Redneck pool heater 3.0

[NS Gearhead]

I was gonna use that spot for the chicken coup... guess I'll have to re-think that.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Here we go again! 2015 season has started. We had a couple nice weeks at the start of July, and the pool actually got up to 28 deg by itself... but then the rain started... and it's been raining and cool since. I did get it up to 26 for sunday from 20... but man, that's still too cold for me! That 6 deg took 8 hours. By stoking it every 20-30min I could keep 55deg output. Reading back older posts, it seems I've lost some efficiency. Weird. Coil's probably dirty.

I've got it on two lifts of cinder blocks, so that makes it a little nicer to work with. I also put angle iron behind the door and straightened it.

The other day in the rain, I built a temporary "roof" out of a piece of metal cladding. I cut a 6" hole in the center and slid it over the stove pipe. I kept it open with some scrap metal and it covered the barrel for the most part. This got me thinking of building a shelter for it;

One big dislike I have of this heater is that I have to take the chimney off and tarp it between uses. In wanting to solve this, but not spend too much money, I've built 3 walls out of 2"x2". 5'x5' Not sure what I'll skin them with. Thin plywood with waterproof film of some kind over or some type of corrugated roofing. Haven't been to the building supply store yet to see what they've got. I'd also put a rain cap on the chimney. The cladding would be the middle part of the roof and it will overlap whatever other material I use to skin the frame. This will also stabilize the chimney as it currently just sits in the lid... and kind of flops around with the wind. LOL

I'll get some pics up soon.

I've also got a couple ideas to increase the output. Stay tuned

 

[EricG1793]

Hi NS, just wondering if you had any more updates from this year!

 

[NS Gearhead]

No, unfortunately she pretty well stayed the same this year. Several other projects took priority. I started building an enclosure for it, but never finished. This later became my deer blind. LOL I ended up moving the firewood I had left to give me a place to park the truck and open up for snow plowing. I did break my record high output! Got it up to 80deg C! However, I cheated a bit. I stuck my propane weed burner in there at max. LOL I did get 70deg out with just wood after having cleaned the coil, loaded up with kindling. Not sustainable of course, but nice to see it can get that high.

Ultimately an enclosure to keep it weather tight so I don't have to set up and tear down for each use, as well as being able to heat when it's raining would be nice. Also being able to insulate it properly would increase my efficiency. I also had thoughts of doubling the amount copper coil and getting a pump capable of double the volume. I'm happy with how this heats my pool, but not so much with how long it takes. It's a huge investment in time to get it ready for a swim. I haven't been looking too hard, but now that I've got a truck I might start looking for a home boiler on kijiji... if the price is right.

 

[NS Gearhead]

So, I'm back to wanting to build a smudge pot;
How To Use a Diesel / Oil Smudge Frost Pot Choofa or Orchard Tree or Grapes Heater - YouTube

What do you guys think; wrap the copper coil around the outside of the stove pipe and insulate, or line the inside and deal with soot?

 

[NS Gearhead]

Stovepipe water heater - YouTube

Rough calculation says that 50' of 1/2 copper 8" diam will be 1' tall. I think I'll aim for 150' this time. If it comes out too hot I'll get a pump with higher flow.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Smudge pot was a huge fail last year; the copper coil outside the chimney didn't absorb enough heat... and there was an incident. Apparently motor oil heated enough starts to boil. Picture what happens when you blow into a straw in milk. It bubbles up, and if you keep going, it bubbles over... and ignites, creating more heat, more bubbles and a bigger fire ball. Lucky for me I had an extinguisher handy, but I didn't trust it after that.

THIS year, I went back to wood. Built a barrel wood stove from a kit off amazon. Put 12 passes of 3/4" pipe through the fire box, and stretched my 100' of 3/4" copper tubing around the outside. This worked pretty well. This time I used a ball valve to slow the water going through and it helped it pick up a fair bit more heat. Just out of curiosity I went on kijiji and searched wood boilers. Found a upper/ lower wood/oil boiler close to me for $600. Offered him $300 and he took it. Now I have both in series. I can raise my pool temp 2deg/ hr. Takes no time at all. Instead of wasting all day, it just takes a couple of hours. I'm trilled with how it's working.

I'll post up pics as soon as I can figure out how to get them off my phone on to here. Sad, I know.

Oh, and this is pool heater 5.0 LOL

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Lol that painted a pretty good picture. Hope you didn't get any blow-back burns from the fire extinguisher!

Experiments like your make life worth living IMO. :thumbsup:

 

[pmsmechanic]

Interesting project.

 

[sodamo]

Keep it going