Thoughts on a DIY solar pool heater

[waldreps]

Living in Minnesota and not having a pool heater, I have a very short swim season. I've been thinking of ways to make a solar pool heater. I'm thinking of trying to use black plastic irrigation pipe to make a collector like some have but instead of leaving it open, I was thinking of putting it in concrete painted black. I would love to hear others thoughts on the concrete idea. I was thinking that since concrete will absorb the heat from the sun, the many pipes running inside and through the concrete would absorb the heat from it which would then transfer to the water running through. Any thoughts? I got this idea from a photo I saw of a pool being built that was having pipes being run all under the concrete decking so that heat could be absorbed from it to heat the pool water.

[CarlD]

Poconos (Al), one of the Mods here, did something similar creating his own solar panel. However, if you shop, 4'x20' rollable panels aren't that expensive, and surely less than your plan.

[waldreps]

Yeah, Watermom contacted Poconos for me to let him know that I would like to see pictures of his setup and how he made it. I'm not sure about the costs. I'm thinking I could do mine for around $100 or so. The more I read now though makes me think that the concrete wouldn't be a good idea. It would absorb heat pretty good but doesn't seem to transfer it too quickly.

[Watermom]

By the way, I reminded Poconos today that he was supposed to do this. He said he was sorry that he had forgotten about it, but would do it tomorrow.

[33feet]

We built a shallow rectangular box, painted it black, glued on a clear plastic top. Before gluing on top we took a black hose and coiled it inside, so both ends of the hose were coming out a small hole at one end. Also used wood wedges to keep hose in place. We used a sump pump to move water from the pool through the coiled hose and through an additional black hose on the ground. With the sump pump on a 30 minute cycle timer, it helped raise the temperature.

Hope you get warm soon.

[AnnaK]

33feet, I like your construct! We don't have the space to put up solar panels anywhere near the pool but we could easily manage a box such as yours. How long are your hoses? How many 30 minute cycles do you run? Does the box have a solid top under the black vinyl? On second thought, probably not . . . the vinyl is your solar collector, right? Is the box tilted to allow rain water to drain off? Any chance you could post some photos? If so, please e-mail them to poolforum at gmail dot com with reference to this thread and Ben will post them.