubing preferred over hose? Thanks in advance for your reply. Please give the specs on the tubing.
You need an exchange rate of running the whole volume of tour pool in 8 hours. If you are running 5 degrees higher you would increase the pool temp by that much. Need to generate more heat for it to work. Good idea but with an in ground pool you have a lot of water.
my father did that idea .well Something like that ran from pool on to the roof would like black vein stuff back to pool it didn't really work that great . but it was the 70's . think of this slow as it puts warm water in pool the water cools to fast . even when a hundred degree outside the hot water coming out of water jets only upper 2 ft of water warm but bottom water still cold
This is what I do everything year > Take a 55 gallon steel drum drill 20 to 30 1/2 inch size holes off the bottom 6in or so the take 20-30 feet of 1/2-3/8 soft copper tubing and wrap it on the inside of the barrel more at the bottom. Leave out of the top and away from the barrel at least 12". Hook a garden hose up to the one side and put it back into the pool on the other side hook up A110 Volt adjustable water pump to a hose then to the copper and the inlet side. Fill the barrel up with wood light it up and that water coming out depending on type of wood and length of copper/speed of pump will burn you!! I live in Northeastern Ohio and open the pool around Memorial Day and be able to swim in it because of this heater!
I agree with the other comment. Your description is good but it's hard to get it all. I know it's been 4 years but if you could make a short video of the result. thanks
Why did you not get into the pump at all? It’s the most important part - what pump did you use, what’s the GPH, how did you connect it, etc. instead of showing the temperatures
Enclose your black hose in a glass cover and your water temp output will increase to about 120 degrees or more (the glass acts like a magnifying glass).
Hi nice idea ........ you should try putting the poly tubing on a sheet of aluminum abt 1/8" thickness also put it in a box with a glass lid to keep the heat in ..........
Solar 101: to maximize output, reduce losses... put the coils on something insulated, preferably black. Cover them with clear plastic, sealed to trap some air for insulation. 200 GPH at 5 deg F temp rise is about 8000 btu/hr, or about the same amount of energy contained in 1lb of wood pellets How many gallons is that pool?...
I did skip a bunch in the video. But all i can think of right now is how your not supposed to drink water from water bottles that sat out in the sun forever. Because the chemicals from the plastic are sort of toxic and release into the water after a bunch of heat. So im imagining that giant black plastic tube getting really hot all day, every day and just unloading its steaming chemical payload into the water for us to basque and swim around in.
Has anyone tried running this in their attic? I'm thinking the advantage would be that the attic is still hot for quite a while after the sun goes down, which might offset some of the PM heat loss. Obviously, I'd rather someone else try it first. : ]
First problem I could think of is a leak in the tubing in the attic (water damage). Thought about doing the same thing then remembered nothing ever goes as I planned.
@@MucaroBoricua I actually built the same thing. Didn't want to pay the 3k for the heater either. 🤷🏼♂️ my reason was that I have other things to spend 3k on. So I get it.
This will only work well when it’s so hot you want a cool pool...get a solar water heater, an actual one with solar panels and a water tank, can get a used one for a couple of hundred
... the trickle coming from that pipe would lose half its heat into the air within a few seconds of it hitting the water... if u have a spa, I guess this would work alright, but if u have a 30,000L pool, this method would surely take days to actually make a noticable difference... And theres no way I'd manage to buy all of those pipes for 100 dollars. The other issue is that if you have cold weather, this isn't going to do jack shit, cos all the heat from the sun would be lost straight away to the air convection... Most people want a heater for when they have cold weather. so I don't see the point.
I cannot figure out why I am the first that I see saying this .. but buddy you need to measure the pool temp away from where the water is re entering the pool. You are measuring water that is basically the temp of the heated water. This is why so many people are giving you shit about the small gains. Your pool water measured at the opposite end of the pool from your heated water, would most likely be closer to 60 degrees.
This video appears to be a joke ? Are you adding additional water from your faucet (much higher water bill) or are you connecting your black hose to the pool equipment,using the water already in the pool?
No this is not a joke, you place one end of the black hose up into the end of the water coming out of the water filter/pump. That will push the water into the hose system that will inreturn end up running back into your pool but much warmer. It is very effective and easy especially on a warm sunny day! The water coming out could be up to 100-120. Depending on how hot of a day it is.
SLOW the flow rate by metering the output....you will find....a significant difference in temperature increase...making it more efficient....and effective.......
67, 72, both too cold to swim. Any pool to be comfortable needs to be close to or above 80 degrees. Need something that heats water temp to at least 80 degrees.
That system would do little to nothing. I have 160ft of solar pool heater on top of a south facing metal roof that gets 8 plus hours of sun per day even in winter in North Florida. If i TURN the flow rate up to max My flow rate is just under 10 gallons per minute and the water coming out of the heater is 10 degrees hotter than what went into it. I run the pump every day for 8 hours a day during the hottest part of the day. Assuming mostly full sunlight heating an above ground 24 ft round pool. i can keep the pools temperature at whatever the day time high temp is . For example if the daytime high is 90 then my pool will be 90 by about 2 pm every day. But when it gets into the 50's thats all i can heat it up too. That pool heater shown in the video with half the flow rate of mine and only 1/5th the temp rise would be useless especially on a pool that size. Just go buy a real solar heater, check craigslist i paid 40 dollars for both of mine that are 4 ft wide 20 ft long cause it had a leak that cost 10 cent to fix. Also even though THEY ARE black plastic , black plastic fades to grey paint it black again every couple of years, i gained 1 degree doing that!
Let’s go with your figures that you can get a 7 degree rise out of this setup at 3 gallons per minute for 8 hours a day. Let’s also assume your pool is 15,000 gallons. That setup will heat the pool by 2/3 of a degree over the course of the day (3 gallons x 60 minutes x 8 hours x 7 degrees = 10,080 gallons / 15,000 gallons = 2/3 of a degree of heat). This is a lot of work for something that doesn’t actually work. And anyone who’s paid attention to their pool temps knows that a pool will naturally gain several degrees of heat on a warm, sunny day. I monitored my pool yesterday and it went from 81 degrees at 10:00 AM to 86 degrees at 4:00 PM all by itself! And this is in Ohio. Let’s look at the math of that a little: (6 hours vs. 8 hours, 2/3 of a degree vs. 5 degrees) .67 degrees x .75 time = .5 degrees in 6 hours with this system vs. 5 degrees in 6 hours from the sun alone. For me, the sun was literally 10 times more efficient all by itself than this system. You’d be much better served keeping a solar cover on the pool at night so that the water can retain the heat it gained during the day. The other issue is the pump required to pump 3 gallons a minute through 800 feet of hose. That thing has to be using a fair amount of energy to accomplish that. That energy isn’t free. It’s a little ridiculous that you’re presenting this system as successful without showing any meaningful results. The purpose is to heat the pool and you have not done that. The figures you mentioned make for some very easy math that demonstrates that this idea will not work (as I demonstrated above). If your pool gets up to your desired temperature, it will be doing so in spite of your system. Also, this isn’t under $100. I’m using a tankless water heater that cost $80 and I could make the same deceitful claim. But why would I do that? I’m also using a pump, a thermostat and some other things that put the price at $200. But it also actually heats my pool and can be scheduled to maintain a specific temperature.
I want to BE ABLE TO SEE, EASILY SEE...AND to be able to EASILY, CLEAN OUT, ALL OF THE BUGS, SNAKES, SLIPPERY LEAVES, GROSS THINGS...DEAD ANIMALS, etc... THAT FALL IN.... Obviously, you have never owned a real pool, before... LOL! Smh. BLACK FLOOR, IN A POOL ??? Ummm, NO BUENO ! And...It looks AWFUL.
3 watts (or about 1/20th of what you can steal from your phone jack) can power a 70 gallon per hour pump, or 14 Watts (slightly more than an 11 watt modern light bulb) can pump 200 gallons per hour. I'd go for the 14 watts. It would take a few days to a week to jack up your pool by 10 degrees.
Losing lots of heat by having it on the cold stone. You're heating the stone also. OT: Why would you want your .com on the bottom of your pool so people can find your house?
I did a similar experiment 10 years ago in southern Arizona under full sun. The water going in was 80 degrees and the water coming out was over 110 degrees. Flow rate appeared about the same but I didn't measure it. However, in a 15,000 gallon pool the amount of heat gained didn't compensate for the heat loss overnight. After many experiments with black irrigation tubing and several hundred dollars in costs, including getting a used Fafco 4'x8' solar panel to test, I tried a solar blanket. Like day and night. A solar blanket is a thousand times more cost effective. It doesn't so much heat the pool as it keep evaporation from cooling the pool, day or night. Even during our high humidity rainy season it prevented heat loss partly due to evaporation but also due to insulation (reducing radiation, conduction and convection heat loss).
That being said, I once tested using heating coils and using a pool blanket in the middle of summer (100 degree highs are not uncommon in the summer here). Pool was a little over 80 in the morning after cooling down overnight. It was a full sunny day with no clouds. When I got home the pool was 105 degrees! I had a pool sized hot tub! If I had just used the coils the temp would have been around 90, without the coils the pool temp would have been around 87.
So my testing, 192 sq ft of coils and connectors (I have a hose bib on my pool pump so I didn't need to buy a sump) overall costing about $300 and passing through it what appeared to be about the same GPM as you have in your video will raise my pool temp 3-4 degrees above what it would have risen without it. It looses all the heat overnight and has to heat it again the next day to the same temp.
Compare to a $100 solar pool blanket which cuts heat loss due to evaporation overnight and during the day. The first day gets you about 2-3 degrees warmer simply from blocking evaporation, so the first day is not as good as the solar coils. However, the second day starts you off 4-6 degrees warmer than it otherwise would have been without the blanket and you get another 2-3 more degrees heating that day for a total of 6-9 degrees over what it would have been without the solar blanket. The efficiency starts dropping at that point, but you get far better results for your dollar with a solar blanket. -- The disadvantages of a solar blanket are that you have to keep the pH above 1.2 and the Chlorine below 3 ppm (removing it to shock) otherwise the plastic will degrade and you will end up with tiny popped plastic bubbles floating around your pool and clogging the filter. No solar blanket warranty covers broken bubbles. But if you have a salt water chlorine generator it will be very easy to maintain these levels since it is constantly raising pH and can be set at a lower generation rate (as you will also need less chlorine while using a solar blanket). HINT: Use a SCH 40 PVC pipe capped at both ends (so it's airtight and will float) and slide it under the middle of the solar blanket (short way, not long way) and you can easily lift off and roll up the blanket if you have someone helping from the other end.
I hope this is helpful to someone.
Very helpful thanks
It's all true. Solar blanket makes a big difference. I had good results with the cheap intex solar mats. Link 3 or 4 of them with a solar cover and you're good to go. My small pool will easily go up 10F+
Thank you brother. I really appreciate this information. My backyard is shady ass all get out thanks to my neighbors MASSIVE trees. It's a blessing and a curse. The pool is not hot enough to swim in on most days. The water is usually around 72-76 degrees. I have never seen it go above 83. I'll give your recommendation a shot. I live in PA by the way. Thanks again.
In planning stages for a similar project also in southern AZ. You are correct evaporation certainly cools the water and in Tucson we lose 100" a year. At certain points of the year that's an inch a day. I have dogs so blankets are a no go for fear of them drowning. I'm thinking 500' tube, pond pump and a solar panel I already have. The warmer the water the more chlorine, but I made a solar copper ionization thing that seems to be working great so not too worried about that. My biggest concern is finding the right pump that will carry the water to the roof but be slow enough flow for the water to heat up.
@@roycerichardsphoto I live in PA also, my parents don't live too far from me, maybe 15 miles, and my mom has a pool and I was looking for DIY ways to heat her pool. She does have a solar cover, but I wanted to be able to try something more. It's been a crazy year for temps in PA this year, yesterday it was sunny and only in the mid to upper 60s, then this morning it actually got down to 32 degrees. I live in north, northwestern la right near the PA/NY border.
I worked on a campground in Scotland. The pool was heated by passing water from the pool through two metal household radiator units. These were situated in a small purpose built glasshouse. The whole heating surfaces were painted Matt black to absorb more heat. The supply pipes were insulated to prevent heat loss. The whole set up was quite simple. It was very efficient indeed even with moderate sunlight, extended the usable period of the pool considerably. Cost was virtually nothing. Brian Williamson.
That’s a great setup!!!!! I seen a guy that put the pipe on his roof and buried the line to the pool so no one even saw!
I live in Michigan ...I have a 24x52 round above ground pool. I made a similar system to this but with a few differences. I built a wooden tray and lined it with black plastic for better sun absorption as well as insulation. On top of that I put a 600 watt plant warming mat then I put 100 ft. of coiled 1/2 in. black poly tubing on top of that and covered that whole thing with more 6 mil black plastic for even more sun absorption and added insulation for heat retention. I used a 1000 GPH fountain pump to push the water through the tubing. Before I started my unheated pool water was a rather chilly 68 degrees. After using my home made solar heater as well as my 8 mil solar cover I can keep my pool water just over 80 degrees consistently, even with night time air temps of 50 degrees. The solar cover is vital to maintaining, and insulating the warmth in the pool. Without it I lose any temperature gain from my DIY solar heater, and the solar cover also adds warmth as well. The whole thing is about 3ft by 3ft. and I have it stashed on an inconspicuous sunny side of the pool. I also put the whole thing on legs about 3 ft. high to keep the cold ground from cooling off the tubing. Obviously this is not nearly as efficient as a gas heater but it does give us about an extra 2 weeks in the spring and 2 weeks in the fall that we didnt have previously. The whole thing including solar cover cost me under 150 bucks . I only use it in mid May till mid June and then again in MId August till mid Sept. Then I close it down for the winter.
Great comment, Franklin. How is the system going? Can you post some pictures of your system?
Franklin Wilson any pictures please mate
Excellent job
We made a heater by using a 55 gallon drum and placing a 30 drum can inside. We filled the space between the two with a copper coil and sand then built a fire using fireplace wood. We used a bilge pump for the circulation pump and achieved 110 F @ 4 GPM. Took a while to heat the 19 foot round pool but it worked.
Pool cover!! More effective, and less of a headache.
How does it work? Won't a cover just prevent sunlight from hitting the water?
That is the most beautiful backyard I have ever seen!
I have a 16' round (5000 gal) above ground pool and pretty much did this.
4 - 100ft 1/2" poly tube and submersible pump.
Today in Indiana temp is 76* and good sun. I've raised the temp of the water from 69* to 73* in about 4ish hours. The setup is pushing out close to +5* difference from ambient temp of water.
Is it pretty? No. Does it work? YES. Way better than the 2 dome solar heater setup I did a few years ago.
By my calculations, that's a 2.2 kW heater you have there. I live in New Mexico, so we get a lot of sun. I recently made a solar heater like this using 400 feet of garden hose and tubing placed on the roof of my house. I'd prime the whole line with water first so the water coming down would act as a siphon for the water going up so my 1/10 HP transfer pump didn't have to work very hard. I'd get a 15 degree F temperature rise at 1.8 GPM flow rate, which corresponds to 4 kW. Not bad for the 150 W I was using to drive the pump.
Awesome, Any pictures or videos of your setup?
Smart
I love this! At first I wasn't sure
The best combination is to make few of these to rise the temperature, and then cover it with solar blanket, and you'll have such a huge difference
This is great, but you have to keep the pool open (i.e. evaporation loss). Just cover it with a cover, and let the sun bake it. Wouldn't that be better? Of course a system that allows you to have both a solar pool heater and a cover would be the best.
I watched your video it was great question for you I have went to the market got everything that you said to buy but I’m wondering how you connect the two together?
it works best when enclosing with glass or plexiglass.you get 5 to 10 degree!
Really cool. Thank you. Maybe You're losing heat from the stone on the pool deck. Maybe a stand or foil wrap might increase the temp
@Dan330 did you try running these straight through instead of Ts? Any heat difference
at that flow rate you will be ready to swim in it by winter
Set it in an aluminum pan to get more solar reflection
👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 excellent job!!!..
How did it hold up after a few years... still use it? Did you have to redo any of it?
I have a 20,000 gallon pool with a 400,000 BTU gas heater. Takes about 6-7 hours to heat it up 10 degrees. This is a clever idea but the delta T (difference in water temp entering and leaving the system) is much too low and the flow rate is much too low. You have a very large pool with a lot of surface area and you will never over come the losses from the outside air and evaporation. It takes 1 BTU to raise 1lb of water 1 degree F. You are pumping (5 gal/min * 8.34 lbs/gal * 60min/hr) = 2,502 lbs per hour and raising it 4.7 degrees which is about 12,000 BTU/hr. With a perfectly insulated system (no heat loss) and an estimated volume of your pool of 40K gallons it will take 27 hours in the sun to raise the temperature 1 def F
This guy gets it. Thanks for saving me doing the calculations. These systems don't with for anyone unless the pool is very small.
Yes this is correct! The amount of water leaving his return is doing nothing. I've tried this, solar blanket, small heat pump and after all that wasted money I could have purchased a 180k btu heat pump and been done with it. You must have return flow heated at desired temp let's say 80 degrees to even make a difference on my 20k pool. I'm not a math genius but common sense tells me pump flow at 80 degrees is better than 2 gallon per hour dribbling out at 180 degrees. Not to mention spring and fall where I'm at gets into 50s and 60's so heat loss will happen no matter what cover or not. One cold night could kill a week's worth of solar heat its like pissin in the wind with the diy solar heater. Next year I will take this advice and get a nice sized heat pump or gas heater it's the only way to go if your serious about heating the pool.
But how much did the pool itself heat up? Kind of the point. At least put the intake on the other end??
Might work on a sunny day with a timer to allow the water to sit in the hose 20 min and then dump.
i'm not sure but i think that if you put the coils in series instead of parrallel it would work better because the water would run trough more tube so it would have more time to heat up.
Actually that is not true. Heat will transfer faster to the pipe when the temperature of the water is colder (Heat Transfer 101), also the flow rate is reduced. So with a parallel connection you get more heat from the sun into the pool even though the water comes out cooler.
you should connect the coils of hoses in one continuous flow, and not using T's to branch off each coil. You should get more efficient distribution, better heating.
I'm moving to Florida so I want to cool my pool in the summer and hate it in the winter so I was thinking about doing something similar but using a larger pipe and putting it on top of the roof to heat during the winter and burying pipe maybe six feet down or so and coiling it and letting the ground actually cool the pool I'm not sure if it will work I'm looking for videos and I haven't found any
I'm trying something similar in an Albuquerque summer. I already dumped my entire water heater into it already and that didn't work as well as I thought
When we run this system, it adds 5-10 degrees. We threw the whole thing on top of a pergola so you don't ever see it.
Pretty cool! 800 ft ~$96 It should be warmer if you place on your roof on something black. It is probably better to elevate it above the ground as it might lose some heat warming the white stones around the pool. Do you if those hoses release some chemicals when heated?
just imagine with 20,000 feet of hose and 14 pumps your pool will heat up in less that a week
;)
nice, im laughing big time.
Hilarious
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
ROTFLOL!!!
which pump did you use? and how much power?
could be fun to know if you can predict when the pool will be at a given temp if you know the flowrate and the inlet and outlet temp of the heater coil or a solar heater mat
I have to chime in with the other comments. This is a half done project. Measuring the temperature of the water coming out of the tube is like stopping sex in the middle of it. You ain't done!!
How much does the T of the water increase over a period of time, 24 hours, 7 days, etc... Increasing the T of ~1% of the water by 7 degrees is unlikely to result in measurable increase in entire body of water.
[EDIT] I just did the math. A pool that size depending on the environment should be using a heater with a BTU rating between 80,000 and 110,000. The system you've described generates 453. If I've done the math right, that's 0.3% - 0.6% of the needed energy.
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
So what do You do drain your pool do you can heat it up?
It's a bad design but you gotta love the enthusiasm
I see a few issues. 1 it's hard to tell if you are measuring the temp of the water or touching the side of the piping which would be considerably warmer. 2. That little amount of water leaving the hose is neglible compared to the remaining amount of water in the pool that is cooling down at the same time. This would likely make a significant impact with a solar blanket though. The other thing is to remember to shut it off at night when it would be cooler out than inside the pool.
How long does it take to circulate the entire pool
wow 72 here in cali is a bit on the colder side i will deferentially not complain about the "cold pool". Amaizing job its an easy low budget pool if you do not mind the question where do you guys live you guys have an amazing view @Dan330
try to cover these coils with glass to save heat (avoid dissipation)
What do you mean by "coils " ?
Thanks, Gerry
@@JustEnjoyingLife73 I think he mean the typical installation which imply a wood casing painted in black and a glass on top of it to somewhat close it to create a kind of greenhouse. Like a car in the sun with closed windows: heat will accumulate.
What's the pump you are using in the water? Great vid and insight. Thank you!
looks like a sump pump
@@chengkhang2804 Right on thank you!
Thank you for sharing your project and results. I used a hose instead of tubing. The sun is not heating the hose (using 200 ft, coiled like a spiral, 100 ft on top of the other 100 ft.). Why is tubing preferred over hose? Thanks in advance for your reply. Please give the specs on the tubing.
Cost. Black garden hose is about 5x's the cost of that useless tubing.
I don't know why not!
You need an exchange rate of running the whole volume of tour pool in 8 hours. If you are running 5 degrees higher you would increase the pool temp by that much. Need to generate more heat for it to work. Good idea but with an in ground pool you have a lot of water.
What size HP do i need for 500 feet of tubing? is 1/2 HP ok?
my father did that idea .well Something like that ran from pool on to the roof would like black vein stuff back to pool it didn't really work that great . but it was the 70's . think of this slow as it puts warm water in pool the water cools to fast . even when a hundred degree outside the hot water coming out of water jets only upper 2 ft of water warm but bottom water still cold
i had use 4X 200 feet of 3/4 in and using full exit pool pump 1,5 in
omg the dead frog in the pool 😭
Pump the warm water down to the bottom of the deep end. Add some trash bag/hula hoop solar rings and the kids will love you
Other than the huge bundles of black cable that look like total shit next to the pool, it's very clever!
Put it in a solar box and you'll reduce the convection loss.
I'll bet just covering it with a clear tarp would help, and put some insulation underneath for maximum effect.
If you move that pool here to Houston you won't need that tubing, just dry ice to bring it down to 90 degrees.
Same thing here in Alabama. It's so hot here the meth heads are putting the copper back in the air conditioners.
Invited kids over, they will pee in it enough it will raise the temp...
Put the coils on your roof and you will get a lot more heat.
Cool
What if u put on roof
cover the pool with black plastic while not in use. You will get the same, just way bigger surface :)
Que tipo de bomba y que capacidad usó?
This is what I do everything year > Take a 55 gallon steel drum drill 20 to 30 1/2 inch size holes off the bottom 6in or so the take 20-30 feet of 1/2-3/8 soft copper tubing and wrap it on the inside of the barrel more at the bottom. Leave out of the top and away from the barrel at least 12". Hook a garden hose up to the one side and put it back into the pool on the other side hook up A110 Volt adjustable water pump to a hose then to the copper and the inlet side. Fill the barrel up with wood light it up and that water coming out depending on type of wood and length of copper/speed of pump will burn you!! I live in Northeastern Ohio and open the pool around Memorial Day and be able to swim in it because of this heater!
Can you show some pics... sounds really cool
I agree with the other comment. Your description is good but it's hard to get it all. I know it's been 4 years but if you could make a short video of the result. thanks
Why did you not get into the pump at all? It’s the most important part - what pump did you use, what’s the GPH, how did you connect it, etc. instead of showing the temperatures
Enclose your black hose in a glass cover and your water temp output will increase to about 120 degrees or more (the glass acts like a magnifying glass).
you can get cheap corrugated clear plastic for greenhouses in 8 foot panels so just get a few of those.
@@danielroden9424 Corrugated will not "seal" the enclosure.
This will heat water in a bathtub but trying to heat a swiming pool it wont work the numbers are just too big
You do not want to use poly tubing for a pool because chlorine will destroy it over time. Instead, get black flexible PVC pipe.
Is Vinyl PVC? I also know that it has to be UV resistant.
So how long will it take to heat the pool?
Hi nice idea ........ you should try putting the poly tubing on a sheet of aluminum abt 1/8" thickness also put it in a box with a glass lid to keep the heat in ..........
How about a few big magnifying glasses and point it at the pool 😳
ooooor this one
ua-cam.com/video/XFw7U7V1Hok/v-deo.html
Solar 101: to maximize output, reduce losses... put the coils on something insulated, preferably black. Cover them with clear plastic, sealed to trap some air for insulation. 200 GPH at 5 deg F temp rise is about 8000 btu/hr, or about the same amount of energy contained in 1lb of wood pellets How many gallons is that pool?...
I did skip a bunch in the video. But all i can think of right now is how your not supposed to drink water from water bottles that sat out in the sun forever. Because the chemicals from the plastic are sort of toxic and release into the water after a bunch of heat. So im imagining that giant black plastic tube getting really hot all day, every day and just unloading its steaming chemical payload into the water for us to basque and swim around in.
Has anyone tried running this in their attic? I'm thinking the advantage would be that the attic is still hot for quite a while after the sun goes down, which might offset some of the PM heat loss. Obviously, I'd rather someone else try it first. : ]
First problem I could think of is a leak in the tubing in the attic (water damage). Thought about doing the same thing then remembered nothing ever goes as I planned.
I wish this was in metric!
This guy's yard looks like an amusement park and he can't afford a pool heater? 🤔
Thats what i was thinkin. Dude should just spend a coupla thou on a heater.
Its always good to be frugal and save when you can, then when he has some gs saved up he can get a proper one. Very inovative idea for cheaper :)
Perhaps he has a yard like that because he doesn't trow his money around like it's bird seed
You missed the point. He's an inventor. Making stuff is what makes him happy.
@@MucaroBoricua I actually built the same thing. Didn't want to pay the 3k for the heater either. 🤷🏼♂️ my reason was that I have other things to spend 3k on. So I get it.
This will only work well when it’s so hot you want a cool pool...get a solar water heater, an actual one with solar panels and a water tank, can get a used one for a couple of hundred
When you can afford a pool but not a solar heater.
I'll use Inplix instructions to make it by myself.
Just seen this in another video
... the trickle coming from that pipe would lose half its heat into the air within a few seconds of it hitting the water... if u have a spa, I guess this would work alright, but if u have a 30,000L pool, this method would surely take days to actually make a noticable difference...
And theres no way I'd manage to buy all of those pipes for 100 dollars.
The other issue is that if you have cold weather, this isn't going to do jack shit, cos all the heat from the sun would be lost straight away to the air convection...
Most people want a heater for when they have cold weather. so I don't see the point.
Kemper trail clouds....
Wont work, not enough capacity i tried one waste of time
you have to line them up in series then the water gets hother no tee
Use one 100 foot hose that is black, the rubber is a better conducive material, than thin plastic holds no heat...
I cannot figure out why I am the first that I see saying this .. but buddy you need to measure the pool temp away from where the water is re entering the pool. You are measuring water that is basically the temp of the heated water. This is why so many people are giving you shit about the small gains. Your pool water measured at the opposite end of the pool from your heated water, would most likely be closer to 60 degrees.
Being a pool owner, I thought the same thing.
Oml!!! Just get alot of Garbage bags it helps alot! It made mine 87°
I did something very similar, new plans from Avasva helped me with this.
Not enough volume circulating. Takes too long. 3 gallons of water 7 degrees.....how many gallons in that pool?
This video appears to be a joke ?
Are you adding additional water from your faucet (much higher water bill) or are you connecting your black hose to the pool equipment,using the water already in the pool?
No this is not a joke, you place one end of the black hose up into the end of the water coming out of the water filter/pump. That will push the water into the hose system that will inreturn end up running back into your pool but much warmer. It is very effective and easy especially on a warm sunny day! The water coming out could be up to 100-120. Depending on how hot of a day it is.
SLOW the flow rate by metering the output....you will find....a significant difference in temperature increase...making it more efficient....and effective.......
I made it by myself. I used Avasva solutions for that.
What's Avasva please ?
Thanks, Gerry from Cali
@@gerry427 Best DIY plans now!
Spraying the bottom of the pool into black should be more efficient than using a pipe, and the area exposed to sunlight is larger
thats a quick way to destroy water balance and your pool. don't do that
67, 72, both too cold to swim. Any pool to be comfortable needs to be close to or above 80 degrees. Need something that heats water temp to at least 80 degrees.
A black pool blanket is way more efficient and cheaper.
Impressive, but not warm enough on a shady day
That system would do little to nothing. I have 160ft of solar pool heater on top of a south facing metal roof that gets 8 plus hours of sun per day even in winter in North Florida. If i TURN the flow rate up to max My flow rate is just under 10 gallons per minute and the water coming out of the heater is 10 degrees hotter than what went into it. I run the pump every day for 8 hours a day during the hottest part of the day. Assuming mostly full sunlight heating an above ground 24 ft round pool. i can keep the pools temperature at whatever the day time high temp is . For example if the daytime high is 90 then my pool will be 90 by about 2 pm every day. But when it gets into the 50's thats all i can heat it up too. That pool heater shown in the video with half the flow rate of mine and only 1/5th the temp rise would be useless especially on a pool that size. Just go buy a real solar heater, check craigslist i paid 40 dollars for both of mine that are 4 ft wide 20 ft long cause it had a leak that cost 10 cent to fix. Also even though THEY ARE black plastic , black plastic fades to grey paint it black again every couple of years, i gained 1 degree doing that!
William Brennan just saw your post..sounds interesting. Could you post pic here? What kind of solar heater?
You just increased the pool by 4 square meters. WOW !!! how about use dark tiles?????
dude if u r worried about 4degree difference in ur pool, then u should fill ur pool in with dirt.
How warm is the bottom of the pool. This sucks
pool covers
Unfortunately whilst the concept is sound, this would not generate enough heat to heat an entire pool.
nude
It would work if they add another 150,000 feet of tubing, providing the sun is overhead and it is the middle of summer.
Rob - It eventually ads 8+ degrees, takes a few days to a week to get the full effect. Has to be installed on a dark roof.
Let’s go with your figures that you can get a 7 degree rise out of this setup at 3 gallons per minute for 8 hours a day. Let’s also assume your pool is 15,000 gallons. That setup will heat the pool by 2/3 of a degree over the course of the day (3 gallons x 60 minutes x 8 hours x 7 degrees = 10,080 gallons / 15,000 gallons = 2/3 of a degree of heat). This is a lot of work for something that doesn’t actually work. And anyone who’s paid attention to their pool temps knows that a pool will naturally gain several degrees of heat on a warm, sunny day. I monitored my pool yesterday and it went from 81 degrees at 10:00 AM to 86 degrees at 4:00 PM all by itself! And this is in Ohio. Let’s look at the math of that a little: (6 hours vs. 8 hours, 2/3 of a degree vs. 5 degrees) .67 degrees x .75 time = .5 degrees in 6 hours with this system vs. 5 degrees in 6 hours from the sun alone. For me, the sun was literally 10 times more efficient all by itself than this system. You’d be much better served keeping a solar cover on the pool at night so that the water can retain the heat it gained during the day. The other issue is the pump required to pump 3 gallons a minute through 800 feet of hose. That thing has to be using a fair amount of energy to accomplish that. That energy isn’t free.
It’s a little ridiculous that you’re presenting this system as successful without showing any meaningful results. The purpose is to heat the pool and you have not done that. The figures you mentioned make for some very easy math that demonstrates that this idea will not work (as I demonstrated above). If your pool gets up to your desired temperature, it will be doing so in spite of your system. Also, this isn’t under $100. I’m using a tankless water heater that cost $80 and I could make the same deceitful claim. But why would I do that? I’m also using a pump, a thermostat and some other things that put the price at $200. But it also actually heats my pool and can be scheduled to maintain a specific temperature.
what about just painting the whole pool in black? or using black tiles for the entire pool..?
Water blocks thermal radiation, that will Never work and you pool will look ugly.
I want to BE ABLE TO SEE, EASILY SEE...AND to be able to EASILY, CLEAN OUT, ALL OF THE BUGS, SNAKES, SLIPPERY LEAVES, GROSS THINGS...DEAD ANIMALS, etc... THAT FALL IN.... Obviously, you have never owned a real pool, before... LOL! Smh.
BLACK FLOOR, IN A POOL ???
Ummm, NO BUENO !
And...It looks AWFUL.
what about your electric bill for running the pump?
3 watts (or about 1/20th of what you can steal from your phone jack) can power a 70 gallon per hour pump, or 14 Watts (slightly more than an 11 watt modern light bulb) can pump 200 gallons per hour. I'd go for the 14 watts. It would take a few days to a week to jack up your pool by 10 degrees.
Losing lots of heat by having it on the cold stone. You're heating the stone also. OT: Why would you want your .com on the bottom of your pool so people can find your house?
Is that a frog???? 1:33
(left side of the screen)