I made a solar pool heater. Now I need a pump. Not sure what kind.

[OnionPatch]

We bought a 15' Easy Set pool (the blue, blobby things) for our 10-year-old daughter. She's always wanting me to get in with her but I hate cold water and it's always cold. I figured it's a small enough pool that I should be able to get it to a comfortable temperature in southern California with a solar pool heater. So I made one. (I'm very proud of myself. :)) I don't have a picture of it so I'll describe it: Its a low, flat, 4ft x 5ft plywood box, painted black, about 1 1/2 inches deep. Inside is a flat coil of around 100 feet of black 5/8" garden tubing, the kind they use for drip systems. (I was going to cover it with plexiglass until I saw the price tag on that stuff. Guess it will stay open, or maybe I can cover it with clear plastic. Should I? Will it make that much difference?) The heater hooks up to a garden hose coming in and going out. I was going to connect the hoses to the existing pool filter somehow, but the tubing for the pool filter and fittings are much larger than the hose in my solar heater. My husband thinks this will cause a strain on the filter/pump if I hook it to my solar heater. Also, I don't know how we are going to fit the garden hoses to the filter tubes in the first place since there is such a difference their diameters. I would like to just purchase a separate water pump for the solar heater that I can hook up to regular garden hoses somehow. Does anyone know what sort of pump I should get? I have no idea. The pool holds about 3110 gallons of water. I've been Googling water pumps but can only find them with filters included for larger pools (way too pricey) or with pumps for fountains and ponds and I don't know if those are appropriate. I don't really know what to look for. Does anyone have an idea what kind of water pump I need for this? Any other considerations I should thing of? :shrug: I'm not exactly an engineer or anything. Thanks.

[amerikat]

1. Sounds like you off to a good start and on the right track.

I would cover the box. It will make it much more efficiant. You could use some plastic sheet as you have suggested. Another thing that might work is a clear vinyl shower curtain liner....about ten bucks.

I may have a pump that will work for your application. I'll check it out tomorrow. It's a pump
I grabbed from a restaurant size ice maker. I hate to throw away anything that can be re-tasked.

If it seems like it could work for your solar heater, it's yours. I could mail it to you.

keep up the good work!


edit for spelling

[OnionPatch]

2. A shower curtain---that's a great idea! Thanks.

I bought a roll of thick, clear plastic to cover it with but when I unrolled it, it was cloudy and not nearly as clear as I had imagined it would be. I didn't use it because I worried it might block out some of the light. A clear shower curtain, on the other hand, is nice and thick but also very transparent. I think it will work great.

As for the pump, sure, that sounds cool, let me know if you don't need it. I'd be happy to pay for it if you think it will work.

[amerikat]

4. I don't think the pump I have will work.

It has a basin to collect water when the water level get high enough
in the basin a float switch turns on the motor. I think what you need is just a plain transfer pump. Like this one.

http://www.little-giantpump.com/new_page_27.htm

The suggestion of a fountain pump might work and may be cheaper.

I'll look around on the web when I get a chance.

[OnionPatch]

5. That's ok. Thanks for offering.

:)

My husband says he thinks he knows where to look for a pump like the one you linked. Thanks for the link, now I know what I need to look for. That looks like it would work perfectly.

[Warpy]

3. One thing I learned about swimming in frigid ocean water

off the coast of New England was that a short swim in the morning would cool me off for hours in the hottest, muggiest weather you can imagine.

Even hotel swimming pools rarely got over 80F, ice cold to most southerners.

IOW, swimming in cold water aint all bad in summertime.

A small pump for a fountain or pond will circulate the water, but it might take several days for you to come up to what you consider a comfortable temperature. Remember, solar doesn't work like gas heat, it heats rather slowly. A fountain pump would seem to be ideal, just turn it on in the morning and turn it off when the sun goes down.

A cover for the top of the pool will slow radiant heat loss overnight.

[OnionPatch]

6. I know most people like cold water in the summer.

And I can understand that, but cold water is not for me. :scared: I think I must be more sensitive to cold than the average person although I can jump in and out of the pool on a hot day without it bothering me too much. The problem is, my daughter always wants me to hang out in the pool for a long time, which is pretty much torture for me.

I do have a debris cover for the pool that is supposed to hold in the heat but I just ordered a solar pool cover, too. http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Swimming-Cover-Frame-Pools/dp/B002LU1E6Q Maybe with it and the solar heater I can get it warm enough to swim a little before the season is over.

I'll take a closer look at the fountain pumps, maybe one of them will work. Thanks. :)

[onethatcares]

7. I converted my easyset pool hoses to pvc

It was a matter of using a couple of black rubber connectors and then going to 1 1/2 inch pvc. I added a drain valve at that time by using a tee with a 1/2inch threaded outlet. I connected a hose bib to that to allow me to drain the pool after a heavy rain. but enough of that.

Use pvc the same way, use a diverter with a hose adapter to feed your tank and another to go back into the pool. Use an inline valve to control the amount of heated water either going in or coming out of the heater tank. Convection will feed the pool. No pump extra pump needed.

PM me if you have any questions.

[txlibdem]

8. Most of the solar pool heaters I've seen on the web are a lot bigger

Most look like 3' or 4' high and 15' to 20' long. It looks like you're on the right track with the fountain pump, just need to make it longer/larger to ramp up the heating potential. A small solar panel could supply the power for the pump so there wouldn't be any forgetting to turn it on - it would work when the sun was up and stop when it wasn't.

[txlibdem]

9. I'm dying to know how it went with the solar pool heater you made

The more I think of it, the more I wonder why it isn't part of the building code for in-ground pools.

Anyway, just curious how it turned out and what pump you decided upon...

PS, I read an article about using a pool as a source loop for geothermal heating and cooling. I don't have a pool but it would be a nice thought that a pool could provide most of the energy required to cool your house in summer/heat it in winter. And the systems are just a little pricier than "standard" heating and a/c. It's one of those "now why didn't I think of that" moments for me...

[OnionPatch]

10. Sorry for the late response but the heater worked great.

I just ended up hooking it into the existing pool pump and that worked out pretty well. It didn't seem to put too much strain on the pump. Our pool is just one of those small, above-ground, round, blue things. It's 15' diameter, 42' high. It holds 3200 gallons. It's for the kids, really, but big enough for adults. I didn't record water temps or anything, but the heater kept the pool warm enough to swim in until the actual air temps outside were too cold for swimming. We were able to use it into October. (We're in Southern CA) Depending on how much flow I ran through it, the water coming out of it was almost hot enough to burn! It never did make the pool like bathwater, but most people wouldn't want it that warm, anyway. However, I do. So next year, we're going to add another panel to the pool and put them both on their own pump so we will have double the volume of warm water flowing into it.

We're also looking into ways to make something similar and hook it into our hot water heater for the house. It would hook into the existing system and would heat the water before it goes into our conventional gas water heater. From what I hear, this makes it so that the gas heater doesn't have to work nearly as hard. I've read that some people cut their water heating expense by about 80-90% with something like this!

This experience taught me that a lot can be done with systems like this, very inexpensively. (About 90% of the materials I used were already laying around in the garage and shed.) More people should take advantage of this to lower their heating bills. Solar energy is definitely where it's at these days, but a lot of the systems are still just too expensive for most people. Sure, an investment up front is always worth it, but some people simply don't have the funds to make that investment. This kind of thing is something anyone can rig up, though.