linda1
0
Loved following your thread. Pool looks fantastic and I'm sure the Dog loves it! Wish my labs enjoyed water. They hate getting wet.
Concrete Block Puppy Pool - in progress - many questions
- Thread starter bob2112
- Start date
I figured some of you might get a kick out of my more recent pool projects.
Even in Florida it gets cold enough to make unheated pools seasonal. I'm thinkin' that without heating the water, a pool in this area is probably too cold to use from maybe November thru at least the end of March. There 'bouts anyway.
Well, that's no good...
So, what's a guy that built a concrete block pool for his dog to do?
We do have an abundance of sunshine here in Florida, so I got to thinking solar heating. Mind you, I'm not one to spend a bunch of money on something store bought if I can figure out a way to build it myself.
So, I made a couple "solar panels"
That's 400 feet of irrigation tubing that the pool water is pumped through from a cut off that I added to an existing return pipe. Works like a champ! Gets the water coming out so hot that you can't keep your hand under it for more than a couple seconds. This was keeping the pool in the low 80° range, up to the mid 80s if the air temperature was staying up as well.
This system worked well at first. Then, as the sun continued to get lower (further south) in the sky each day, I started losing more and more time that the panels were getting full sun. My neighbor's trees are blocking the sun for all but maybe 3 hours a day at this point.
Between losing sunlight hours on the panel and the nights getting cooler (low 60s), the solar just wasn't able to keep the water warm enough. The dog didn't mind, but my wife couldn't go in with her. Let's just say that that was a problem that needed fixin' in a quickness and leave it at that.
I checked in to regular (store bought) propane heaters. Found a nice one made by Raypak that looked like it would do the job for about a thousand bucks. Considered that option for awhile, but talked myself out of it because I didn't want to deal with hauling 100 pound propane tanks around every week or so. (no inground tank because I don't want to deal with codes and permits) Anyway, that option was out.
Well, what else can heat water other than the sun?
Fire!
Let me just say that the next picture was just a simple test. I wanted to check a few ideas out on a small scale.
quit laughing!
okay... that didn't pan out. I had been thinking along the lines of a 55 gallon barrel in the pool with a fire built in it. Too many problems going that route.
Truth is, the fire pit floating in the pool does look pretty cool at night. Don't need the pole going across, that was just for the first test.
After some more thought and searching on the internet, I found something called a Military Immersion Heater. Any older Vets out there will enjoy the rest of this...
The military would use these things to heat water, at locations where hot water was otherwise unavailable, for such things as kitchen duties, showering and maybe washing clothes. Found it on eBay for 75 bucks and like 50 more for shipping.
You burn gasoline in these things. The tank holds 2.2 gallons and that usually gives me a run time of around 8 hours.
Some more MacGyvering lead to this
add water
and light!
The first day I took the pool from 76° to 84° in 8 hours (2 gallons of gas). Remember it's only a 2000 gallon pool.
I wasn't happy with that, so it was time for a few beers and some more thinkin'
What I came up with was getting another garbage can and only cutting a few holes in it. The water got MUCH hotter with less circulation.
I mean really, really HOT!
Then, I hooked up the vacuum hose to the skimmer and stuck the business end in one of the holes towards the bottom of the garbage can.
Now, I have hot water pumping through the pump/filter and out the 4 return jets.
The pool hit 95° that day
The dog is so happy that she is now helping keep the pool clean!
Guess I'll pack the "solar panels" away until next Spring when the sun returns to where it can do the job alone.
That's the latest,
Thanks
Even in Florida it gets cold enough to make unheated pools seasonal. I'm thinkin' that without heating the water, a pool in this area is probably too cold to use from maybe November thru at least the end of March. There 'bouts anyway.
Well, that's no good...
So, what's a guy that built a concrete block pool for his dog to do?
We do have an abundance of sunshine here in Florida, so I got to thinking solar heating. Mind you, I'm not one to spend a bunch of money on something store bought if I can figure out a way to build it myself.
So, I made a couple "solar panels"
That's 400 feet of irrigation tubing that the pool water is pumped through from a cut off that I added to an existing return pipe. Works like a champ! Gets the water coming out so hot that you can't keep your hand under it for more than a couple seconds. This was keeping the pool in the low 80° range, up to the mid 80s if the air temperature was staying up as well.
This system worked well at first. Then, as the sun continued to get lower (further south) in the sky each day, I started losing more and more time that the panels were getting full sun. My neighbor's trees are blocking the sun for all but maybe 3 hours a day at this point.
Between losing sunlight hours on the panel and the nights getting cooler (low 60s), the solar just wasn't able to keep the water warm enough. The dog didn't mind, but my wife couldn't go in with her. Let's just say that that was a problem that needed fixin' in a quickness and leave it at that.
I checked in to regular (store bought) propane heaters. Found a nice one made by Raypak that looked like it would do the job for about a thousand bucks. Considered that option for awhile, but talked myself out of it because I didn't want to deal with hauling 100 pound propane tanks around every week or so. (no inground tank because I don't want to deal with codes and permits) Anyway, that option was out.
Well, what else can heat water other than the sun?
Fire!
Let me just say that the next picture was just a simple test. I wanted to check a few ideas out on a small scale.
quit laughing!
okay... that didn't pan out. I had been thinking along the lines of a 55 gallon barrel in the pool with a fire built in it. Too many problems going that route.
Truth is, the fire pit floating in the pool does look pretty cool at night. Don't need the pole going across, that was just for the first test.
After some more thought and searching on the internet, I found something called a Military Immersion Heater. Any older Vets out there will enjoy the rest of this...
The military would use these things to heat water, at locations where hot water was otherwise unavailable, for such things as kitchen duties, showering and maybe washing clothes. Found it on eBay for 75 bucks and like 50 more for shipping.
You burn gasoline in these things. The tank holds 2.2 gallons and that usually gives me a run time of around 8 hours.
Some more MacGyvering lead to this
add water
and light!
The first day I took the pool from 76° to 84° in 8 hours (2 gallons of gas). Remember it's only a 2000 gallon pool.
I wasn't happy with that, so it was time for a few beers and some more thinkin'
What I came up with was getting another garbage can and only cutting a few holes in it. The water got MUCH hotter with less circulation.
I mean really, really HOT!
Then, I hooked up the vacuum hose to the skimmer and stuck the business end in one of the holes towards the bottom of the garbage can.
Now, I have hot water pumping through the pump/filter and out the 4 return jets.
The pool hit 95° that day
The dog is so happy that she is now helping keep the pool clean!
Guess I'll pack the "solar panels" away until next Spring when the sun returns to where it can do the job alone.
That's the latest,
Thanks
Can't believe how long it's been since I checked in here. Anyway, that is a nice pool and I'm sure your dogs love it. Have you looked into getting a solar cover? Those really help keep the heat in.
A lot of the pictures in some of the posts describing the work are dead links now (at least for me). I've got a project in mind for my pool that will be kind of a waterfall/shallow water tanning shelf. I'm wanting to use stones and maybe some cinder blocks, but I'm not sure what the best way is to seal everything. I see here that you used Drylok, but I was under the impression that Drylok alone isn't sufficient for a good waterproof seal. Was there something else you did for waterproofing, or did you just lay the blocks and slap on some Drylok?
Check post #9, looks like he used this: http://sanitred.com/swimming-pool-repair-waterproofing/ and then finished it with an epoxy paint.
Been over this thread ten times, great stuff. I think I'd like to try something very similar, just a couple feet shorter and a couple/few feet deeper, but maybe only a foot above ground. I wish the in-process photos were still working!