I see most of the threads here are real problems from work related issues so I thought I would post something a little unusual to stimulate your creative thoughts.

I want to build a solar heater for my pool and wanted to see if any of you had a low cost approach. The direction I'm think about going is to use PVC tubing and a low volume solar powered pump.

Anyone have suggestions?

Actually I have used "bubble wrap" type pool covers - you said cheap.

Keeps temps up over night and left on during day seems to magnify rays into the water.

I did the numbers for it once.

ISTR about 300 feet of 3/4" black polyethylene pipe coiled on a roof, and fed by part of the return flow from the pool filter should make a difference.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

You want cheap ? Most pools have a faucet on the pump where it goes into the filter. Run a hose from that up onto your roof. Redirect your gutter back into the pool. put a sock on the end of the gutter to catch any trash off the roof. Then when your pool pump runs you will have hot water, ( If the sun is shining.).
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

Berkshire
I wish I would have thought of that when I had a pool!!!!

I agree with Berkshire, a black rubber hose does wonders.

However, I just priced these while I was looking for a new pool heater. The prices are pretty low now so I didn't see any benefit in building my own, other than it would be fun. I bought natural gas instead since I am set up for it and I don't want to trim grass around one more thing.

The cheapest home made unit I ever seen was a piece of 4 x 8 plywood painted with black paint.
Plywood sides 6-inches high, painted black. So a black box made of plywood.

Cut up sections of 4-inch diameter PVC Pipe, 6 inches long, glued to the Plywood in a honeycomb pattern, with about 1/2-inch spacing between Pipes.
Paint them black too.

Then, a piece of clear plastic sheet, like polycarbonate or plexiglass glued to the top.

The Plexiglass and the PVC pipes also have to be silicone glued so that the inside of the pipes are dry. The sun heats up the air inside the pipes, the water flows around the pipes inside the box. The more pipes you can put in, the more surface area you have.

Also, the same concept, only a black hose coiled up inside the box, then you don't have to glue the plexiglass. A plexiglass box gets really hot in the sun.

Water goes in at one side and out the other side, or top to bottom, or bottom to top...

Charlie
www.facsco.com

I have a cobweb-draped, dusty, old memory (from Popular Mechanics magazine, I think) about how to make a cheap home-made solar panel. I vaguely recall it was a construction that used two sheets of corrugated metal roofing. They were mounted in a wooden frame, spaced some small distance apart for a wide water flow channel. The sun-facing side was painted black, the underside was insulated somehow. Water was pumped through it in some manner. Maybe even gravity flow. Cold in, hot out.

Knowing now what I didn't know then, I suspect that you'd have to spike it occasionally with anti-bacterial / anti-algae solution to avoid buildup.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com

If you're circulating appropriately chlorinated water and 'shocking' the system as required I wonder how much of an issue that would be tygerdawg?

Evaporative cooling is also a major contributor so anything mentioned, in conjunction with some type of floats/covers on the water surface, should help. Hula hoops with black plastic sheeting in the middle.

http://www.flexiblesolutions.com/products/ecosavr/...

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