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View Full Version : opinions sought on wood-burning pool heaters



alisonquilts
05-25-2014, 09:52 PM
Does anyone have any experience with wood-burning pool heaters? I am intrigued by the idea (and I have a lot of "free" wood, thanks to some awful weather last summer) but it also looks like it could go horribly wrong!

I want to know if they actually work, and whether their particulate emissions are controlled (like regulated fireplace inserts and stoves) or whether they are basically a fire in a box with some water pipes. I would use it to extend the season, so it wouldn't be in use for more than three months of the year.

Thanks

Alison

PoolDoc
05-25-2014, 10:56 PM
I am intrigued by the idea (and I have a lot of "free" wood, thanks to some awful weather last summer) but it also looks like it could go horribly wrong!

Exactly.

Heating water leads to steam. Steam leads to explosions. Explosions lead to dead people.

There's a reason why there are redundant safety systems on household water heaters . . . but even so, this still happens:
http://www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensing/Boilers/Calendar/Newsletter/images/Othello-WH-Explosion.jpg
(http://www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensing/Boilers/Calendar/Newsletter/images/Othello-WH-Explosion.jpg)

I was a licensed master plumber for 25+ years, and I have a degree in engineering management . . . but I'm not sure I'm qualified to design a wood stove based pool water heater.

There have been some discussions on that topic here, but once I realized how unskilled the original poster was, I killed the discussion. I'm sorry, but that applies to you too: the very question you asked indicates that you lack the experience to pursue this topic safely.

There are manufactured wood boilers that could be used with reasonable safety, like these:
http://www.centralboiler.com/e-classic.html

But they aren't designed to handle pool chemicals, so you have to add a water-to-water stainless or cupro-nickel heat exchanger to the loop.

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