Redneck Pool Heater...(You'll laugh, then say DAMN!)

[shardian]

http://www.redneckpoolheater.com/

I saw this link over on slickdeals and thought it was going to be some lame redneck joke. It is a damn cool invention and apparently works pretty well. It would cost a "little" more here in the east to heat a pool in the winter, but still doable.

[Samstag]

Add a pilot light and a thermostat-controlled solenoid and he'd have an automatic system not much different than the natural-gas heater my parents surely paid insane amounts of money for.  It might be a pain to keep the thing powered, but that's what redneck kids are for, right?

[shardian]

He could invest in a larger propane tank. I have a friend that has a much bigger one for a fake log fireplace. It is about 4 times larger than a standard tank.

[danny_galaga]

 




                                          that looks really, really dangerous

 

[patrickl]

I was in a hotel room with a private pool in the room. The pool was heated by the room heaters. The daft thing was that the heaters had te be left on because otherwise the pool would go cold, but obviously if you leave the heaters on, the room will become bloody hot. I gues it must have sounded like a good/cheap idea at the time, but it seriously sucked. Having a private pool in your hotel room is kinda cool though 

[shardian]

 




                                          that looks really, really dangerous

 

Why? Its just a heat exchanger. It's probably safer than actually cooking burgers on the grill. If he turns the grill off, it will be cool in like 30 seconds.

[danny_galaga]

yes, but when you grill a burger you dont face been blasted with super-heated steam 

obviously you would make sure the pump is going first or whatever, but i bet there are no built in safe guards...

[Samstag]

yes, but when you grill a burger you dont face been blasted with super-heated steam 

obviously you would make sure the pump is going first or whatever, but i bet there are no built in safe guards...

Good point.  It does need some kind of cutoff if the pump stops.

But since this is a "redneck" version, I'm sure the system is fully automatic and running on "kid power".

[Ed_McCarron]

yes, but when you grill a burger you dont face been blasted with super-heated steam

To superheat steam you need to pressurize it.  That system is open to slightly over ambient pressure at both ends.  On the other hand, if it ran dry, turning the water in it to steam and the solder melting - killing you via lead poisoning...

[bfauska]

yes, but when you grill a burger you dont face been blasted with super-heated steam

To superheat steam you need to pressurize it.  That system is open to slightly over ambient pressure at both ends.  On the other hand, if it ran dry, turning the water in it to steam and the solder melting - killing you via lead poisoning...

Except that most plumbing solder for the last several years has been lead free.


On another note, you wouldn't necessarily need a pump for this system anyway.  If you plumbed it so that the intake was at the bottom of the pool, the heated water entered the pool near the top and the heater was at an elevation somewhere between, you would have natural circulation.  Of course this assumes an above ground pool or a buried grill, but with rednecks the pool is VERY likely above ground.

[Ed_McCarron]

Except that most plumbing solder for the last several years has been lead free.

It was a joke...

[Guaranos]

Back in the early 80's, my grandfather modified his pool pump to send the filtered water out through a series of black pipes before pouring back into the pool.  The sun would hit those black pipes and heat the water going through them.  I'm not sure how much of a difference it made overall, but the water coming back into the pool was hot to the touch.  I guess every little bit counts when you're trying to have a pool in northern NH.

[DrumAnBass]

That is awesome!!! Love it!

[bfauska]

Except that most plumbing solder for the last several years has been lead free.

It was a joke...

OOPS... I guess what I meant to say was 

 

[danny_galaga]

Back in the early 80's, my grandfather modified his pool pump to send the filtered water out through a series of black pipes before pouring back into the pool.  The sun would hit those black pipes and heat the water going through them.  I'm not sure how much of a difference it made overall, but the water coming back into the pool was hot to the touch.  I guess every little bit counts when you're trying to have a pool in northern NH.

actually, people do that where im from. in the dry season, its still sunny but the pool water is quite chilly. people set up an array of black poly pipe on their roof. basically a cheap-arsed solar hot water system. so you dont spend any money on heating the water. dont know how long they last, but i did have to pull one down on a job i was doing once. that was a LOT of poly pipe...

[shardian]

Bumping this up, as I will be adding pictures of my own redneck pool heater very soon. I about have it all soldered together - it will be done and heating by tonight.

Anyways, we have one of those small 550 gallon vinyl pools. It doesn't get a ton of sun, so it is very cold - too cold for our toddler. I finally decided to have a go at one of these things. Of course, mine is much smaller due to the size. I have about 30 linear feet of pipe. It should take less than an hour to have a warm pool.

[ChadTower]

Coulda just built a big magnifying glass over the pool.  Odds are pretty low you'd fry the baby...

[Ed_McCarron]

Odds are pretty low you'd fry the baby...

Voice of experience?

[patrickl]

It doesn't get a ton of sun, so it is very cold - too cold for our toddler.

I thought toddlers were supposed to heat up the pool by peeing in it 

[ChadTower]

Odds are pretty low you'd fry the baby...

Voice of experience?

Pfft.  I don't need a setup like that.  I can get it done with a transparent Bic pen housing and an LED crank light.  I'm the MacGyver of baby frying.

[shardian]

Ran my first test this evening. All of my soldering went great. The hose swivels leak like crazy. I guess that is because I used straight 3/4" pipe thread connections. Water hoses just don't attach well to those.

The pool pump did not appear to work. That was a crappy set back. After I put everything up though, I realized that the system just wasn't vented. That pump does not work with air in the system. I'll try again, and if need be, I'll just get a utility pump.

In the mean time, I just hooked up to the water line. The pool neede some water anyway. I didn't use a thermometer, so my results are just estimated.
At 2 gpm, I was getting an output of roughly 85 degrees. At 1 gpm, the temp was roughly 110. I would like to run somewhere around 5 gpm and 85-90 degrees.

Another thing I noticed is that I had my input coming in low, and the output coming out high inside the grill. I think it might be more efficient to have the output closest to the flame.

Well, until next time...

[Ed_McCarron]

The hose swivels leak like crazy. I guess that is because I used straight 3/4" pipe thread connections. Water hoses just don't attach well to those.

The pipe fittings are NPT.  Its a tapered thread.

Hose is straight thread.  Needs a gasket.

[shardian]

My female-female adapter has gaskets on both ends. That is where all of the water came from. The female water hose onto a npt 3/4" fitting barely leaked at all. I guess the adapter is just a piece of junk.

[shardian]

Well, I was feeling particularly irritated, so I went out and tried again. The pool pump is a no-go for sure. It just can't overcome the cumulative head pressure created by adapting down to 3/4",  raising up to the grill, and running thru 20' of hose and 30' of pipe. The pool pump is rated at 580 GPH, but based on testing, its head pressure rating is not much. I am looking at this pump right now:

Amazon water pump

I can get it for free with my amazon gift cards. It is rated to lift up to 15 feet. The same pump is at Home Depot for $78. If they would let me return it, I could bring it home to test out before ordering. I see no reason why it wouldn't give me what I want. I used to drain the hot tub with a similar pump thru 50' of hose.

Of course, I also want to solve the leaky fittings problem. Maybe an extra gasket in each end will help, along with some thread compound or teflon tape.

[danny_galaga]

My female-female adapter has gaskets on both ends. That is where all of the water came from. The female water hose onto a npt 3/4" fitting barely leaked at all. I guess the adapter is just a piece of junk.

mmmmm, female-female adapter...

[Ed_McCarron]

Amazon water pump

Ooh, submersible and cheap.

We're back to frying babies again.

[ChadTower]

Seriously, be careful with that.  The kid really doesn't need to get burned because someone unaware of the system walked up to the grill and opened it up all the way.

[shardian]

Seriously, be careful with that.  The kid really doesn't need to get burned because someone unaware of the system walked up to the grill and opened it up all the way.

Hehe. Oh yeah, this thing is sooooo much more dangerous than a grill with food on it. You can literally lay your hand on the piping with the grill on and it will not burn you, since it is full of cool water.

[shardian]

mmmmm, female-female adapter...

I either call it the "lesbian adapter", or the "siamese twins about to get gang-banged" adapter.

[delta88]

My buddy has a small above ground pool and has a pump push water through some pipes that run through his bon- fire pit.. works pretty good.... He can also cook a burger and steak on it as well

[shardian]

Solved my leak problem. I needed some pipe-thread to hose-thread adapters. Damn, the price of all of these fittings is killing me! I also ordered a pump yesterday. I think I will add another layer to the heater. It currently holds about 1.3 gallons, and another layer will put me right near 2 gallons.

[mameotron]

Heh, you're right!  I laughed at first, couldn't believe you were building one, but now I can't stop thinking about this.  DAMN!

[shardian]

Still waiting on my pump to ship. Damn Amazon has spoiled me the last year with Free shipping that is just next day/2day speed. I guess they wised up and are back to delaying FSS by a week. It's only fitting that I used a 'redneck alignment system' for a redneck pool heater, shown in the second pic. It was tough to hunt down a metal bottom paint can too!

Anyways, here are a few construction pics. I haven't taken a pic yet of the completed project.

[shardian]

Well I got the pump in, set it up with a y-splitter to control flow (the splitter allows the pump to operate full blast, while I only diverta portion to the heater), and got solar pool cover. Seems I was ready to put this thing to use...and then the rain started. It has pretty much rained non-stop all week!

Oh well, at least I snapped a picture!

[ChadTower]

Well if nothing else you got some good practice in soldering pipes.   

[shardian]

The setup worked great...until the 'factory reconditioned' pump I got crapped out. I should have paid heed to the negative reviews,because apparently ever reconditioned pump IS bad.

Anyways, pool went from 72 to 84 in about 2 hours. The output line was 94 degrees running with a medium flow rate, and 88-90 running fairly heavy. I think another layer could put me around 94-95 running full power.

So the good news is that the setup works well. The bad news is I have to wait for a new pump...so no heated pool for the wife's birthday party on monday. 

[shardian]

I have a new pump, have the pool cleaned out, and am ready for round 2 baby! This time, I am applying some of my rusty Engineering skills and installing a safety device. I scored an old flow switch from work, which I will put in-line with the supply hose. This way I can wire it up to an alarm device, and be warned if the pump quits again (which should NOT be a problem now anyways). Ideally, I would like to wire the switch to a 24V shut-off solenoid valve in the propane supply line. Unfortunately, a shutoff solenoid valve is not free like the used flow switch.