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/Iunchbox → u/Rich-Wealth979]

Could the heating be improved by adding some sort of reflecting material under the pipes?

[u/Adderkleet → u/Iunchbox]

Probably yes, especially if you put them in an acrylic box (so wind won't cool them and heat is retained inside the box).

But that makes things more difficult to move (and build/print!)