Thanks to everyone here for some advice on swapping from test strips to a Taylor kit. Startup went well. I managed to hard plumb in my crazy BBQ heater and add a sprayer, so the kids should have a blast this summer.
The pool was still filling during the shot, so it's a bit greenish, but you can see my car-radiator-bbq heater in action. I siphon from the pool using 1" PVC, into a holding tank (garbage can haha), which then pumps using a sump pump up through the BBQ. The holding tank is to keep the electrical out of the pool. I realize it's not 100% protected but it's on a GFCI too, so I figure it's better than dropping the pump in the pool. It costs around $0.25 per hour to run the heater via my natural gas BBQ and I get about 4-6F temp rise per hour (at last year's flow, now it's much higher) through the car radiator. So, it costs me about $1-2 per day to keep the kids happy. We just plumbed in the sprayer, which the 7 year old is super pumped about. I still need to trim my fire bricks to make a more perfect seal over the grill, but the heat transfer seems pretty efficient as it is.
The pool was still filling during the shot, so it's a bit greenish, but you can see my car-radiator-bbq heater in action. I siphon from the pool using 1" PVC, into a holding tank (garbage can haha), which then pumps using a sump pump up through the BBQ. The holding tank is to keep the electrical out of the pool. I realize it's not 100% protected but it's on a GFCI too, so I figure it's better than dropping the pump in the pool. It costs around $0.25 per hour to run the heater via my natural gas BBQ and I get about 4-6F temp rise per hour (at last year's flow, now it's much higher) through the car radiator. So, it costs me about $1-2 per day to keep the kids happy. We just plumbed in the sprayer, which the 7 year old is super pumped about. I still need to trim my fire bricks to make a more perfect seal over the grill, but the heat transfer seems pretty efficient as it is.
