opinions sought on wood-burning pool heaters

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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alisonquilts

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!

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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/TradesLicensin...-Explosion.jpg
(http://www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensin...-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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