DIY Solar Pool Heater Build - Water over 90 Degrees After A Week - Watch Newest Video for Issues

Todays Video - DIY Solar Pool Heater Build - Water over 90 Degrees After A Week of Use
I wanted to try my hand at building an inexpensive Solar Pool Heater. This designed worked great and was able to get our pool water to over 90 degrees in the summer.
If I was to do it again, I would leave the Poly Carbonate Roof Off of until the fall when I need the extra heat, during the summer it was too much and actually caused the black tubing to get so hot that it collapsed and melted together completely blocking the flow of the water.
Hope you enjoy the video, there will be another video coming with an updated Solar Pool Heater Build that should address the melting issues.
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[@RayMrRobert]

And when it’s dead summer and your pool is warm enough, you can flip the pump to night mode and use the lack of sun to limit pool heating and cool pool temps. 85 to 89 degrees is ideal for relaxation. Bravo to you.

[@darrylschmidt704]

Excellent idea. Recommendations... Put all holes on the high side to minimize water entering the building. Put an exit hole(s) on the low side with screen or something to let any water out and keep the bugs out. Don't use clamps...they will only wear the lines if the lines expand and contract. Your plexiglass will keep them in place. Don't get hung up on temperature...you know it is warming the water. The important part is to know the water is flowing thru the system. Great job.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thank you.

[@datguy9240]

Great Job. Rather than running a pump constantly or at timed intervals. I purchased a temp switch that I can set cut in and cut out temperature. The sensor comes with a brass threaded fitting "case" to insert into a 1" pipe Tee. Located at the downward end of the loop. So I could set the pump cut in at say 140F and cut out would be 85F So the pump would only circulate water if it reaches 140F and cuts out when cooler pool water reaches the sensor, filling the loop with a fresh batch of cool water. ( about 90sec) Saving energy. ...That was the plan. Though the project was put on hold and I used that same temp switch to convert a chest freezer to a fridge. And it works great!

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Awesome- my controller has the software to do all that, I just need to get the 3 ways valves put in, first gotta see how it runs this spring.

[@scottpeters5105]

I like this idea. Any way of sending pictures or part numbers? I want to incorporate the sensor to a motorized 3 way valve.

[@brentfixesstuff]

My dad did this 30 years ago on the black tile roof. Just simply lay the coils of black pipe on the roof and then connect a timer to the pool pump. Had a couple of valves that enabled running through the roof or just normal. Made a big difference. Was able to swim early and longer than most people we knew.

[@Oldnoitall]

I pee in pools

[@aaronlandry3947]

One good thing to add in your setup is a flow indicator on the exit side of your water heater. This way you don't really have too much guess work trying to figure out how much flow you're getting up to your water heater as you adjust the shut-off valves. In fact putting one on the input and output could be beneficial.

[@blackdaan]

this is not completely true.. you are thinking wrong. solar water heaters for tap water systems use thermostats. and when the water gets to hot it turns on the pump on max to cool down why is this?. if the air temp is lower than the water temp. than water give heat away in the air.. normal mode the system only pumps when the collector is 20F degrees higher i tested this many times but the best results is with a differential thermostat., you want to isolate the pool and only let the water run when you can actually can get heat out of it (depending on the air temp water temp and isolation of the pool) also my tap water vessel pump constant on i cant go above 60c (140F) and with the thermostat i goes up until the protection mode 95c (203F)

[@jamesscott1932]

⁠@@blackdaanabout 5 months ago you left a comment regarding thermostatically controlled hot water from solar panels for a swimming pool. I just finished a system using copper. Can you give me and others a lead on a good place to buy flow meters and temp sensors?

[@blackdaan]

@@jamesscott1932 yoooo . Copper does not like salt and coes nog chloride. 🤔 But anyway.. I made last year a system for a jacuzzi. With 2 normal thermostats. From aliexpreas. 1st was set op heat.. and the desired temperature. Of 37.5 .Celsius. The second sensor I glued on the solar heater. And was set op cooling and was set at 45 to 50 degrees Celsius If the tub is colder than 37.5 the power continues to the roof. If the solar heater was hotter than 45 the power goes to the pump.. Basically it's a fase 220 wire that does in 2 relais of the 2 termostats. En that one is connected.to the pump and from there it goes to the neutral. It works very good. If there comes a cloud the pump stops.. if it's gone and the sun is heating again the pump starts. The neighbour's of them asked what they used because he noticed that it worked perfectly haha You can make that for 10 15 euro 😂

[@davidnadeau9460]

hot means nothing in input, flow vs temperature rise does. it's useless to have 160 degree water if it only flow at 0.1gpm, but having 20 gpm at 125 degree does. the relationship between flow and temperature rise is what important. this define how much btu/watts you add to your water. mostly you are better with high flow, little temp rise since it strip down almost all the sun energy.

[@davidnadeau9460]

lots of people think that restricted flow are better since the water output is hotter, but science and calculation tells that higher flow with little temp rise at output is more efficient

[@davidnadeau9460]

My heater will have 1 inch I.D. pipe input and output, with 6x400ft coils, wich give almost 12gpm total flowrate. (for a total of 2400ft tubing)

[@davidnadeau9460]

and lastly you are better not covering your heater with glass/plexy etc... what it does is reflecting out about 20% sunlight wich reduce overall efficiency.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Good info. My new system I built over the winter is more like what your describing. Can’t wait for some sunshine to see how it works. With this one I’m able to run full flow of the pool pump through it, so I’ll have much better flow/column but lower temp like you said.

[@andresruiz62]

@@chrisbuildsitall when can we get an update on the new system? Really looking to follow your steps on the new system!

[@leifhietala8074]

For maximum collection efficiency, you want a pretty high flow rate going through the collector. Heating significantly above ambient temperature, you will start to lose a lot of energy to the environment before you get it into storage - the pool. Adding the polycarb glazing was a good improvement, that will have a significant effect on your collector's performance. The next big improvement you could make would be to add a black, insulated cover to the pool, and keep it covered whenever it isn't being used.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thanks

[@jdlessl]

Particularly if the glazing is moderately IR-opaque. Turns it into a very, very thin greenhouse!

[@leifhietala8074]

@@jdlessl Specifically IR-opaque in the longer wavelengths. Short-wavelength IR is what we get from the sun, longer-wavelength is what materials re-radiate at these lower temperatures. Glass is REALLY good at this, which is why cars get nice and warm even on somewhat overcast days in the winter - the heat goes in, but doesn't come back out.

[@LarsDennert]

Except for the initial flush, even a slow flow only raises the water about 2 degrees per pass so speed doesn't matter much on efficiency. It's additive though. After pumping the whole pool volume you've raised it two degrees. Do it again and it goes up another 2. We only have a 5000 gal pool and 200 feet of coil but can easily get the pool well over 100F in the summer. Using a smart outlet and either ifttt or Samsung smart things the pump comes on when the weather hits 75F. Otherwise it just on a schedule to clean. Yes a cover is super useful as evaporation causes so much heat loss as well as convection over night. I also used a dedicated return line directly to the pool so you can tell if the bias pressure is correct and there's flow.

[@Sarah19604]

What a great way to extend swimming season! That is amazing that you can get such high temperatures with low sun angle in the morning no less.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Gotta love the California sunshine! Lol. Thanks for watching

[@robertwilliams-ff9if]

Add a Venturi valve to the exit pipe, the vacuum will pull the water through your solar pipeline. That way you won't have to mess with the flow going to the pool, and will not burn out your pool pump from reduced flow

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thank you!

[@FStoppers]

Where can you buy one of these? Is it just allowing air to come into the system towards the end of the system? What keeps the water from spraying out ? I assume that's built into the design of the valve right?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

A Venturi valve is a valve that narrows the pipe size cause the water to speed up, therefore causing a vacuum to occur and pulls the water through the piping, this allows your pump to not have to work near as hard if at all to move water thought the solar heater. You can buy them from most pool websites or pvc suppliers.

[@cantsolvesudokus]

that structure under the heater is perfect for a outdoor TV

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes sir - we are doing a projector and speakers there for summer movie nights!!!

[@LuchoGamingLB]

Yea, more loops and in parallel utilizes more area of the roof, which means more water on the roof. Also, the timing of the pump running also needs to be calculated. Say you turn on the pump for the first time, the system floods with water and it takes X time to reach the exit. That would be one cycle. Then you turn it off and let the new water heat, then you turn it on again for about the same time it took the 1st cycle. That would input into the pool heated water. Then you calculate for how much time every hour the pump needs to be activated. And when the sun is no longer on top of the loops, turn it off for the day. Great video

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thanks for watching. I had set it up to run 4 cycles at 1 hours each time, my new setup is much better. Video coming soon.

[@alankozachenko1483]

When i was a kid the next door neighbor did a similar set up but with i believe 3/8 copper coil piping. The big difference he had a wind mill thingie that pumped the water up to the coils seperate from the pool equipment. He boasted 78° water temp year round. And i was in it as a so cal kid. Awsome

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Copper would be really cool to do. Maybe when this one eventually breaks.

[@samueljames9342]

I originally used that type of tubing but the first time it sat in the sun without water circulating through it the water got so hot it blew the tubing apart when the pump did come on. I switched to pex tubing, the blue one because the red deteriorated in one season, I'm on 3 seasons with the blue and no signs of cracking yet. P.S. I live in central Florida

[@ariel_monaco]

22:59 it's key to cover it with that transparent polycarbonate and generate a "host chamber" effect. Thanks for the video and the inspiration! Cheers

[@jonathanmulzer17]

You should have put the inflow to the heater before the filter and keep your return where it is now. If you had done that you could use the back pressure of the filter to force water through your heater and not have to install a valve for restriction after the filter. You could also regulate your heating via the inlet valve to the solar heater. The way you have it setup now if you added a small 1/4hp pump to your current loop you could turn that on and off to regulate pool heating. Either way, that valve after the filter is a bad idea. It cuts your flow and increases the pressure on all of the plumbing between the pool pump and that valve.

[@ryanfoster9863]

Thanks for showing us this project! That is a bunch of energy it collected.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes it is.

[@donroberts4654]

What's up brother. I live in Florida now but when you said Sacramento I was like hey that's where I'm from originally. I grew up in Rio Linda during elementary and then Lodi during highschool. Just cool to see a fellow Sacramento guy doing these kinda things.

[@robinrg5677]

ive been using this system for a couple years now with just a 50m hose on my small roof.. im using a external pump to run the solar system and discovered over time that a clock timer runs the system at the best efficiency with 15 min on/off schedule i can heat my 10,000l pool prob 2-3 degree celcius a day with sun on roof from 09:00 - 18:00

[@richpalmisano1740]

Keep a high flow rate. Your gain will be lower but you wont melt your pipe. Anything higher than 120 degrees and the fitting will leak. Keep it cool, especially when you glaze the box. The temps in there can get up to 200 degrees... Again from experience... I ended up using PEX tubing as it has a higher temp rating... I speak from experience

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes sir. Keeping the water moving. I took the poly sheets off too.

[@LV2XPLR]

Your energy gain will increase with higher flow rates. Cooler water will absorb more heat from the pipe than water that is already close to the temperature of the pipe.

[@LV2XPLR]

Awesome idea, It might be simpler to use a separate 1/4 HP pump. It could also save energy if you can avoid having to speed up your main pump to run the solar. Pump as much water through as possible. Even though the outlet temp will be lower, the overall amount of energy collected will be higher as cooler water will absorb more heat. This may even work better if you split the roof coil into multiple parallel paths for more flow,

[@AlanTheBeast100]

Agree on speed, but once the system is charged (full of water) the weight of the water going 'up' is offset by the weight of the water coming down. So, in effect, better to route the water slowly (less pumping drag) even if not thermally optimal. This optimizes installation cost by eliminating a pump and power and so on (the best part is: no part).

[@kratzikatz1]

I have over 630feet of 16x1mm PE with a 20W solarpowerd (30W panel with 22Ah akku) pump. 500l/h flow. output is between 35 to 55°C. Enough for heating 5m³ water up to 30°C.

[@barrysteele8132]

1. Head Loss: Every pipe and fitting has an equivalent head (friction) loss, so running more pipe will be like having to raise it higher. By using 2 parallel pipes, you increase the effective diameter which halves head loss. This reduces flow speed, further reducing head loss and increasing water flow. You can't get it back by expecting gravity to pull the water back down. 2. DeltaT: For a given type black plastic, the heat transfer from that plastic to the water is determined by the difference in the plastic temp to the water temp (DeltaT). Toward the end of the loop, the water is hotter, decreasing the energy transferred from the pipe. (Touch the pipe on the inlet and outlet ends and note the difference.) By using 2 parallel loops, the temperature will be lower, but the water flow will be higher. 3. Losses: The higher temps of the single loop pipe will allow more heat to be lost to the atmosphere and soil (if plumbed underground). Reducing the temp will reduce this loss. Your single loop system would operate much better with a glass collector cover and insulation beneath for this reason.

[@terrymiller552]

I would use a 1/8 HP pump with a thermostat on the roof and on the normal filter plumbing. You can use an arduino to control the pump. Roof hot/pool cool; pump on. Roof cool: pump off. Pool hot and roof hot: pump off.

[@robertt8273]

Two thoughts and some water principles. First why did you cover the silver covered foam with tar paper? The reflective foil would further reflect the sun to more surface of the pipe. The tar paper is absorbing heat that could be reflected. Second you should split the 500 ft single line and run two lines in parallel. It will give you more flow and the flow will be slower so more time to absorb the sun. Finally once the tubing is all filled the pump is not really working any harder than it normally does without pumping up to the roof. Think of siphen principle. The water coming down will pull the water going up as long as the system on the roof is sealed. Hope that makes sense. You just need full power to get the system full than your slow speed should work fine. Great ideas.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thank you. I’ve put most of that to use on the new system. Tar paper thought was to hold heat on the roof then trap it under the poly sheets. Worked a little to well…. New system coming up this weekend!

[@tbirdracefan]

One thing to consider is that water expands when heated. When the pool heater is not needed, only close one of the two valves on the loop. I do think that having two valves is a good idea incase there is ever a need to isolate the system.

[@Sangoreborn]

My father did exactly this, like 15 years ago, very good way to heat up a pool

[@SolarProjectsSweden]

Nice video filled with good tips & trix. I'm setting up a solar powered pool heater right now and my goal is 30°C / 86°F. I'm starting with 250 meters / 820 feet of 20 mm / ¾ inch PEM hose in a similar rooftop setup as yours. A 20V rainwater barrel pump (2,000 liters - 528 gallons / hour) will be connected directly to a solar panel, so it's a completely automatic system controlled and powered by the sun. No sun = no pump = no heating. I'll guess it'll be some problems to solve along the way, but it'll be fun. Keep up your good work

[@chrisbuildsitall]

I learned that I needed several smaller heaters vs the 1 really big one. Was able to heat water much faster.

[@SolarProjectsSweden]

@@chrisbuildsitall Ok, the temperature in Sweden is about to come out from freezing temp, so I'll try my setup and see how it'll work, but I'll keep your answer for future improvements. I wish you a happy pool summer 2024.

[@Chinociciliane]

Patiently waiting for the next video This is a great video

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yeah… sorry. The whether changed really quick this year in NorCal. I’ve got a new system I’m building but can’t demo it until the spring.

[@andresruiz62]

@@chrisbuildsitall Any updatE?

[@tobyhammett6807]

Nice, thanks for showing the piping and the way you made it flow with the pool equipment

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yep. Got a new setup coming out this weekend.

[@AlanTheBeast100]

You want to shut off the roof loop at night otherwise it is an efficient thermal radiator (or use that to dump excess heat). So next: heat the household water this way and save gas/or electricity.

[@jamesvertrees5857]

I think the term is called pump head. It means how high the pump can push the liquid. I like your build. Also it should be noted that the heating loop is closed when the sky is not clear or at night. Without the light putting energy in to the loop it will start acting like a cooler at night. Just a thought.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes. The way it’s plumbed it only heats during the daylight hours. No water moves during the night to ensure maximum heating retention

[@jamesvertrees5857]

@@chrisbuildsitall Smart!

[@muddinyori1998]

They cool down at night and you start all over

[@DaveConsiglio]

Have one of those medium sized kiddie pools and want to do something similar, but you're cheap and not handy? Do what I did - buy a black hose, lay it in a loop on your driveway. Fill it mostly with water to take the strain off of your filter pump. Connect one end of the black hose to the pool filter outlet. Hang the other end into the bottom of the pool. I had to buy an adapter to get the outlet to fit to a hose. Total cost was less than $50. I did this years ago and heated the pool from 54ºF (the temperature it came out of the hose) to over 90ºF in just 3 days. It actually got TOO warm. I removed the setup and just used the hose for gardening and washing the car. Was it ugly? Yes. Was it a little embarrassing? Yes. Did my kids play in a warm pool in May in Michigan? Yes.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Awesome, that what I would do to if I had something above ground.

[@mondotv4216]

I would use a separate pump and use a thermocouple near the output on the roof and a controller to operate the pump. That way you're not relying on operating your expensive pool pump amd you can run a much smaller and more efficient 12 or 24V pump and only cycle the water when it reaches a certain differential from the pool itself (2nd thermocouple needed at the pool water inlet).

[@chrisbuildsitall]

I tried that also, worked pretty well but the pump wasn’t designed for pools so it started rusting. Also at the speed I run my pump it barely cost anything to run.

[@wonton8983]

In NZ we have black sand on the West Coast beaches (Titanomagnetite which is about 80% iron and 8-9% titanium.) In summer it can melt the skin off your feet. I wonder if filling the voids and covering the polypipe with something similar would increase the heat output.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

It could but you would want something that is more temp resistant than landscape pipe.

[@stevem1081]

Probably the easiest thing you could have done to make the water flow the way you wanted it to, without using check valves or the big shut-off valve you used, was to take that 90° fitting out and put a tee fitting on the left side and have that input pipe directly inline with the water flow.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Good call! Pretty soon I’m going to have the best solar heater ever. Thanks for the advice.

[@brandons9530]

cowl hood scoop... the water is not flowing the way you want because of the 90 deg bends on the same presser side of water. you would also be able to use a lawn hose timer to allow the the water to go or not as well if you move one of the outlets to the inlet side of the pump, or 24v solenoid if those systems have that. still love the build good job.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thank you. Gonna be hooking it all up to my pool automation as soon as I have the perfect setup. This is try #1, I’m on try #3 now..

[@chibs3666]

Not here to learn how to build a solar heater, just here to hear this guy say "ruff"!

[@michaeljanuska7534]

I did the same thing with irrigation tube didn't last the entire summer. By the end of the season the tube blew out 11 times . Switched to pex and has lasted 4 seasons so far without a blowout.

[@kettch42]

Is the pex exposed to the sun?

[@randyschneiderman]

@@kettch42 following

[@trace9130]

You might get better flow without causing a restriction by putting the return of the heating loop into the return on your pump.

[@jaxx1681]

Yes, this! Then you have pump discharge pressure feeding the coil and returning on the low pressure (inlet) side of the pump..

[@sixtoleger9583]

Great video and cool presentation by the instructor

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thanks

[@plunger110]

The reason you likely had a leak in your piping originally is that you are using DWV pvc fittings. They are for drainage, waste, and venting, not for pressure. There isn't enough of a socket in the fitting like your valves and 2"x3/4" tees have for glue to lock into. Also if you had used the tees in place of the 90s with the 3/4" coming out of the tops of the tees the water would have followed the path of least resistance and flowed easily up through your loop. I like the idea, and may do something similar to my pool this summer, although sometimes my pool gets too warm on its own, maybe I can bury a second loop under ground and cool the pool in much the same manner on hotter days when the water is a bit too warm.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yep, didn’t realize I grabbed those until I was already home and gluing everything up. Luckily I was able to get them to hold until I got new ones and replaced them.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Check out the newest video. Pretty much did all the things. Next system I build should be bullet proof and fully automated.

[@dennonhart5721]

pretty darn smooth

[@noahfarmer9542]

It has worked great for 2 seasons now

[@a.b.k1983]

I always love scrolling through the comments to see what all the “experts” have to say 🙄.

[@cwilliams6884]

heated pool house roof ftw

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Totally!!!

[@yanassi]

3 things: 1, thanks for showing me that using a burner you could removed glued pvc. 2, did you take a temperature reading of the pool before and after to learn the heat gain? 3, as higher water temperatures raises the rate of evaporation, what was your water loss due to evaporation?

[@jasonhill6074]

I lose about 500l due to evap on a 80000l pool when uncovered all week and heated to 90. Consistently, worse if it's really windy and dry

[@alibesharatian4277]

Great work and instructions! Really enjoyed watching you put this together. Curious to know if you followed any guidelines for tubing diameter selection? I'm just worried 500ft of 5/8" tubing could add too much load to the pool pump and damage it in the long run... Is there a sweet spot for the diameter of the tubing for optimum efficiency and safe operation? Why not going with for example 1" and why not trying 1/2"?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

500’ was way too much load, needs to be broken down into smaller sections like my new system.

[@ad-cc1sw]

It’s amazing that it’s 90 degrees outside and you aren’t wearing long sleeves, pants and some sort of face gear to keep the sun off of you and ultimately be cooler while working. Your body is working really hard trying keep your internals cool. Think about it. Make the switch and after you try to it you’ll never wear short sleeves in the sun again

[@chrisbuildsitall]

If you watch, I change later in the video to jeans, long sleeve and my sun hat. But yes it was sucking.. 😂

[@james.telfer]

@@chrisbuildsitall There's an easy way to stay cool, simply put on a wet top and pants. Doesn't have to be dripping wet, just damp enough for evaporative cooling. Soak clothing, wring out the major drips, then put on. I was doing that in 86F weather a couple of weeks ago, works extremely well, even when you're active. Plus you can jump in the pool for a 'recharge' 😄

[@Zerofx]

It’s too bad he didn’t have some kind of big hole filled with water that he could jump into to cool off. Oh wait… 😅

[@1975Per]

Pretty sure you would have alot better results if you had a separate pump for the water that goes through the black tube. You wasting alot of pressure by using that shut of valve, and your pool probably isn't getting the flow it's supposed to have any longer. Also if will give you alot more ability to adjust the flow through the black pipe. You probably also wanna shut it of during the night to minimize heat loss during the night.

[@kailumgg7736]

I would also recommend heat pumps they are amazing very erngy efficiency compared to electric heaters and they can heat up very quickly

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Heat pumps are great in the right environment. They use a lot of electricity though so it depends on your prices of gas vs electricity if they would make sense.

[@kailumgg7736]

@@chrisbuildsitall yea we only have a small pool with a small heat pump it works brilliantly

[@douglasthompson9482]

Good video. Thank you for your help.

[@CastroGary]

I like the design. Did you ever do an updated video with higher temp tubing and/or removable polycarbonate roof?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes there a newer video where I went all out on the design.

[@ElijahPerrin80]

Plenty of unwanted heat in the attic and it is shielded from uv light, may want to design a tub below to catch water and drain it outside incase something happens and may reduce cooling costs in the home. You have great ideas and I just found you, time to binge.

[@Sceme1991]

With a system like this you should first shut off the "bypass" valve completely and run so much water thru the black hose that you get all the air out of it. I'm a plumber and every time we have a floor heating system that's not working it's due to air in the system. Because this is open system and the air has no where to escape you probably need to air it regurlarly. In a closed heating system once you get the air out there's no new air introduced there from anywhere.

[@chadmarkley]

Great video!! Question for you . When pushing the temp of the pool up with the heater, have you seen the algae growth get a little crazy? I live in So Cal and even when my pull starts pushing into the 80's, I see that I am fighting the "growth" a lot more. Great solution tho

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes - always got to keep chlorine levels up at the beginning of the season. Look into getting a Pool RX. They work great to fight algae.

[@TurtleWaxed]

Why not add a boost pump on the cooler inlet side to give the smaller line a PSI assist and you can use a thermostat to control the boost pump so you dont have to manually turn it on/off? That way you can save wear and tear on the larger main pump? You may also want to consider larger diameter pipe to get a better flow rate. Flow rate is more important than a crazy hot temperature. You dont need to exceed temps beyond what can help kill bacteria. Too high of temperature and you will damage your plumbing and any other items in the heating line section of the pool system.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

I tried a bunch of variations with this setup. The best was using a small pump to run the system independently and returned the water through the cleaner line so it wasn’t premixing with the cooler pool water. The main issue with system was that I made it too big (long). It needed to be more like my new system with 3 smaller heaters running in parallel so I could move the water through the system quicker and only gain a few degrees of temp increase vs having the huge changes the 1 long system gave me.

[@MichaelPressler970]

Dang man, that's pretty smart

[@Slackware1995]

For best effeciency it is best to work with the natural water flow. This means remembering that cold water falls and hot water rises. This means inside the heater instead of the using the circular path with the inlet hole higher than the outlet (by a tiny amount) you should have the inlet at the lowest point with the pipe traveling back and forth as it works its way to the highest point where the outlet is situated. This also means that it is best not putting the heater on the roof. If at all possible the heater should be lower than the pool. A properly designed solar heater system should not rely on pumps. The natural flow of cold water traveling down and hot water traveling up can supply all the flow needed. You can actually stop running the expensive and very loud electric pump(s). Combining the flow from the heater with a low power bubble pump can be extremely effective. You could get by with a 70-150 Watt bubble pump, meaning that you could run the pump off of 300-400 Watts of solar and about 200-300 ah of batteries.

[@hhazelhoff1363]

It would have been much better to use a black asphalt peel and stick roofing material for flat roofs or some metal roofing. That tar paper will break down in the sun and heat in two seasons. But the concept is cool. Just use beer materials, and stain steel fasteners.

[@MASSTERZINGER]

Hm, I wonder if removing black paper will increase heater performance.. Currently, as I think, plack paper traps heat from the sun inside, but mirror-ish surface can help redirect the heat back to the pipes. Would be interesting to try.

[@silvergate8952]

Great video thank you so much

[@frederikjacobs552]

I world pay top dollar to hear this guy sing: the ruff, the ruff, the ruff is on fire!

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yep, different parts of the country say words differently than others.

[@kettch42]

I'm curious how the piping handled shrinkage during the winter. I would have removed some of the clips on the bends to give it more freedom of movement.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

No issues during winter as it doesn’t get real cold here.

[@Kebnes89]

I was thinking that you could run several lines in parallel. That way the pressurelosses would come down quite alot. The outlet temperature isn't really that important. Just the energy captured by the heater.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yep check out my other 2 videos

[@ericlack6344]

The 2" 90's you have are for drain waste and vent, you will want to change those for pressure 90's.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yeah, I didn’t realize as I was installing them, so had to go back and cut them out.

[@dinosaur6756]

No kneepads? Some inexpensive gel kneepads will make your projects a lot easier.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

I’m too lazy. I got myself a knee board now to kneel on .

[@BrainSlugs83]

Instead of adding more hose to the roof, add a small solar panel, to charge a battery and run the pump!

[@ScrollinForATrollin]

A comment for the algorithm gods

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Love it!

[@kirkwohlford5553]

I think you did a great job but maybe a stand alone pump would save power so you don't have to run that large pool pump.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

I tried all kinds of variations with stand alone pumps, booster pumps and plumbed into pool pump. In the end, the single heater was just too inefficient and I had to go back to the drawing board.

[@kgrimsley2]

Clear Plastic or Glass Cover Will Not Increase Efficiency! Don't waste your money on them! Nope - this may be the case for hot water collectors, but for pool collectors where the pool water is about the same or typically lower than the roof temperature, such glazing insulation will actually prevent warm roof air from transferring to the pipes, but secondly about 10-15% of sunlight is reflected back into space by the surface of any glazing material. So you lose that much straight off the bat and then there are the potential overheating issues. Keep it simple don't glaze it, you'll get a better result.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Agreed. I used the same stuff they use on green houses. It increases the heat inside the box therefore increase the heat transfer to the water heater.

[@normansanin3326]

What if, instead of the black paper you used a reflective surface? Wouldn't that heat up more?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Possibly. I used black to hold heat inside the boxes. I feel like it’s the best but have never tried the reflective surface

[@MrChazz965]

Cool water heating system

[@totalchaos1976]

your heater may work better if you plumbed the heater return line before the pump intake so the pump pushes and pulls on the heater loop the warm and cold water will have time to mix in your filter

[@artsmith7254]

Would it work without the tubing coils? Just run the water into the panel and let it drain back into the pool.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

If I understand right, no it would t work. You need the coils to heat the water

[@michaelwasson1213]

My wife and I have done this three times. The PVC pipe will burst when it gets hot, it usually only lasts one summer. The only way to prevent this is to keep water flowing through it to keep it cool, but at that point the pool gets too hot to use.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

That’s what happened to this one also. My current setup I used pex pipe and we are on season 2 with it now and going strong!

[@hrcnick11]

Pex is not UV stable and will harden over time in the sun. Paint on it normally helps.

[@ChrisAbbey]

Looks like you added that extra 300’ of pipe before putting the plexiglass down.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yeah, I added more before closing it all up. I’ve already torn that system out and tried a couple other variations. About to start what I hope will be a good permanent solution

[@pw6048]

next time instead of black paper, use aluminium sheeting that will reflect the sun into the pipe.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Thought of that, gonna keep the tar paper though.

[@alanmoore2197]

Feed from before the filter and return after to use the filter pressure differential to help drive your flow direction. If you shut off both valves you will need an expansion vessel (can be cheap like an empty stand pipe) or a pressure relief valve. If you run the pool at night you will also need an automated valve so as not to also be cooling the pool.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes sir. Built a new system and made it fully automated

[@alanmoore2197]

@@chrisbuildsitallNicely done build and seems very effective

[@dustin8420]

They sell big blue plastic sheets with like bubble wrap on the bottom. It works really well heating your pool. Probably a fraction of the cost.

[@matthewwiddows6319]

would you not be better having a manifold with multiple loops in parallel? this would put less strain on the pump and also i think be more efficient as the water in the pipes will stay cooler and thus pick up more heat, you may find with one massive length of hose in series to the pump, as the water temp rises is absorbs less heat. i may be wrong.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yep - check out my new pool heater video.

[@rookie1514]

The black pipe material is designed for underground use and will deteriorate in the sun - become brittle and crack to pieces. I know because I tried this on my pool shed roof !

[@miknilsen8288]

The Sun delivers 1000w pr. M2 direct sunlight… So its all about size not quality of collector…. (When its for the pool, cause of the low needed temperature) Then instead of calculating the output, then simply feel the collector is it very hot you are loosing alot of heat to the surroundings… So go Big and make sure the temp on the collector is low ( High flowrate )👍🏻

[@arthurgriffin3227]

Bang bang!!!!

[@tamugrad2007]

I would have tied the return into the pump suction rather than having both on the discharge side of the pump. That way you already have a differential pressure. Then you could have controlled it by simply throttling one of your 3/4" valves.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Good idea

[@douglasbrown770]

Love the Ku hat

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Rock Chalk

[@earthlifeus1656]

Janey values are way better than those cheap ball values that last have short working life. What's with 220V in seal-tite running over the pipes?

[@thearmy88ify]

@13:00 This is why you use true union ball valves and unions. Why didnt you get piping that is rated for high temps when trying to heat the pool in the sun.

[@nixer65]

I’m not sure what the temperature rating is for your pipe. I suspect it’s MDPE which typically has a limit of 180F for low pressure. I could easily see the temperature exceeding 180F with the poly covers on! I know it’s expensive, but I would be using copper…

[@thespencerowen]

What about winter? Do you need to drain it?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes, on this system I just close the 2 shut offs, unscrew the 2 black pipes. Run clean water through it for 15 minutes then use the compressor to blow air through it to push all the water out. It never freezes here though so it’s not a huge concern. The new system I built is much better.

[@JA-ux7dd]

Hook your hoses to the high and low side of the pump...

[@Tenkin211]

Check valves for controlling flow. Oh... you said it like 30 sec after i posted in the video.

[@ericshore4606]

I assume a similar set up would work on the ground? We are having an above ground pool installed in Maine in a few weeks, and our "pool house" is in a pretty shady area, so rigging the tubing system on the roof of that wouldn't work. The way I figure it, if we rig a system up on the ground "behind" the pool, it would be more or less out of sight, and in an area of our yard that gets direct sun most of the day. I'm thinking laying the tar paper on the ground and laying the tubing system similar to way you did. Maybe I could frame it while it's on the ground--that way I can lay plexyglass on top of it to trap heat within the system? Do you think this would work, and/or do you have any modifications you would suggest? Great fricking video btw!

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yes. Check out my new video and build a couple of those and then you can join them together and just have them lean against something or lay on the ground. I currently have them laying on the ground because I’m working on a new design and they are working great.

[@adrianvasile4683]

@500 ft & 5/8"tubing you'll have a lot a resistance to beat with a pump and great chance to have water boiling, exceeding max temperature for the tube. Solution is tubes in paralel.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Check out the new videos

[@siriosstar4789]

very nice . 👍basically a solar hot water heater that one would use for the house ?

[@DaleKlein]

Use the pressure drop across the filter to make it flow through the solar heater. ie: put the heater inlet ahead of the sand filter, leave the return where it is.

[@elwood212]

Why is yr pool equipment room so huge? Have you got a bedroom in there too? Ours is 1.5m sq. What material is on yr roof under the tar paper? How do you prevent water leaks from all the nail holes ?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

There’s a whole series of building that thing.. it’s used to be terrible. Also doubles as projector screen and a shed.

[@lorcanclavin-cj3zy]

He needs to install a manifold to allow for more flow through the heater so the bypass can be completely turned off to force the water only through the heater circuit.

[@richhooker1263]

Hi and thank you for sharing! Wondering how effective the solar heaters like this are once it starts getting colder outside. Basically when its not hot summer days anymore, will the solar heaters still heat the pool considering the water will be much cooler to start? I get how when its 90 plus degrees out the solar heater system will be great but what about pre and post summer days? Thank you!

[@chrisbuildsitall]

I was able to swim til about mid October, and was swimming in April. So about a month extra each season.

[@badiraslan]

Great ,but does this work in winter season..?

[@ElroydeJong-EU]

I saw that the water in the pool is somewhat green’ish… From experience, I have put an electrolysis device in after the filter and added salt for swimming pools into the water. Great result, water is clearer than when I first put it in. Just a consideration.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yep, salt system wasn’t working correctly at this time

[@rayray15307]

Those sweep 90 on either side of the ball valve will fail prematurely because you used DWV fittings and not one meant for pressure

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yeah I realized that after I got them in. Already cut them out and replaced them.

[@larryroberts8164]

That hat is noice!!!!