DIY Pool Heater - $40 Solar Heater - Easy Build - 1314

This was a really easy and awesome build. and when the sun shines it warms up really nicely.
I made this on the cheap, as you will see in the video. Some stuff I already had, and only a little I had to acquire,, in different ways.
[Affiliate Links]
Link UK - Irrigation Pipe 16 mm x 100 m Black : amzn.to/3L8sVPR
Link UK - DC 12 V - 800 L / H 5 m, Brushless Submersible Water Pump : amzn.to/3Py8VsJ
Link US - Irrigation Pipe 300 feet 1/2" : amzn.to/3OYNfo1
Link US - DC 12 V - 800 L / H 5 m, Brushless Submersible Water Pump : amzn.to/3EqazpU
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For 3$ a month, you get an extra weekly "What's UP" update video. Just for my Patrons. The Support I resave on patreon is all used on stuff to make interesting videos on KZbin.
My PlayHouse is a channel where i will show, what i am working on. I have this house, it is 168 Square Meters / 1808.3ft² and it is full, of half-finished projects.
I love working with heating, insulation, Servers, computers, Datacenter, green power, alternative energy, solar, wind and more. It all costs, but I'm trying to get the most out of my money, and my time.

[@JuhaJutila]

Easy solution for bad weather --> Portugal :)

[@MyPlayHouse]

I know,, I am in Portugal now :)

[@stefanejegod8644]

Just a tip. These heaters are usually covered in plexiglass or actual paned glass to avoid the whole air-cooler-part. The better insulated, the more effective. Just take a look at some solar panels for heating water..

[@jackal6902]

In fact sealed in a vacuum is ideal.

[@Google_Does_Evil_Now]

Hope he does this in next video. I was wondering if insulation at the rear, clear plastic or glass front. He can use a thermostat which opens at 25°C to block/flow the water.

[@SolarLantern424]

Yes so it is more like a solar oven! :)

[@SolarLantern424]

@@jackal6902 Like a flask! Great idea. A Vacuum is probably too hard though but if it is air tight it would still help a lot!

[@MyPlayHouse]

There is room for improvement,, plexiglass is bloody expensive here :-/ but maybe some cheap transparent roof plastic.. :-)

[@TrollingAround]

I've been yelling "No! Start from the centre" at my screen since you started laying the pipe! 😱

[@MyPlayHouse]

This worked out very nicely. I do not think starting from the middle would improve it,, and it turned out just about as good as I could have hoped for. :-)

[@TrollingAround]

@@MyPlayHouse Starting from the middle would have defined the tightest loop without kinks, the bends would then get easier (less likely to kink) with each circuit. But as you say, it turned out good anyway. Well done.

[@InssiAjaton]

For years we considered 18C as our "ready for swimming" limit - although we gladly accepted higher ones. And one thing about the water temperature measurements -- the IR meter does not measure water temperature. On a beach, it measures the temperature of the sand at the bottom, at least down to 20 cm depth. If you want to get the surface temperature, you might float some thin solid material on top of the water and measure the float temperature with your IR meter. But note that transparent plastics may not be any better. Might try some fabric or colored plastic.

[@MyPlayHouse]

I want to enjoy my stay in the pool,, 26C is where that is the case :-)

[@EmmanuelRAYMOND69]

5:00 Poor little spider !!! 😱

[@MyPlayHouse]

It made it out of there!!

[@dennisolsson3119]

Random tip: cut a slit in the middle of the zip tie bag instead of the the end. That way you can still easily get them out, but they won't fall out by themselves

[@MyPlayHouse]

Hi @dennisolsson3119 Thank You very much! glad you liked the video :-) Thank you for watching! :-)

[@philsbbs]

my xmas lights are all powered via solar panel or battery pack thanks to allpower and your videos.

[@MyPlayHouse]

I am envious,, we do not get enough sun at the moment,, to power anything :-)

[@leonardotoschi585]

Learn physics and heating with morten

[@MyPlayHouse]

Well even a stupid hag like me, might be able to share a little trick :-)

[@AaronDedeystere]

Put bubblewrap on top of the water, it Will prevent the water from Cooling down to evaporation. Also it wil help transfer heat from the sun and it wil act as a isolation layer at night

[@scott98390]

I was just going to say this. We had a large pool in our backyard and after two days (in full sun) with a bubble-wrap cover it was warmer than we wanted.

[@MyPlayHouse]

I will look for that,, but probably next year,, getting cold now.

[@M0UAW_IO83]

Nice, I've wanted to build something like this. Tip, if it's 100M of pipe, weigh it, divide by 100, make the solar collector, weigh the pipe that's left...

[@MyPlayHouse]

Thanks for the tips! I did not think of that.

[@dasiro]

put a relay-switch controlled by a temperature sensor on the power input for the pump and on the other end of the relay a heating element. If the water is warm enough and there's enough power the pump will run otherwise it will stay off and the water continues to heat/cool. Adding a second sensor from the bottom of the pool (which is the coldest water) will cause it to run as long as there's hotter water in the tube than there's cold water in the pool

[@MyPlayHouse]

I think the little solar panel will do all of this for me. If there is enough solar to run the pump,, there is also enough solar to heat the water. And it will even turn up and down the flow,, depending on how much sun there is.

[@rschrader]

‘A’ for effort Morten!

[@MyPlayHouse]

Need more predictable sun in Denmark.. :-)

[@NATALIE_W_]

Hi Mortin, came over from Cindys channel. Cool design!, to easy the force on the pump, could you use an elevated holding tank the pump flows into then has an outlet that gravity feeds the black hose.....

[@MyPlayHouse]

Cool,, I visited Cindy yesterday,, and will be in her Sunday video :-)

[@cbmsysmobile]

If you move the pool to your place in Portugal it will be much warmer. And the solar heater will work way better too. :P

[@MyPlayHouse]

Think it might be smarter to build another one there... or here,, I am in Portugal :-)

[@robertjrgensen4796]

box it in, and put a piece of glass over it. Then it will work alot better

[@MyPlayHouse]

Yes,, there is room for improvement. This one is very light,, witch is nice.

[@xuldevelopers]

Adding wooden planks to the outside walls of the pool would make it look nicer. Additionally, the entire structure could potentially serve as a pool cover. But it would need some smart mount to make the manipulation easy. For example screw on one side and simply rotate it away ...

[@MyPlayHouse]

I spent a lot of time tiling the pool both inside and out side.. I do not want to cover it with wood. :-/

[@xuldevelopers]

@@MyPlayHouse Sure, it is a matter of personal preference. I understand the time spent on tiling. It was just an instant thought, seeing the green surroundings, that I thought the right wood color would fit the scenery perfectly. Hey, it's your pool, your tiling adventure! I haven't taken the plunge into pool construction myself, so I'm just here for purely theoretical cannonballs of wisdom :-D. You know your audience...

[@tobi1321]

😊 You can do what i couldn't finish. Can't use my pool anymore😢 Use an arduino with temp measurements.(only V4a metal or plastic) if tempwater

[@MyPlayHouse]

With a solar panel it runs when the water is being heated :-)

[@timbox74]

I do wonder where you got this idea from???.... I do believe I said in a previous video that I do exactly this and get about 5-6 degrees warmer water, only 2 minutes into the video so maybe I do get a shout out 🙂 glad to have you back on YT... 👏👏👏👏😎😎😎😎

[@timbox74]

After watching the video to the end, I would say your flow rate is way too fast and there is not enough contact time for the water in the coil, if you can reduce the flow rate of the pump you will get better temps.

[@MyPlayHouse]

I made my first solar water heater, when I was 14,, and melted it with mirrors,, trying to get even more sun. :-) So I did know that i works.

[@MyPlayHouse]

Heating a lot of water just a littlebit,, gives me way smaller loses.

[@Alpejohn]

Should mount a diesel heater on it, that would be an awsome project.. 😛

[@MyPlayHouse]

I do agree,, that would be a lot of fun!

[@Alpejohn]

@@MyPlayHouse I had a project going where i was gonna try and heat up about 800l of water with 2 webasto heaters, but due to broken waterpumprs i never got to actually do it. Just wanted to see how long it would take.. 🙂 You can calculate it but trying and find out is more fun.. 😛

[@EmmanuelRAYMOND69]

use the hot air gun for corners .... as in watercooling ;)

[@MyPlayHouse]

Might be a bit much effort,, for little gain. :-/

[@harleysmith9201]

We have something similar setup with black piping, but a bigger pipe, on the roof of our house, and it can get the pool up for 85F on a hot day. Mostly it's between 70-75F.

[@MyPlayHouse]

This was working,, there just was not enough sun,, for weeks!! :-/

[@relaxingnature2617]

a buddy boxxed in his black pipes under a sheet of glass -- like a little greenhouse -- he said it was much hotter because the greenhouse area got swealtering hot

[@MyPlayHouse]

I need to find some cheap plastic/glass,, as I want to do that to,, next year. :-/

[@Tigger4747]

Hmm. I'm in the UK and reckon anything over 16C isn't lethal (if you're swimming in the sea or a lido, or sufing or whatever). Maybe you just need to get used to colder water. Or move more. 😁 Of course, some people swim outdoors year round. They say ice on the open air pond near me makes a lovely tinkling sound as you swim through it. 🥶

[@MyPlayHouse]

26C is the temperature, where you can stay in the water and be fine for hours,, I build a pool for my pleasure,, not to freeze my ass off :-)

[@zx8401ztv]

I think you need a big fresnel lense or similar to condense as much of the sun as you can on to all the pipes. Ok im likely talking crap lol.

[@Nobe_Oddy]

I think that might get it a little TOOOO hot lol :)

[@zx8401ztv]

lol it can't be as hot as the coal powered boiler we used to have. the water pipes banging with hot steam and water, that was madness :-D @@Nobe_Oddy

[@dasiro]

it doesn't matter if the surface of the lens is the same as the total surface of the tube

[@MyPlayHouse]

Just moving the panel towards the sun, is a constant job :-) I got more sun as a kid,, using mirrors :-)

[@zx8401ztv]

It sounded like you were nicely cooked.......Ping!! ... :-D. A viking hmm, Well you love water and repairing ships... err ok your house :-D If you think about it, we are all a bit viking. (invasion). Connected by our common DNA. So im related to you ha ha that's a worry for you :-D

[@skynetcybersystem3tech]

👍

[@MyPlayHouse]

Hi @skynetcybersystem3tech Thank You very much! glad you liked the video :-) Thank you for watching! :-)

[@iMadrid11]

It could probably heat up faster if you used copper tubes. But the tubes alone would cost way more that $40. Also if you can attach a heating element to the copper tubes using solar panels. Then you’re in business. Anyways don’t you have a solar water heater in the roof? Can you just route that water instead for the pool?

[@Nobe_Oddy]

more than $40 ????? try more than $400!!! lol

[@MyPlayHouse]

I do have solar collators on the roof,, but I do not want to mess with my warm water system. that need to work. This was trying to do it on the cheap. We will try and improve on it next year :-)

[@relaxingnature2617]

cover some of the solar panels with cardboard to slow the pump

[@MyPlayHouse]

I pointed it a bit wrong instead,, did the same :-) Thank You.

[@relaxingnature2617]

get a 2nd pallet so you can use the extra hose

[@MyPlayHouse]

Well it takes up a lot of spaces,, pallets and all...

[@LuckyPrinter]

If the pump, run slower, the water will have more time to heat op i the pipe

[@pjohnson21211]

my thought exactly!

[@InssiAjaton]

Well, we have a loop with the main volume in the pool. If the water in the hose gets warmer, but flows slower, the PRODUCT of temperature difference and the flow is not likely to be any higher!

[@MyPlayHouse]

Well Do you want $1 a day, or $28 a month. There is more losses with warmer temperatures. :-)

[@Nobe_Oddy]

Can't you just fold up the solar panel?? You could fold one of the ends to cover the other one so you get only HALF the power and that SHOULD slow it down enough.... right? I'm not sure if the pump would still work with only half the power, but if it does then having that flexible solar panel looks like you could fold the one on the end over top of the one next to it :)

[@MyPlayHouse]

I guess I could do that,, I kind of just pointed it in a bad direction.

[@GannDolph]

wait what happened to the diy solar heater you previously made?

[@dasiro]

that contraption was way too small/janky. It got replaced with this better diy solar heater 😉

[@MyPlayHouse]

It has been teasing me,, I still have it and we might try it again,,, and the pump died,, so I needed a new one,, I have gotten that :-)

[@MyPlayHouse]

Not really,, I still think it can do better than this one.

[@GannDolph]

@@MyPlayHouse use them both! my parents have solar on their pool. the whole roof of the house is covered in panels. you need quantity; it can be further away with longer piping. focus on maximal heat gain not loss (other than the night time pool cover which is important; bubble wrap cover cut to float on water edge to edge works best there)

[@s0lution663]

Brrrrrrr!

[@MyPlayHouse]

Not sure what that means.

[@s0lution663]

@@MyPlayHouse The sound when you enroll the tube.

[@regchan]

think he got his termometer from lidl

[@MyPlayHouse]

I think you might be right,, I do not really remember,, but there is a really good chance for it.

[@Nobe_Oddy]

You CANNOT read the temperature of WATER with a LASER THERMOMETER - WATER IS CLEAR!!! lol You are getting the temp of the CUP!!! - Laser thermometers read the temperature of the SURFACE of the object it is pointed at, so you can't read water directly..... ALTHOUGH the temperature of the cup is MOST LIKELY the same as the water because it has a very low thermal mass and quickly changes to the temp of the water.... Just keep this in mind..... - - - ALSO there are quite a few VERY EASY ADDITIONS you can do to the coil of tube to make it WARM THE WATER SOOOOO MUCH BETTER.... for one, make an ENCLOSURE around the entire pallet, but you want the REAR (behind the tubing and pallet) to be a REFLECTIVE SURFACE to collect as much sunlight as possible.. and behind that you add INSULATION to contain the heat... then over the top you want an acrylic sheet to also keep that heat in, and let the sunlight come through.... and one last thing - SLOW DOWN THE PUMP!!!the LONGER the water is inside the coil, the warmer it will get!!! - A channel I watch on KZbin called 'NightHawkInLight' (without the quotes) and he has a FANTASTIC video doing the same type of project but for AIR and it is AMAZING how he turns 30C COOL AIR into 60C WARM AIR!!! And he uses a SMALL solar panel to power a SINGLE 120mm computer fan to move the air through it!!! - the name of his video is 'Easy Heat from DIY Solar Thermal Panels' (again, without the quotes lol) and I thought you might want to see it just as a form of inspiration for ideas on how to easily improve the setup you have OR if you ever wanted to make another :) - Now I don't think you need to re-do this one or make another because you can do a couple of simple steps to improve what you have and I think you could increase the output by almost 10C DEGREES with my suggestions!!! and that might even be enough to run it ALL WINTER!!! (no it won't, I'm just joking lol ) - - - BUT if you DO make any improvements to this setup PLEASE make it into a video, because I just LOVE simple things like this that can make one's life so much better with such little effort!!! THANK YOU for sharing this with us!!! :)

[@MyPlayHouse]

Hi @Nobe_Oddy Thank You very much! glad you liked the video :-) Thank you for watching! :-)

[@Solo50plus]

At it again…stealing things for your video! 😜😂

[@MyPlayHouse]

Interesting,, Now I am curious, just what you could use :-) I am in PT now, and hanged out at Cindy´s place the other day,, so maybe I´ll see you.

[@jackal6902]

And once you consider the losses from the water surface.. you did nothing.

[@MyPlayHouse]

I do have a insulating cover for the pool, but that was not what this video was about.