Anyone have any ingenious ways to heat water in an Above Ground?

[bhmhrex]

Hello,

I have a Doughboy sink in the ground pool. Sits about 18 inches out of the ground. Anyone have any ingenious ways to heat the pool water up as it goes through the return line? I know I could buy a heater, I am talking a cheap ingenious idea you have done that worked?

Maybe wrapping the flex hose in aluminum or something that conducts heat well and transfers it? Any tips would be great!

 

[Casey]

I keep my pump off during the day and let the sun pound the day lights out of the pool. It warms it through better than a solar cover does which only heats the top 6"of water.

The thing is though, that no matter how you generate heat, if you don't cover the pool at night, you lose it all.

 

[jblizzle]

Pretty sure the sun is adding the same amount of heat to the pool whether the pump is running or not.

 

[bhmhrex]

So you say leaving your pump off during the day and it will make it warm up faster and put the solar cover on at night?

 

[duraleigh]

I don't think you'll find any ideas that work well. Heating a pool involves massive btu consumption and, other than solar, there is no really practical way to make that transfer. Solar costs money.....quite a bit up front.

 

[jblizzle]

Having the pump off in the day will not make it warmer.
Yes, you need to have the cover on at night. Also having the cover on when it is windy will reduce evaporation losses.

The cheapest solution is a cover. (<$100)
Next would be adding some solar panels. ($200 +)

 

[motogearhead]

Black plastic pipe in direct sunlight built into a solar collector. Any pool would take a lot of BTUs to heat. Plus the massive thermal losses that would occur the further the water temp and ambient air temps are apart when you aren't able to heat. Plans are out there. I preheat domestic hot water with solar collectors into a storage tank. On the other hand natural gas is cheap.

 

[Red Neckerson]

Hello,

I have a Doughboy sink in the ground pool. Sits about 18 inches out of the ground. Anyone have any ingenious ways to heat the pool water up as it goes through the return line? I know I could buy a heater, I am talking a cheap ingenious idea you have done that worked?

Maybe wrapping the flex hose in aluminum or something that conducts heat well and transfers it? Any tips would be great!

Using the heat from your AC unit has been done. Have seen people use geothermal, burying coils underground to stabilize the thermal momentum. But really there's no magic bullets around the laws of thermodynamics.

 

[Richard320]

One of those ungainly bubble-wrap covers traps and retains heat better than you might imagine. You also don't lose any heat to evaporative cooling on the surface.

They also trap and retain leaves and dust worse than you might imagine.

 

[jblizzle]

It takes 100s and 100s of feet of black plastic pipes to get enough sqft of exposure and BTUs to make much of a difference. It is cheaper and easier to buy a couple solar mats when you look at the $/sqft

 

[bhmhrex]

Talk about letting air out of my solar cover!!!! Guess I shall stick with my solar cover then!!!

 

[reeves5327]

I saw the funniest YouTube video on this subject. Note that I am absolutely NOT recommening these methods but search redneck pool heater or maybe it was Kentucky pool heater. Anyway. Its entertaining!!

 

[n240sxguy]

I saw the funniest YouTube video on this subject. Note that I am absolutely NOT recommening these methods but search redneck pool heater or maybe it was Kentucky pool heater. Anyway. Its entertaining!!

Hey! Don't make fun of Kentucky! Wait. Ah, go ahead. Are you talking about the one where the guy used about 800 copper 90's and 1/2" pipe and made the one that went on his grill? He basically made a ~100k btu grill pool heater. Then fired it dry and melted the solder out of a lot of his fittings. Not the brightest crayon in the box there.
This is my vote for coolest way to heat water. You'd need to burn down a forest to heat a pool though.

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[reeves5327]

Wasn't making fun of the state. Honestly there's a YouTube post called Kentucky pool heater. He uses his filter hoses rerouted to his fire pit then through a few feet of metal pipe placed in fire and back to pool with more pool hose. Seriously!!

 

[n240sxguy]

I just looked that up. That is ignorant. I can't say the wood burning pool heater never crossed my mind. Luckily I saw lots of comparisons, and math I hadn't seen in years, on here about the efficiency and btu requirements of heating a pool. For a pool the size of mine, wood's not gonna cut it. I did find some other fun ways to heat a pool when I searched for ky pool heater.

This is the one I thought you were talking about.

http://www.redneckpoolheater.com


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[reeves5327]

Oh boy. The wheelbarrow is my favorite.
That is truly fantastic!! Think I will stick to the hot central Washington sun and my solar blanket at night!

 

[mrodgers]

It takes 100s and 100s of feet of black plastic pipes to get enough sqft of exposure and BTUs to make much of a difference. It is cheaper and easier to buy a couple solar mats when you look at the $/sqft

Why do people continue to state this when you can get 100 feet of black irrigation tubing for $13? Every thread out on the internet asking about heating a pool states this. When it's $150 for a single commercial solar panel, how is half a sheet of plywood and 100 feet of black tubing for $13 more expensive?

Google for DIY pool solar panel heater. Take a 4x4 sheet of plywood, coil the black polyethylene irrigation tubing available in half inch or 3/4 inch at Lowes, and add a couple of fittings to connect it to the pump. Want more heat? You have half a sheet of plywood left over, another $13 of tubing and connect the 2 panels together.

There's countless people on the net whom have just tossed tubing up on their garage or house roof and have warmed up their pool, yet also countless people whom have never done it state it doesn't work.

 

[woodyp]

I think what jblizzle is trying to say is that 100 LINEAR feet of tubing does not equate to 100 SQ. FT. of panel. Not saying your proposal won't work to some degree.

 

[Casey]

Why do people continue to state this when you can get 100 feet of black irrigation tubing for $13? Every thread out on the internet asking about heating a pool states this. When it's $150 for a single commercial solar panel, how is half a sheet of plywood and 100 feet of black tubing for $13 more expensive?

Google for DIY pool solar panel heater. Take a 4x4 sheet of plywood, coil the black polyethylene irrigation tubing available in half inch or 3/4 inch at Lowes, and add a couple of fittings to connect it to the pump. Want more heat? You have half a sheet of plywood left over, another $13 of tubing and connect the 2 panels together.

There's countless people on the net whom have just tossed tubing up on their garage or house roof and have warmed up their pool, yet also countless people whom have never done it state it doesn't work.

I pass a house out in the sticks of Pa heading down into the patch that does the same thing to grab heat to his in ground pool. I should stop n bend his ear one of these days to see how he likes it. I'd be interested to see what he says.

 

[jblizzle]

You can get a 40 sqft panel for well under $100 (have not check prices recently). 100 feet of 0.5" black pipe is about 5 sqft ... So you need 800 feet to have the same heating area which is $104 using your numbers ... That is before fittings to make multiple parallel runs.

Commercial panels are cheaper than diy when you look at cost per area of exposure (or BTUs heat added).