Solar pool heater
- Thread starter DaiSan76
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Doc Sprocket
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You could probably start with a description of how it works, what you did, what it cost... effectiveness, etc.
1) I have a bypass circuit plumbed in, water from the pool goes out to the table, where it is split between the two coils, the sun heats the coils, which transfers heat to the water and then comes out of them, and back to the pool.
2) I built a frame with 4 2x4s on the bottom of a sheet of 3/4" plywood, and then ringed the outside with 1/6" treated. I primed, and then painted it black. I built the two coils, and plumbed them in so that my 1 1/4" pipe splits into 2 1" coils, and then comes back together to return to the pool.
3) It cost about $300.00, and I have around 180' of coil, compared to what you can buy at the store, which is $340 for 50' of coil.
4) So far it pumps in water that you can feel heat in, the water was 82 degrees before I turned it on, I'll post how long it takes to get to 86, which is about where I like my pool.
2) I built a frame with 4 2x4s on the bottom of a sheet of 3/4" plywood, and then ringed the outside with 1/6" treated. I primed, and then painted it black. I built the two coils, and plumbed them in so that my 1 1/4" pipe splits into 2 1" coils, and then comes back together to return to the pool.
3) It cost about $300.00, and I have around 180' of coil, compared to what you can buy at the store, which is $340 for 50' of coil.
4) So far it pumps in water that you can feel heat in, the water was 82 degrees before I turned it on, I'll post how long it takes to get to 86, which is about where I like my pool.
Doc Sprocket
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Cool! I recently had a co-worker show my pics of his own setup- he ran piping up to the roof of his house...
hardrock21
New member
Love the inventiveness. I built a solar house heater over the winter. Outside temp was 42 degrees, air it was blowing in was 117 degrees! Huge increase IMO. I bought all the solar cells and got them tabbed together to power the fans, but haven't finished it yet which would make it entirely off grid.
OzFab
Well-known member
Now that's DIY at it's finest, nice job 
We has solar heating fitted to our pool some years ago. It involved pipes from the filter running up to the roof of the house & connecting to mats (which were, basically, 6 x 1/2" hoses joined together) which zig zagged across the roof, about 100' of it
We has solar heating fitted to our pool some years ago. It involved pipes from the filter running up to the roof of the house & connecting to mats (which were, basically, 6 x 1/2" hoses joined together) which zig zagged across the roof, about 100' of it
OzFab
Well-known member
Sorry, no can do; it went in the garbage about 6 months ago. To be honest, it wasn't that great of a setup IMO. It was heavy, cumbersome, degraded in the sun & was an all round pita! It eventually went because some of the mat ended up hanging from the roof after some heavy wind because the anchor wires had rusted & broke...
If the pool shed roof is sturdy enough & the weight is distributed properly you shouldn't have a problem
If the pool shed roof is sturdy enough & the weight is distributed properly you shouldn't have a problem
Doc Sprocket
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I think all my co worker did was to lay lengths of black 1" PVC (I think) water pipe back and forth across the roof in multiple runs. I don't know how he secured it, but I know it's the same semi-rigid pipe you'd use when plumbing in a well pump.
fowler
New member
Poly pipe
That stuff lasts forever
We use it ( as all farmers do)
To plumb up all the farm water
It's been underground and above ground for 30+ years
It spend years in the sun and being run over by tractors
Some gets ripped up by machines so we just rebury it
Great stuff
Doc Sprocket
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Thanks, Fowler... Poly it is- I'd forgotten. Yep, very common in farm and agricultural use, and available in a few different grades.
machinist@large
Active member
The CURRENT grades ar OK; that's the only reason we've switched back to it. Also, what climate you live in has a big say as to what will work, and what won't. The original stuff (early 1970's) was rated down into the mid 30's (Fahrenheit); the suppliers assumed that the installers would take care to prevent use in freezing conditions. They got around the product liability issue by stating in the warranty "For underground use only, in frost free conditions".
A lot more to the whole saga; short & sweet, we've dug up and replaced somewhere over 1/4 mile of the original crap, and replaced it with galvanised pipe. Now, we're slowly digging up and replacing the galvanized as our acidic water eates the threads out of the joints. Thank god for Fernco connectors!!!
New runs are the current grade of Poly, rated for conditions where freezing is common, and highly likely. This stuff is a lot tougher than the original; like fowler said, you can drive over this stuff with heavy equipment, and it'll survive (just don't bury it after you did so; that would be a time bomb waiting to happen).
TS, if you were going to bury a water line on your place, if you have a well for your water supply, I'd personally start by asking questions of your well contractor (provided he was on the up&up, and you both are still talking to each other...... That can be a very rare case around here....).
If burying a line, go with their recommendations/ requirements for depth, whether you need to have clean sand for the back layers (above and below the pipe). The latest generation pipe to steel threaded end connectors are a whole lot better: they only work, though, if the contractor/ installer actually reads the instruction....
The pipe that is currently spec'ed out for my part of the glacier worn world has 4 layers; inner and outer are black poly; followed by a white layer, then a thick blue one. All those layers make pressing the pipe barb connectors a PITA. The factory lit. says to use a large pan of boiling water to heaten/soften the pipe before you press the ends in; around here, the cut rate outfits use an Oxy- Acetylene torch to try to do the same thing...
Most plastics can handle being warmed up to the the plastic state if it's done slowly (like boiling water); taking a torch to it just fries the different layers, thus seriously screwing up their chances of being able to withstand the rigors of the job......
If you're going above ground for a seasonal use project, one that doesn't freeze, you could probably save some serious money by going with a lower grade of matl. Otherwise, you're just going to have to bite the bullet......
fowler
New member
That sounds like hard core poly pipe
Ours is just one layer of maybe 3mm thick black plastic
In aus it's green line for irrigation
And red line is rural (the line actually has lines on it
Our pipe never freezes, even one frost a year can be a total write off of our crops
But it is subject to heat so great that if u stand on it in the early moring it's still soft from the previous day
Ours is just one layer of maybe 3mm thick black plastic
In aus it's green line for irrigation
And red line is rural (the line actually has lines on it
Our pipe never freezes, even one frost a year can be a total write off of our crops
But it is subject to heat so great that if u stand on it in the early moring it's still soft from the previous day
machinist@large
Active member
Oops!!!
Sorry about the thread jack/mini info rant......Where I live (southwest corner of Michigan's lower peninsula), our climate can go from 0*C in the morning to over 28*C (and back again) in just a few hours. We're on the northern end of "Tornado Alley"; and as anyone in between me and the Gulf of Mexico can tell you, the weather can get pretty hairy at times....
One of the strangest winters we had was back in the early/ mid 1980's; fall was warm, followed by a
heat wave in late Dec. Christmas day was in the low '80's (F) (mid to upper '20's C). Normal for that time of year would have been 15*~25* F,(0*~-15* C). About a month later, we didn't get out of the -10*~-15* F range for almost 2 weeks; punched our normal frost line (how deeply the ground freezes) from 36"~48" to almost double that. That meant that our code mandated depth of around 72" was being exceeded by the actual conditions.....The merry
that causes is a whole 'nother rant; basically, fowler and I are buying 2 different types of poly/plastic piping; I have to keep my lines from freezing to death, he has to keep them from melting in place.......
fowler
New member
Between the two of us u would think e are quite boring
Lol
Great descussion over plastic on the ground
Our temp range is -1-2 *c to 45*c in the shade
60 in the sun isn't uncommon
Lol
Great descussion over plastic on the ground
Our temp range is -1-2 *c to 45*c in the shade
60 in the sun isn't uncommon
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