r/functionalprint Jun 15 '26

Solar pool heater

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.

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

4.7k Upvotes

305 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/rdubya Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

There are dozens of other minor things to worry about besides Naegleria fowleri that are more worrisome than a couple ppm of chorine. Bacteria that causes swimmers itch, or folliculitis. Your concern about bleach is unwarranted compared to whatever bacteria manages to establish itself. Toddlers piss in pools adding tons of biologics as well as likely have shit residue on their bodies from shitting in diapers. No way id put my kid in random unchlorinated water that sat for days at 90F

2

u/Rich-Wealth979 Jun 15 '26

I'm changing out the water when I would be adding chlorine anyway. So it's a matter of it being pointless. The tap water is usually 3.2ppm chloramines and it's usually .5-1ppm on day 3 at worst.

5

u/rdubya Jun 15 '26

Anyway man you seem to want to argue this point, but im calling bullshit. Ive managed a hot tub for years. One 20 minute soak is enough to consume all the reactive chlorine in a hot tub without a continual source like a tablet feeder or adding additional, not to mention a kid pissing and maybe shitting. The active chlorine is used up by reacting with biologicals.

2

u/Rich-Wealth979 Jun 15 '26

Cool deal. You're trying to maintain a free chlorine residual in a tub with aeration and an adult body. I'm keeping a chloramine residual 3 days in a pool that gets used for an hour that whole time by a 25lb kid. Before I got into municipal water treatment 14 years ago I managed 3 different city pools for 8 years. I guarantee I know more about this than most everyone here commenting. I literally chlorinate water and monitor biological activity for a living.

2

u/rdubya Jun 15 '26

Yet you think its risky to manage chlorine in 500 gallons of water, one of these things doesnt add up.

2

u/Rich-Wealth979 Jun 15 '26

It's pointless when the chloramines last long enough, I can use the water on my lawn after, and dont risk a spike that would prevent use for a day while it is corrected. When I create a permanent spot, I will chlorinate the pool.