Wood burning DIY pool heater with wort chiller and copper

[mufjp]

My electric Raypak water heater has been out of order for a few years. Not wanting to spend thousands on a new heater, I’ve been looking at some DIY options including solar heaters.

I came across this website: Wood Fired Stock Tank Hot Tub — Stock Tank Pool Tips, Kits, & Inspiration | How-to DIY | @StockTankPools

What do you guys think of this idea? Basically a solo stove + wort chiller to heat my 17k AGP. I like the idea because it doesn’t require any sort of plumbing or pump.. I just need to burn some woods.

Because my pool is bigger than what they are trying to heat above, I’m thinking maybe I should go with the larger diameter, more efficient chiller with a bigger solo stove.

My only concern is the release of copper into the water. Would this be significant? Has anyone else have tried this? How about the stainless steel wort chiller option? Any chance of unwanted metal getting into the water from SS?

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[dfwnoob]

I'm no thermodynamics major, but considering my 400k BTU gas heater still takes some time to heat the entire pool at ~82% efficiency, I can't imagine how long that would take, let alone how much wood you'd go through. I could see that working fine for a hot tub, but a 17k gal pool is quite a bit more water plus surface to lose heat.

 

[Guicole]

Hi,

Did you ever got that setup working?

I’m looking into the same thing right now.