Waters warm....

[Turtle49]

If anybody cares, Lake Michigan is 70 degrees along the lakeshore in Holland. And being that that is only 1.5 miles from here, I think I'm going to take the family swimming.


Don't you love summer?

[Guest]

Oddly enough I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. And once upon a time I even thought 70 was warm. Now, living in Florida (on purpose) I like my water closer to 80.

Although... I have a pair of ceramic "wooden" shoes from Holand. Tee shirts weren't all that big a deal back in the 60's

Enjoy the day!

[Turtle49]

Well, I tell you what. Last night the waves were coming in and the water definetaly did not feel like 70.

Those 80 degree waters sound very good.

[Guest]

Turtle,
I took my kids to the beach last weekend and we played around in the waves... You got it made, the ocean waters here are at about 52F right now.

[Turtle49]

Well Dean the temps dropped to about 61 degrees here. So I set up my little 10' (el'cheapo) pool for the kids and I.
The problem we had last year was that the water in the pool never got up past 65 degrees. So this year I set up a solar powered heater.

This is how I did it:
First you need;
- a 100' of 1/2" black PVC pipe
- a small fountain pump used for yard water features, don't overdue it on this a small pump is all you need. The slower the water goes the better. Just make sure it has enough power to lift the water over the side of the pool.
- 20' of 1/2" flexible pipe
- a half sheet of plywood, preferably something you have lying around
- (2) 1/2" barbed couplers and some hose clamps
- a can of black spray paint.
- 25' of plastic hanger strap
- and a outlet timer

- First I painted the plywood black.
- Second I wrapped the 100' of PVC pipe on the plywood stapling it down with plastic hanger strapping.
- Third I cut the flexible hose in half, and connected one to each end of the PVC pipe. Then to one of the flexible pipes I hooked up the pump.

Then you just hook it up to the timer and cycle it on 15 minutes and off 15 miuntes while the sun is hitting the PVC pipe.


The result:
The first day the temp was 56 degrees and in 3 hours it went up to 62 degrees. The second day (today) it went from 60 degrees to 72 in just 5 hours. Not bad considering its a 10' pool thats 30" deep.
I figured it out and running that 1.25 amp pump for 3.5 hours a day costs me about 4 cents per day.


Money well spent.

[Nitetimes]

The result:
The first day the temp was 56 degrees and in 3 hours it went up to 62 degrees. The second day (today) it went from 60 degrees to 72 in just 5 hours. Not bad considering its a 10' pool thats 30" deep.
I figured it out and running that 1.25 amp pump for 3.5 hours a day costs me about 4 cents per day.


Money well spent.

Hey, now that's a pretty cool idea. Here in western PA it can be tough to warm up even a small pool. The grandson doesn't get too enthusiastic when the water is cold. May have to try that.

[Turtle49]

Hey, now that's a pretty cool idea. Here in western PA it can be tough to warm up even a small pool. The grandson doesn't get too enthusiastic when the water is cold. May have to try that.

Cool, today is not supposed to be particularly sunny but I will keep you appraised over the next few days. I figure if I can keep it up above 75 degrees I should be good.

[Turtle49]

Update:
Well I went back to running the pump all day while the sun is hitting the pipe. It drives the cost WAY up....$0.08 cents a day..

The good news is at the end of the fourth day, its up to 80 degrees

I'm thinking of adding another 100' of pipe to try to get the water coming from the pipe up another couple of degrees. But the wife said I had to wait until next week to see how this does.

I think I'm a little compulsive about this.

cya
Tim

[cguardsman]

that took alot of people peeing to warm lake Michigan up

[Woody]

Turtle49,
I built a solar heater for a hot tub using 1" pvc and a bunch of elbows. snaked the pipe back and forth in a plywood box 2'x4' with sides and painted the whole thing flat black. Topped it of with a piece of plexiglass to magnify and contain the heat. Like you did hooked up a small fountain pump and let it run in the sun all day.The sealed box held the heat in and in a couple day the hot tub temp went 100 degrees. Of course I am in Florida it helps. The flat black sealed box made all the difference in the world

[Turtle49]

Woody wrote
Turtle49,
I built a solar heater for a hot tub using 1" pvc and a bunch of elbows. snaked the pipe back and forth in a plywood box 2'x4' with sides and painted the whole thing flat black. Topped it of with a piece of plexiglass to magnify and contain the heat. Like you did hooked up a small fountain pump and let it run in the sun all day.The sealed box held the heat in and in a couple day the hot tub temp went 100 degrees. Of course I am in Florida it helps. The flat black sealed box made all the difference in the world

Thanks for the feedback Woody. I ended up adding an additional 100' of pvc pipe, but I did not enclose it as you suggested. I read on another forum that it didn't have a significant affect on the temp. obviously your experience says that it does. With the 200' of pvc pipe that I have now the water coming out of the heater is 3 - 4 degrees above pool temp.

The last few days have been overcast but hot and the pool has maintained between 82 and 86 degrees. This temp is perfect, my son can swim for as long as he wants without getting to cold.

[Woody]

Trust me , I was surprized also by the result. I had built a smaller one and it stopped working (pump) and the pipe got so hot from the lack of water circulation it actually distorted and sagged due to the heat buildup.

[campadk]

Its been hot around here... water was the same temp as the air at Fish Creek Pond in upstate NY this week! Easy to slip into water that warm!

We're heading for Sankbanks Prov Park on the north shore of Lake Ontario tommorrow. I hear with all the recent hot days of late, that there are lots of dead fish and algae foating about on the beach... ah yes.. definately a challenge swimming around in a sea of dead fish