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Do-It-Yourself Solar Swimming Pool Heaterby daveryder on April 17, 2009

Table of Contents

Do-It-Yourself Solar Swimming Pool Heater ..........................................................................................

Intro: Do-It-Yourself Solar Swimming Pool Heater ..................................................................................

Step 1: Building the collector box ...............................................................................................

Step 2: Sizing the box .......................................................................................................

Step 3: Copper flashing backing plate ...........................................................................................

Step 4: Manifold and backing plate .............................................................................................

Step 5: Soldering the manifold to the backing plate .................................................................................

Step 6: Building the support structure ...........................................................................................

Step 7: Calculating the angle and running the supply pipe ............................................................................Step 8: Hooking the supply pipe up to the pool pump ................................................................................

Step 9: Mounting the box .....................................................................................................

Step 10: Intake valve ........................................................................................................

Step 11: The outflow pipe ....................................................................................................

Step 12: Install the glass and trim ..............................................................................................

Related Instructables ........................................................................................................

Comments ................................................................................................................

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Author:daveryder author's websiteJust a normal guy - I like recording music with my band and working on my house

Intro: Do-It-Yourself Solar Swimming Pool HeaterI made this solar-powered swimming pool heater out of common materials anyone could get, with ordinary tools most average homeowners have (or can borrow fromfriends). A friend of mine named Ace gave me a sliding glass door that was going to be thrown out from a job site he was working on (he's a roofer, and the door hadsome minor cosmetic damages to the metal f rame).

Step 1:Building the collector boxI decided to make it out of pressure treated 2�4s and 3/43 plywood - the glass had leaned against my studio for over a year and you can see weeds and the weathethem filthy (wow I need to pressure wash my siding):

Step 2:Sizing the boxSo the size of the collector box was dictated by the glass size (76″ x 46″). Here’s my little helper buddy Muggy (my 6 year old son) helping me lay out the copper - he was a big help throughout the entire project :) . Also you can see part of my German Shepherd Hoppy - she was NOT a big help:

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Step 3:Copper flashing backing plateI ordered a 102 x 203 roll of heavy copper flashing .0216 (standard heavy weight for larger craft work, roofing and range hoods etc.) from Storm Copper Componentsthey are great, lowest price I could find and when I unrolled it it was almost 63 longer than 102 :

Step 4:Manifold and backing plateI cut it in half and laid the two sheets under the copper manifold I made from 1/23 copper tubing I got from Lowes (the total copper cost in this project was around$250.00):

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Step 5:Soldering the manifold to the backing plateThen I had a hard time soldering the tubing to the flashing, the heat tended to make the flashing buckle - I screwed the tubing down tight to the flashing with metalstrapping, and just did as much as I could - skipping spots when the gap got over 1/8 of an inch or so. Still I made contact with around 70% of the tubing I think:

Step 6:Building the support structureI used my deck for part of the support, and sunk 2 4×4 posts for the other side. There is solid bedrock about 8 inches down there, so I dug big holes, used a rock

hammer-drill to drill holes into the limestone at angles and put 1/2″ rebar in the bottom, which I then filled with 4 - 80lb. bags of premix concrete (we get some seriouthunderstorms with strong winds):

Step 7:Calculating the angle and running the supply pipeI mounted it at a 45°angle, which may seem strange (my latitude is 38.42444) but here’s my reasoning: According to thiscool sun angle calculator , that isapproximately the optimum angle for me during early April and late September between 10:00AM and 11:00AM, which is when I need the heating most - during themiddle of summer the water sometimes gets too warm, so maybe I’ll be able to run the system at night and radiate some excess heat.

For the supply side, I tied into the pipe going from the filter to the jet, and used 3/4″ PVC which I buried in a shallow trench (There is a tee with a drain plug at thelowest point, for winterizing):

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Step 8:Hooking the supply pipe up to the pool pumpI thought I might need a valve between the jet and the output to the heater, but it wasn’t needed - there is a lot of pressure going to the solar heater:

Step 9:Mounting the boxI painted the interior flat black, and used weather stripping between the wood strips supporting the glass and the glass instead of silicone - it’s not airtight (thereseveral “weepholesâۥ drilled in the bottom for condensation). This way if I ever need to I can unscrew the trim and remove the glass easily:

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Step 10:Intake valveI can turn it on or off with a simple valve:

Step 11:The outflow pipeThe outflow is copper tubing:

Step 12:Install the glass and trimHere’s the finished heater with glass installed and trim (I’m going to treat the trim and support boards with the same color stain/water seal as the decking and thecollector box when the weather forecast calls for a few days of sunny warm weather).

Here is a little data I’ve been able to collect:It is flowing at 3 gallons per minute (180 gph), and at 10:30AM on a sunny day the pool temp is 58°(it was 54°this morning at 8:00AM). I filled a gallon jug with waterfrom the outflow of the solar collector (20 seconds) and the temp was nearly 61°- so it looks like on a really hot sunny day I could hope for a 4°or 5°rise in outflow temI think the pool is around 10,000 gallons, but trying to figure the math of it makes my brain hurt (I’m a musician, not a mathematician dammit!) and I guess it reallydoesn’t matter - if it works and I get even a few more days of comfortable swimming per year, then I’ll chalk this up in the WIN column :)

BTW if you get a chance how about digging this? Digg this

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Comments

36 comments Add Comment

chspyder says: May 16, 2010. 12:07 PM REP

Just a thought but copper is a very bad thing to have with the pool chemicals and causes staining. Ihave to bypass my heater when not used to keep thestaining to a minim, this may be low cost heater but the stain remover is about 60$ for my size pool, and two to three times per season it adds up.Iam building a dome shaped heater with black flex hose (vacuum line) like in the new leslies flier and wil l post results.

dweston says: Apr 25, 2010. 1:27 PM REP

I added a new twist to this basic design - I installed a temperature switchunder the glass (They sell at Lowes for around $17 and are for use atic vint fans) theswitch turns the pump on when the air temp reaches 100 degrees inside the pannel, and off when the temp falls back below 100 so the it only runs whthere is heat to transfer - seems to work well

glubash says: Apr 16, 2010. 5:45 AM REP

Nice project. I have a couple of coworkers looking at doing something similar. You mentioned that you might be able to radiate some heat during thesummer months at night, any luck with that? A small exhaust fan might help in that situation.

guynoble says: Jul 11, 2009. 5:28 AM REP

That looks like you did a really good job but a cheaper more effective option would probably be to place heat absorbers directly in the pool, such as a black

thermal blanket floating on the pool surface. If you don't want to buy an expensive blanket, perhaps a couple of those large black plastic trays, intended formixing concrete, floating on the surface. Cheap, easy to clean, stackable for storing and virtually indestructible. You could then use your solar panel forpreheating water for the house instead. This way you'd be lowering your energy usage and making a difference to your fuel bills and the environment.

daveryder says: Mar 20, 2010. 5:03 PM REP

It works. You can't use pool water for your house. You worry about your bills, I'll worry about mine. All I wanted is for my family to enjoy more swimmingtime, and in that regard I succeeded.

leebarret says: Mar 20, 2010. 7:56 AM REP

Yeah I live in Houston Texas & I'm working on a pool cooler, since my 12,000 gallon gets too hot from july to sept! (like taking a bath) They sell pool coversfor fairly cheap that wi ll do the same thing in principle you are doing. They raise the water temp 5-10 degrees.

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daveryder says: Mar 20, 2010. 4:59 PM REP

It's called a solar cover - I use that in addition to the heater - we swim one month sooner than most people around here, and one month later with thecombination.

Plus, after a cold snap or rain, it heats up way faster. The whole point is getting more swimming time than you would get without the heater, and last yewas a total success in that regard.

If you built one without the glass, and ran it only at night, it would work as a radiator and cool your pool down.

Utahtabby says: Apr 24, 2009. 11:20 AM REP

61 degrees still seems like FREEZING to be swimming in....In my opinion, ha! I need my pool temperature way hotter! also what is the point of using coppe(other than it prevents algae) could you have used PVC or other metal, tin perhaps? I am clueless on this stuff so I am just asking, not criticizing.

daveryder says: Mar 20, 2010. 4:55 PM REP

Oh for sure, 61 degrees feels like ice! I like it 75+ for swimming, but it's all about getting it to heat up more quickly.

kaos211976 says: May 15, 2009. 11:33 AM REP

This is a fantastic project. Thank you for sharing it. I have been planning something like this for my pool for some time now and this has given me a lot ofgood research. Mine will be 10' x 4' and be mounted on my garage roof. I will be forgoing the glass as I don't see the need in my application. I will also beusing Aluminium sheeting instead of the costly copper. Copper would be better but it will be too expensive. Thanks again.

daveryder says: Mar 20, 2010. 4:50 PM REP

I thought about putting mine on the roof, but didn't know if the pump had the pressure to raise it that high without putting a big strain on it. Plus, I didn'twant to mess up my shingles with a mounting system. Plus I hate heights.

guynoble says: Jul 11, 2009. 5:33 AM REPYour pool will adopt the mean ambient temperature. If you want to raise the temperature you must put in more heat than it is losing to the surroundings.Perhaps you should therefore think about insulating the pool sides before you expend too much effort on heating methods. Its not a difficult calculation forany first year engineering student.

daveryder says: Mar 20, 2010. 4:47 PM REP

Maybe, but the whole point is getting more swimming time, and last year proved to be a big success - see my comment above reply to leebarret.

cm3stars says: Jan 29, 2010. 4:35 PM REP

Nice work! I was wondering if a modified version might have the water intake at the top of the panel, say upper left. And the outflow at the lower right. Thatway if you had (10) six foot pipes in your manifold the water would have a 60 foot run in the pipe instead of 10 pipes each only running six feet. I think youroutflow temp would be substantially higher.

daveryder says: Mar 20, 2010. 4:45 PM REPI agree.

domestic_engineer says: Apr 18, 2009. 4:20 PM REP

nice instructable, but that's a lot of copper, and a lot of $. we're thinking of doing something similiar, but with flexible tubing and tin foil.

gwest77 says: Jan 7, 2010. 7:11 PM REP

domestic_engineer, you can use pex tubing and make your own aluminum fins to fit around the tubing. You can use a 5/8's metal rod to make thegrooves for the pex, a very very thin bead of silicone to adhere the pex to the fins. Make the fins wide enough to touch each other inside what ever sizecollector you build. Running the pex tubing in a serpentine fashion will allow you more mass in the collector. This is a good place to starthttp://www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/PEXCollector/PEXCollector.htmThis website is a wealth of info for any DIY'er Have fun

annekaelber says: Nov 15, 2009. 10:19 PM REPI'm aware of the better conductivity of metal over plastic/rubber. I'm curious if the "black garden hose in the sun" multiplied by how much more could bepurchased for so much cheaper can overwhelm the benefits of using a metal like copper?

The original author states s/he spent $250 in *just* the copper tubing for a 76" x 46" solar heater.

I've seen, on HomeDepot.com, 500 ft of 1/2 tubing (designed for drip-type watering solutions I believe) for between $30 and $35. I used this page:http://deepfriedneon.com/tesla_f_calcspiral.htmlto do a rough calculation of how many feet of tubing I would use in a 4x4 box, which is approximately 300 ft of tubing -- well within my 500 ft mentionedabove.

I'm still searching for ways to determine how much I might reasonably hope to gain in temperature via 300+ f t of black tubing. I welcome any suggestions odata input here.

As for the instructions, if we do decide to use copper tubing, we're definitely going to be referencing this Instructable! Thanks for sharing!

Anne.

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jonralph says: Jun 11, 2009. 6:31 PM REP

copper is the right material to use for this application. As has been said before plastic is an insulator and won't absorb any heat from the sun.

It does look like the flow of water is going to just run through the pipe nearest the inlet, it will always take the path of least resistance. There are 2 things yocan do to improve this though, and they are both reasonably easy.

Flow should always be controlled on the outlet, not on the inlet. This has the effect of slowing everything down and not giving the flow an easy route througthe pipes. This should help spread the flow over all the pipes.

Turn the panel so that it is vertical, with the valve at the top becoming the outlet and the inlet at the bottom. The valve on the outlet will keep the flow acrosall the tubes and also thermal convection will help move the water through the outermost pipes. As the water is heated it will rise naturally.

If you go for this please let us all know how you get on.

If you want to work out the volume, first go and look on the manufacturers website, it will likely say so.

if not, measure across your pool in meters(diameter), half of that is your radius. The area of a circle is radius x radius x 3.14. I am guessing that the radius your pool is about the same as the panel is wide (76" so near as dammit 2 Meters) 2 x 2 x 3.14 = 12.56 Sq M is the area of your pool. For the volume of acylinder in cubic meters you just mult iply the area of the circle by the depth. So I am guessing the pool is about a meter deep? So

12.56 sq Meters x 1 meter = 12.56 cubic meters.

1 cubic meter = 264 gallonsso..12.56 cubic meters x 264 = 3315 gallons

measure your pool and work it out with your son for the fun of it. or measure it and pass the measurements on, happy to work it out for you

Nice piece of kit already though and any gain is a benefit.

davefredrich says: Sep 22, 2009. 9:34 PM REP jonralph hows it .my name is dave, joined today after reading your comments on pool solar. i live in a small town pennington south coast natal south africa. two things iwould like to ask. one would ambient temp govern the size of a panel area.2 working out your btu rat ings for area water to be heated, not also depend on ambient temp. eg 20 square meters pool area, ambient temp 15 deg c20 30 deg c why i ask is our temp is similar 2 south coast america winter max 19 deg c summer +- 32 deg c would you design be worked on winter conditions.shotdave richards.

Lynxspring says: Jul 17, 2009. 6:50 PM REP

Can you tell us what the pickup is on your heater? Like what the inlet VS outlet temp is compared to the outside air temp in a perfectly sunny day? (Delta Tthanks

hackinblack says: Jun 19, 2009. 3:01 PM REP

improvements to this design I see:- 1.run the copper pipes vertically NOT full length horizontally they are toooo long to support water weight andexpansion,using more,but shorter pipes, gives a greater surface area (more heat!) and more strength (no leaks!) 2.put the inlet diagonally opposite the outfor more efficiency

SurferGeek says: Apr 18, 2009. 5:31 PM REP

Wouldn't it be better to use plastic piping? Wouldn't using copper put metals into the water?

kaos211976 says: May 15, 2009. 11:38 AM REP

You have a point about the copper. I would say that an occassional metals treatment would f ix this up.

thetech101 says: May 6, 2009. 4:28 PM REP

Plus most types of thick plastic piping are very good insulators. Metals transfer more heat than plastics. A good rule of thumb is "if it conducts electricitythen it'll conduct heat. If it doesn't conduct electricity, it won't conduct heat."

daveryder says: Apr 20, 2009. 10:14 PM REP

No. The plastic would put more toxins in. I drink from copper pipes everyday, and remember, the temp never gets above 80 degrees.

SurferGeek says: May 17, 2009. 10:40 AM REP

PVC piping is, and has been used for years in household for water pipes and as you state, the water never get's above 80 degrees there wouldn't bany leeching.

Copper is a good choice as it does have better thermal conductivity but PVC is a much cheaper choice of materials that will have no chemicalreactions to other materials used in the pool or with other metals used like in the pump.

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l8nite says: May 12, 2009. 3:17 PM REP

Any updates on the new design? You could modify what you have by cutting every other connector pipe and capping the stub to make a repeating "s". Anadded benefit of using copper is it helps control algae growth, copper wires are strung on a roof to prevent algae and moss growth, copper nails insertedaround the base of a tree will kill it etc. Nice instruc!

kaos211976 says: May 15, 2009. 11:34 AM REP

I will be using the continuous "S" coil and forgoing the "T" connectors. My only fear is that the water will be too hot! LOL

TheCowStir says: May 11, 2009. 6:47 AM REP

Copper/metal is a better conductor of heat. So there will be more transfer of sun heat through the black copper pipe than there would be through pvc pipe.

Plastic is more of an insulator.

kaos211976 says: May 15, 2009. 11:30 AM REP

Copper is the best, most cost effective, metal used to conduct heat into water. As a frame of reference, Copper rates 380.0 in conductivity whereasAluminium is 180.0 (not bad for a common alloy) and PVC is only 0.12-0.16 (Polyvinyl). Painting the copper flat/matte black allows for more absorptionas the shiny copper surface does not reflect the light energy away but rather draws it in.

strmrnnr says: Apr 20, 2009. 3:07 PM REP

I think you need to have the feed in the bottom and the exit at the top, so that a unit of water has to travel through all the pipe before exiting to the pool. As look at it I can't help but see the water comming in and going straight across to the exit, leaving the water in the top and bottom pipes almost unmoved. Itmay help to turn it 90 degrees if you didn't want to change the piping. Tip on th esoldering to. If you have it all planned out, you can slit the f lashing andsolder it to the pipe through the slit from the back. Takes a lot more planning though.

daveryder says: Apr 20, 2009. 10:12 PM REP

I think you're right. It should enter at the bottom, and make a series of s-turns all the way to the top and exit. I talked to a lot of people about this who

have told me the way I did it is technically correct, and I STILL think you're right and they are wrong. I'm going to change it, and take temp measuremenboth ways, and I'd be willing to bet a large sum YOUR method gets the water hotter faster. I'll post updates.

strmrnnr says: Apr 21, 2009. 4:55 AM REP

Don't mean to tell you what to do but, you might try the 90 degree turn before rebuilding - this looks pretty expensive. I also noticed your pool was ninsulated. The bubble wrap they use under radiant heat f loors in garages would work great on that. I believe the stuff is rated for R10, is 3/8" thick,and the animals don't steal it for nesting.

SeamusDubh says: Apr 17, 2009. 10:30 PM REP

Try slowing down the water flow through the panel. I've worked with heat exchangers in the past and if the f low is too great you're not going to be transferriheat efficiently enough.

wobblestar says: Apr 18, 2009. 10:03 AM REP

If you reduce the flow rate, you get a smaller volume of hotter water. A high flow rate gives you a larger volume of water at a lower temperature. You

can't buck thermodynamics: you're limited by the solar energy hit ting the panel. I think a high flow rate is better in this application. You don't want thepanel to get too hot to minimize loss of captured energy by re-radiation to te environment (and convection?). Of course, a set-up designed to providedomestic hot water works differently. In that application you need the water to get HOT-HOT-HOT not just warm, and a slower flow rate feeding aninsulated storage tank might be better.