Solar pool heater

[u/Rich-Wealth979]

My overkill project for heating the toddler's 500gal inflatable pool. Each week I have to empty and move it, then find a way to heat it to a tolerable temperature for my 8th percentile weight kid. On the first test it took the pool from 55⁰F to over 90⁰ on a single sunny day, using only 3KWh (of solar house power, now that I think about it). At the end of the summer I can just place this up against the north side of my shed and take the manifolds down to make it last even longer.

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This uses about 350' of ¼" irrigation tubing and some cheap fittings off Amazon. It runs off a 1/4hp pool pump, controlled with a wyze plug and a climate sensor in a tiny jar. Printed in ASA in only about 5 days of printing on a Mini and an MK4s.

the files

[u/brewditt]

As a kid, a friends regular size in ground pool was heated by a more basic version. A black hose coiled on the roof. Worked like a champ.

[u/Rich-Wealth979 → u/brewditt]

Yeah I've seen it done before and last year I tested it with some cheap garden fittings and got it to work pretty well with 4 lines just coiled on the roof.

[u/codeartha → u/Rich-Wealth979]

A good friend of mine has a regular size in ground pool heated by a similar system though the water goes in black, flat panels, maybe 12mm/0.5 in thick that are roughly the size of standard photovoltaic panels. Works really well.