Heating our pool with a wood fired pool heater. Experimenting with different setups to heat our pool

Extending our pool season and keeping the pool much more comfortable for the grand baby. 85° pool temperatures are very comfortable to swim in. The grand baby loves the pool. This $200ish pool heater is awesome. It’s not very pretty but it’s hidden away safely like a moonshine still back in the woods of TN.

[@thereissomecoolstuff]

Scott put a barrel in your barrel with the coils. Copper doesn't take the heat long-term. You'll still get great heat but won't have to worry about the expensive copper. I use a propane tankless water heater and HF pump for my hot tub. Safes me a ton on the electric heater.

[@ez1913]

Too much copper in the water can also mess with total alkalinity and PH balance.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

I luv it. It’s Frankenstein as all hell but gets the job done! Good job. I made one myself and experimented with several iterations and just like you found that the best solution was more air and fuel. That blower lit it up. Take care.

[@freyja4954]

It's nice to see the idea works so well. I've been looking at doing the same for my pool. It's 30,000 gallons and sometimes even with some really good weather. It takes about a week to warm up after I fill it.

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

Ours is 25,000 gallons. We were in it less than a week after installation and it was 60° during the daytime 30’s at night. Throw a few logs on every couple hours and good to go. Me Smelling like a campfire after throwing wood on the fire is the only downside.

[@marknease1631]

@@BusGreaseMonkey if anyone complains about you smelling like wood smoke, tell ‘‘em to go take a whiff of some gear oil or that bearing yinz had to pound out in a couple videos ago…

[@chadwoodward5024]

I would think once you get the pool heated up with the wood fire heater you might be able to maintain it with just the solar. It'll be interesting to see future videos regarding this

[@mtttony]

If you put the boiler down side of the pool you dont need to use a pump to circulate the heat.. Also solar heated pipe if you put the black pipe inside clear pipe it will work better.. Thanks for all the videos from Glasgow Scotland!

[@danrandall794]

Such a hillbilly---and I LOVE it. If you want a hotter fire throw in some hunks of cut up tires. Knew a guy that did that on his barrel stove in his garage. Would fire it up after work and then go in the house and have dinner. Come back out and garage was warming up. Didn't see much difference with the little pieces of tire so one night he threw in a bigger chunk. Came back out after dinner and the entire stove was cherry red and hopping around. The funny part of the story is he was a volunteer fire fighter.

[@michaelovitch]

Use a black tarp to cover the pool and remove the air bubbles floating cover. air pockets are a very good heat insulation ,wich is not what you want to use the Sun free energy wich is not reflected by black color.

[@jerrystarliper7897]

I just love a good hillbilly set up. It is warms my heart.😂

[@mikenonameneeded3485]

That does look like some home grown refreshment setup. Lol

[@paintnamer6403]

I like that Juniper wood, it's good for arts and crafts.

[@natevanlandingham1945]

It's cedar

[@marksmith-ew7ir]

One way to burn of old oil and heat the pool use the pool for 7 months of the year. You work hard so relaxing is key and fun times with friends and family.

[@chadwoodward5024]

My sister had this real cool thing for her pool, it was like a Roomba only it worked off the water pump and it skimmed and ran around the pool above and below It was pretty cool

[@irongoatrocky2343]

Scott Id put your coils in another barrel on top of your fire barrel...... just run your stack from the rear of the bottom barrel into the top then run your exit stack out the front of the top barrel..... I used to do this with a home made barrel stove and used fire brick and sand as a bed in the bottom barrel the thru the center of the top barrel i sealed the open end and ran a 6in piece of schedule 40 pipe thru the center and put a blower on one end and the air that came out the other side was very toasty warm in my 24x30 shop on a cold winter day in Eastern WA! should work real well with a coil inside the top barrel as well!

[@isickofit]

We built my water heater by encasing the coils in refractory cement, lining the fire chamber. Heats up reasonably quickly and holds the heat well. Served a domestic heating system inc water very well in UK winter.

[@Scottinqc]

I have a very similar log splitter to yours. They are tiny, but they work great. Split all my firewood for last winter, being a mix of cypress, juniper and of course oak. if you take it a piece at a time, it will split as big as you can carry...... you wont be starting a firewood business on the side, but its enough for "personal consumption"

[@sc5015]

Pool heater during the day, white lightning machine at night!!!

[@siaripop7]

Probably later in the summer, they will have restrictions on burning anything because of dry conditions, however, you probably won't need a fire, only buckets of ice to cool the water in your pool so you can actually enjoy it!

[@MiguelMartinez-gd1sv]

Very creative. When there's a way y'all can get it done

[@The_Southland_Piper]

Saw that you are running the Perma Salt system. The system works by dissolving copper. Test your water to see what your copper levels are. Too much copper will cloud the water and can turn bleached hair green. I’ve had a Perma Salt system for 14 years and it’s great. Just not sure about all of the extra copper you’re exposing the system to. Good luck.

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

Yes we test cooper levels. No issues

[@natevanlandingham1945]

Put more chimney on the stove it will draft much better.

[@scottgurne5174]

Pool heater's are great but wait till you see how much chlorine you go through

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

Very little it’s a low chlorine system

[@martyb7554]

Watch out your not mistaken for a moonshine maker

[@jimlippi4001]

Awesome. Whatever you do don't put valves on those lines unless you put a pressure relief valve in. Kind of looks like a hillbilly still.

[@flir67man84]

Waste oil burner to get rid of the old oil is another idea..

[@nascar427]

Wood is your friend.

[@peterbeyer5755]

Dr Rhonda Patrick has an excellent channel called Found My Fitness where she discusses the benefits of sauna and hot baths on health and sleeping.

[@Thedevontree]

Certain plastics don’t like heat

[@danielseelye6005]

Looks like we'll have to rename your address to "Copperhead Road." 😉

[@edwardsilva895]

Hope the revenuers dont come knocking thinkin you're running a still 😅

[@ez1913]

Robert Murray-Smith YT channel is doing some fascinating work with wind and solar you might find interesting, if you have a 3D printer.

[@FUCK_________googIe]

why in the hell would you put a pool in the middle of a forest. that thing is going to be an abandoned biological soup in no time. what a waste of time space and money

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

You are wrong. It’s clean, clear and used multiple times a week.

[@The_Smith]

yes right a pool heater . . . I hope the revenuers believe that when they show up . . . ;)

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

Yes, It looks a lot like a moonshine still hidden in the woods.

[@lustfulvengance]

​@@BusGreaseMonkey Hahahaha I didn't even think of that until you said it😂😂

[@wesleypulkka7447]

Scott, you and your family have built a field of dreams for bus owners and they have come through for you! What a great success story you've written on Bus Grease Mountain! Congratulations, you've proven that hard work and ethics win in the end! Thanks for the inspiration!

[@oakridgestars]

Tell us you know how to build a moonshine still without telling us you have a moonshine still.

[@Thedevontree]

Keep that fire small and move that water quick

[@mevinson]

add a few more connections and you\'ll have a bonified whiskey still!

[@SuperJohndeere4020]

What kind of wood was that you were splitting? I’ve never seen wood with red in the middle of it.

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

Cedar

[@pauleggert4639]

Insulate those hoses !!!!

[@jimmysills4742]

Need to clean your pool out

[@Thedevontree]

🤔

[@TimsWorkshopTJY]

Let's see, wood heat with copper tubing🤔 sounds like the start of a white lightening still being set up🤣

[@wokka1]

It's really a front for moonshine......right! (LoL)

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

It’s sill heating my pool…

[@nascar427]

Wood fired water heater is awesome. Possibilities are endless....Moonshine still, make maple syrup...etc.

[@GreatBigBoat]

Copper is better on the outside. The copper stays clean.....cover it with insulation...cut open a second 50 gal tank, cut a flue hole and drape it over the copper clad barrel. With a full fire you can put your hand on top. There is remarkable heat gain with the insulation. My rig uses 4 lengths of 3/8 copper for a total of 200 feet fed from a one inch manifold (plenum). I'm into a forth season now and it is still very efficient.

[@brandogeberbin7563]

Good way to have a nice pool year round! All you need is 2 inch .25 wall steel pipe welded in to the inside top of the barrel. 6 to 8 pieces connected u shaped. No copper needed. Add a second drum next to the barrel stove or touching it. That will be the hot water tank to pull from. U could even put another 55 gallon drum on the other side to cycle the cooler water from the pool heating that water as well. My grandfather did that in his house for hot water during the winter. He used 2 propane tanks touching the 55 gallon wood stove. Gave the house 100 gallons of instant hot water plus the 50 gallon propane water heater. 7 people could take a bath and shower and not run out of hot wate.

[@ianhughes7805]

Great stuff but I would put a baffle between the flames and the copper pipes as the will burn through very quickly otherwise

[@joec9680]

You could have really benefited from some insulation between the pool and the ground.

[@JamesMasterPlaster]

You guys are really cool, from fixing Buses to heating pool water with Wood 🚎🏋️‍♀️🤺👍🤗

[@jetdriver]

If your looking for inspiration on how to move this up a level look at the designs of Naval Boilers. Your not operating under pressure but the principles of heat transfer still apply.

[@Dfk429S9fo3]

Don't let the water stop circulating while you have a fire going, or you're gonna have a bad time.

[@KristenLegge]

The heavy duty clear solar covers are much better than the blue ones! My 10000 watt pool heater never ever cut out until I got the clear cover!!

[@peterbeyer5755]

Hi Scott you should check out rocket stove based hot water heaters they are very efficient and easy to build.

[@vibsosu]

Item was as described. It arrived on time. It was easy to install.

[@tonyrobinson4434]

Almost thought you were making some good old Tennessee moonshine.

[@dannygoin6552]

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸☕️☕️☕️👍👍👍🥃🥃🥃👀👀👀🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@jimlippi4001]

That's some pretty wood your splitting

[@bnelson313braveheart]

The law might think it’s a still! 😂

[@lloydrobinson7081]

keep the clips coming

[@Friedbrain11]

The wrap around the solar piping is reflecting part of the heat. Also, the heat would be better if more of the tubing is directly heated by the sun. Love the wood heater. Once the pool is about 95 to 96 it will be feeling great :)

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

That was just the 500’ rolls of the piping before it was layed out in the sun.

[@Ray-f4v5q]

Why not just put a bank of solar pool heaters on your roof at the house and run the line to your filter done you don't have to cut wood you don't have to have barrels burning wood all over the place and all that mess just put solar panel pool heaters on the roof of your house And be done with it

[@buza1300]

😎🔥👍

[@franciscoppola1129]

Great set up. Make sure you keep track of the Ph in the pool. If it gets to high it will start eating up the copper tubing. Too low and you will have an algae buildup. I love the ingenuity of the whole set up!

[@sw7366]

Other way around. Too high and major algal bloom. Below 7.0 and your metals will dissolve. Optimal is 7.2 to 7.6

[@joshuacatron2]

I, like you Scott do not like cold water. I admire your will to heat that pool. I installed a 20kbtu heater for my Doughboy. Worked well , chlorine will gas out very fast with hot water.

[@BusGreaseMonkey]

The grand baby likes it warm

[@lustfulvengance]

What kind of wood is that with the pink in the middle??