Pool Dome

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imwarren

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Jul 9, 2010
88
Here is my DIY Pool dome.
Made a cap geodesic dome out of 1/2 inch metal electrical conduit.
Covered with 1.5 mil plastic
Having my first ever Bday poil party for my self This weekend.
This is in central PA
Will let you know how things go.
Pool temp was 50 degrees yesterday am now at 70deg just got cover on hope to see faster increase now.
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Going to work on the door tomorrow will be putting a pop up cover on the deck the plastic back to dome to have a warm drying area. Will be using it with dome in place For this year it willbe a one time thing as I don't think it will support snow.
 
Cost
Conduit $120
Plastic $75
nuts bolts $15
Total $210

Heater free from craigslist
Gasline $75 craigslist
Gas fittings $30
Labor mostly diy inviting neighbors to party for their help lifting dome onto poll
Swimming with 3 yr old daughter outside in 40 degree weather should be priceless
 
imwarren said:
Going to work on the door tomorrow will be putting a pop up cover on the deck the plastic back to dome to have a warm drying area. Will be using it with dome in place For this year it willbe a one time thing as I don't think it will support snow.
Click to expand...

Just cut away the covering when it snows and recover later rather than allowing it to buckle.

Sent via Tapatalk...
 
I would be interested in something like this for that price, but I would need more details on how to construct it.

How much does the heater have to run? I'm assuming on sunny days it can get quite nice in there :)
 

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Got my info from multiple web site
Domearama
Desertdomes
Theyhave great info and step by step instruction and other link
The dome I made was a level set cap dome the link on my iPod isn't working will try on pc later
The cap dome is shorter the the regular half dome so less plastic
 
updated photos showing drying tent and door way to pool.
Water temp 92
air inside dome 65
drying tent 50
Outside temp 35
wind 5 to 10 mph
Only heat sorce is pool heater no sun today
This has worked as well if not better then I had hoped
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Have you been watching the gas meter to see how often the heater has to run to maintain the water temp? That's what I would be most interested in. Unless it's running nonstop this looks like an awesome setup!

Oh, also -- have you had any wind gusts?

This might have to be my spring project for early swimming. I will have to spend all winter convincing my fiance that it's not ridiculous :) I'm assuming since it would only need to be used for 2 sessions a year that assembly and dis-assembly wouldn't be that big of a deal.
 
Once the water was at temp the heater cycled about as much as it did at end of normal swim season I haven't got to check meter yet to see full usage
We had some gust but didn't feel any inside dome
I left solar cover on while it was on no fog/steam within minutes of removing it would fill with fog
Have many improvements in mind for spring time
If overall gas usage isn't extremly high for the 4 days I most likely will try April 1 for opening day
Wish I had monitered meter on at least a daily basis to see howmuch was used to get to temp compared to maintaining heat
 
imwarren said:
Once the water was at temp the heater cycled about as much as it did at end of normal swim season I haven't got to check meter yet to see full usage
We had some gust but didn't feel any inside dome
I left solar cover on while it was on no fog/steam within minutes of removing it would fill with fog
Have many improvements in mind for spring time
If overall gas usage isn't extremly high for the 4 days I most likely will try April 1 for opening day
Wish I had monitered meter on at least a daily basis to see howmuch was used to get to temp compared to maintaining heat
Click to expand...

So after you get in the dome fills with fog - that could be an issue if it was thick enough to obscure vision but I assume it isn't.
 
Ok rough numbers are in
Used 16 mcf natural gas
Turned heater on on wednesday temp was 50 deg
Temp reached 92 deg Friday night
So useing some false assumption ( no heat loss during heating etc) math show I would have used 5.5 mcf to get 42 deg of heat rise
To maintain that from Friday thru Sunday would have used 4 mcf per day
My current gas rates are $7.70 per mcf
My over all cost was $125.5
Cost of first heating $42.35
Cost per day to maintain $33.88
If I maintained for 1 month $1016.40
Youcould heat to lower temp but I feel to maintain a comfortable air temp in dome took the 92 deg

Might try may 1st as start date (normal is 3rd week in may). And run those numbers
 
Altoona pa
Without plastic in should be snow safe
Could have went with 3/4 or 1 inch conduit to be snow safe with a heavier plastic
I did see in my research a calculator for the effect of snow on domes to use to figure what size pipe to use to make it snow safe to bad building it to that level was out of my budget
 

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