Diy wood fired pool heater

[@flaquitoyork]

Best video on the internet showing actual success on this scale . You should have millions of views. Awsome vid.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Let me just say that after a comment like that I realize one is never really too old for a pat on the back. Thanks for the great comment.

[@slapateers9181]

add a lid to the top reservoir and to the top of the pool to help keep the heat in. you could insulate the PVC. This is brilliant! Well done!

[@equipt4sound]

Could run insulation around the pool.

[@baldyetichronicles]

"You can tell it's cold because you can feel it" made my day :)

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

LOL! I was paying homage to the "Neature Walk Episode 1".

[@Davidautofull]

i couldnt feel it.

[@patrickdimig3435]

I build pools, and can afford a pool heater but this has been fun to piddle with on the weekends!

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello Patrick. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. It's true purpose though serves as a warning lol! I wish I had put in more footage of how much wood I incinerated to heat a mass of water that large. But if you do continue make a stove that can breath quite well. Take care.

[@netwrench6570]

I've been trying and searching for a functional wood heater, and while this one was cool (hot ; ), because it actually worked, it's not a long-term solution. So far this is one to aim your efforts at, search "How to make a real wood fired pool heater". Long burn tube (rocket heater), dual heating elements. I've tried the barrel with copper pipe inside, and also tried a rocket mass heater with bricks and dirt/straw/sand, but the big issue is that I was not using parallel flow, but just one pipe with the water flowing serially. A manifold element (or more than one) is required.

[@armandniosi7657]

Very cool!! I just built a pool with a gas heater and an auto cover but i am a tinkerer, this looks fun.

[@nateoneill9348]

I like the way it lights up at night! Really nice

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Thanks Nate!

[@JoepPiscaer]

@@CraftyClusterfarg what lights are you using for that?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

@@JoepPiscaer There is a link in the video description.

[@ParallaxVisuals]

you can achieve waaay better results if you insulate the bottom and the sides of the pool. great video! i love the artwork on your heater:)))

[@ooceansurf]

nice video!

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Thanks! Im on a short hiatus but, I’m going to build a zen shitter in the woods when this life thing affords me the time. May life go your way. Take care.

[@jimhughes2621]

"you can tell it's cold by the way it feels." 🤣🤣

[@alittlebitintellectual7361]

Impressive Craftsmanship, Personally though I'm a Fan of the Radiator Solution, Take the same Barrel you got, either cut the top open, or cut two slots in the side to feed a cheap car Radiator through (VW Golf 5 radiator is compatible with 32 mm pool hoses, and is a great fit for a barrel), cut out the fins between the fluid pipes(otherwise the soot clogs up the fins) and as long as your water keeps moving and doesn't start boiling you're totally fine. For me this meant above 2000l / 530gal per hour. But now i got a Stronger pump, so ill use a bypass to get more heat out of the system. For the small pump it made about 3degrees 5.4F difference between when it entered the pump and got fed back into the pool. ok but your temperature delta impressed me a lot. 14 degrees difference is crazy. Enormous Heat transfer for it being a bucket that sits on a fire.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Great comment! I explored the radiator option as I believed it to be a superior method but I had difficulty finding cheap options even at the junk yard although I was looking for aluminum radiators. I wish I had known about the VW Golf radiator. If your impressed by the delta temp you would be even more impressed if you knew how much wood I burned. Read through my previous comments for a breakdown. I probably will not get to it anytime soon but given the mistakes I made I would certainly like to give this another shot with more improved efficiencies. Take care.

[@Ricks2Cents]

Looks Legit! I’d just be scared to Melt my Pool that Close!!!

[@johnvitz310]

Great ideal, but plz don’t trust that old barrel to hold up that heavy tank. Reinforce a frame to take the weight. Maybe even put a protective fence around to keep kids away. You have a great looking back yard, mountains in the back.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

You could not be more right. I created the stove to breath well for maximum btu's although it turned the bottom half of the barrel red hot hence the makeshift coil on the outside to cool it off a bit. It has since been dismantled and sun flowers are now growing in the stock tank.

[@williamcalder2416]

Great video. Have to watch the barrel will collapse after it’s been burned so much. Don’t want it all to fall down

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

I could not agree more. Collapse was imminent from the beginning when the barrel was glowing red hot. That copper coils second purpose was to cool the barrel down by the intake. The Franken Heater has since been retired and the water reservoir is currently being used for a small salsa garden.

[@MrWouzke]

You can run the coile inside of the drum, you only have to make sure there is always water flowing through.

[@michellewilliams4009]

Pretty awesome...if you need an 8000 gallon hot tub.

[@jeffreychang4123]

Dude, you're my hero!!!

[@robr471]

Well done.

[@DS-ps6il]

I LOVE this! You are a genius!!!

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

I may need some salsa for the chip on my shoulder after a comment like that.

[@derrekmitchell1012]

I built a barrel stove used csst gas pipe wrapped on inside. my input temp is around 80 output is 110 to 130 depending how hot I run it. I'm also pumping 10 gpm

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

That is awesome! It is quite impressive how the intensity of the fire can drastically have an impact on the temperatures.

[@newtybot]

I'm probably too late but have you considered using some form of thick tarp to put over the top of it while it's heating? Something to insulate it from the outside, then you pull it off to hop in

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

It did that very thing and it worked quite well. Take care and thanks for watching.

[@jeffflanagan2814]

I love it! Add some insulation!

[@steveorini2839]

I'm building a rocket stove heater for my hot tub, wanted to use 1/2" thin wall stainless tubing for the heating coil, to keep the bromine from reacting with it. Are you noticing corrosion in your copper heating coil?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

@@steveorini2839 I would not know because I only used it for one season. Too inefficient.

[@randal3122]

dang 98 degrees is basically hot tub temps. i had a new inground hot tub, and the hottest it went was like 104 i think. but i would bring it down to about 100 most of the time

[@deweymonstersoutdooradventures]

Great Video!

[@939Aed]

Can you describe the material of the heating tub, where you got it, and how is the bottom of that tub holding up? Thanks.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello. The water reservoir is your standard stock tank found at any farm supply and I’m not sure how the bottom is doing because it’s now a large flower pot. Thanks for watching.

[@939Aed]

@@CraftyClusterfarg So it was used for one or two seasons then repurposed? I currently have a copper coil-style wood burning pool heater, which is not producing enough heat, and I am considering upgrading to the stock tank design. Looks like a round 3' diameter, 2' tall tank, yes? 20 or 22 gauge?

[@flavorsavermmm]

That's kick @$$$ I want to do this to my pool to. And it's the same size. Question tho. Have you thought about using a furnace fuel tank with grading in the bottom and l channel on the inside top with slide in radiators, I'm curious of your thoughts , !!! Wood. Love any comments

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Ahoy there. I had considered numerous methods, but not quite that. You’re on track though for maximum surface area to be heated. Regardless of the method employed, most attempts do not lets the fire breath enough. When it’s a massive quantity of water maximum btu’s need to be transferred so be prepared to incinerate some fuel. Thanks for watching and take care.

[@flavorsavermmm]

@@CraftyClusterfarg you think it would heat the pool during the middle of winter?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

@@flavorsavermmm ….it would be tough. I went through over 500lbs of wood in an 8hr period to combat 50 degree temps. That about a pound of wood per minute. It was just too much water to heat. Now a much smaller pool with an insulated top. That’s totally achievable.

[@markj6984]

do you have a pump connected to prevent steam issues? im just learning to do my own hot tub still trying to locate copper at a decent price

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

@@markj6984 great question. Yes, there was a 35gpm pump installed. But if that pump was off for even 30 seconds then explosive steam was a problem.

[@1stontario]

how about a lid on the top pot.

[@bitsofeverything8385]

A coil in the fire along with two tubes that connect into the main tank should do the trick faster i think and no pumps.

[@amandaortega6300]

Do you have any supplies or like a step by step instructional. We just bought a house with a pool and I want to replicate this

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello Amanda. I do not. It sort of depends on what you have lying around. But If I may here is some advice. Most of the wood powered pool heaters get one thing wrong. They smothered the fire. You need an efficient but inefficient stove. What I mean by that is the success I had was dependent of the stoves ability to breath well and intake air. It was basically and incinerator transferring maximum btu's to the most surface area as possible. The stock tank on top was the cheapest surface area to heat i could find. For more practical uses a much smaller volume of water with a stove to burns well is the sweet spot. Best of luck and stack a big pile of wood.

[@diamond4829]

Does that main pipe just run straight through ? You said something about "a couple of times " ....

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello. It's a series of elbows so that it zig zagged up and down the back side of the barrel. Although it picked up a few degrees it did not work as well as I thought it would. Diverting some of the water to the copper coil slowed down the velocity and volume going through it and it improved some.

[@AnastasiaBurchick]

Watched a guy make a butt load of black tubing, coiled up to solar heat his above ground (living in north east usa) and it spit out 96* degree water. Worth a short for your set up i bet

[@markwegner6100]

Rock on! Subbed.

[@NicholasBarnoski]

How long is the pipe in the 55 gallon drum?

[@genukamidnight4112]

That's actually not a bad design. 😋

[@Norheg.357]

Can you elaborate on the exit pipe. How did you make the hole? What all did you use to make it? Rubber seal?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello, your the first one to inquire about this. From a geometric stand point I stood there and thought about it for some time. Eventually in a rudimentary fashion I pounded the side of the stock tank flat. I then purchased a flange for a small stove pipe and hand cut a rubber seal from and old tube. Keeping old rubber around is handy. I also applied some rubber cement. Great question!

[@Norheg.357]

Thanks for the response. Any issues with heat on the pvc?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

@@Norheg.357 Yes, I had to put a heat shield under it.

[@ryangilmore6141]

Bill Murray needs you

[@trevort888]

is the drum on top aluminum? where did you find a container like that?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello Trevor. It's a galvanized stock tank found at any farm supply.

[@porfirioderas-lopez2731]

I did one last year, sorta like a giant rocket stove design with the coil inside ,it use less wood to heat the water! I wish I could show it with a picture! Or short video!

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Well if you used less wood than I did I call that a win. Good on ya for doing stuff!

[@DjArity]

Awesome DIY...question. How much wood did you have to use and once you reached the goal temp, how long did the temp last past 80 degrees? without more wood?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello! Well I could simply say "ALOT" but how about a long answer. Halfway through this project I took to brief pause to calculate what I was up against. The pool was roughly 8000 gallons or 63000lbs with a delta Temp of 46 degrees in a bit over 8hrs. That's 2,900,000 btu's! The firewood I used was about 60% red fir and the rest Larch and hunks of rail road ties. I assigned that composition about 7000 btu's/lb. That results in over 400lbs of wood, but I knew the barrel had a very low efficiency rate. If I had to guess it consumed around 600lbs of wood. That's a little over a pound a minute. The barrel got so hot because of the number of intake holes I thought it was going to melt hence the copper coil at the bottom keeping it cool. For the second part of your question the temp reduced quickly. By night fall it felt like it was 80ish degrees. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Having a fun time and just doing stuff is always worth it, even if it does waste time and money. I say go for it. I will say though that with a volume of water that large your cycle time with a single small, coiled conduit will be very long so you will want to achieve maximum transfer of heat, but you can only get it so hot until it boils so the next solution is to increase the volume of water going through the tank, but then that takes more fuel and then you will want even more volume and more fuel and more volume......$$$$$. Give it a shot though and learn a few things.

[@jackonthefarm5540]

To greatly improve this, you should not use a continuous coil. You really want to use a manifold for the entrance and exit with parallel small diameter tubes connecting the manifolds. This way every tube starts with water at the current pool temp... thus the greatest heat transfer rate.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

You are absolutely correct. Should I ever attempt this endeavor again I will do just that.

[@Davidautofull]

are you saying one tube from pool to a manifold into the heat with multi tubes out to a manifold back to one tube to the pool?

[@texasaggiegigsem]

aka counterflow wort-chiller ;-)

[@tylerhughes5420]

Exactly ​@@texasaggiegigsem

[@mammaholmes]

That is so cool! Or should i say "hot". My plunge pool is only 2000 gallons so think this would be fantastic. Where are the instructions?! I need this!!

[@mammaholmes]

Sorry for my stupid question. When i find your video i didn't realize it hadn't started at the beginning. I re-watched in entirety and get it now. It's awesome.

[@luiscarlosrodriguezd.4117]

I have no knowledge of thermodynamics, if you use an enclosed container to boil the water, could you also use steam as an extra option to heat the water? if so, cost would be even higher right?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello Luis. Awesome question. I myself am by no means an expert in regards to the laws of thermodynamics but I do adhere to the principle of the consumption of excessive amounts of fuel. It overcomes even the most inefficient designs. I like your idea. If I were to do this over again I certainly would have contained it. Maintaining 200 plus degrees to boil water though with incoming cool water.....now that's a challenge far beyond me even with the copious amount of fire wood I have. That is industrial level heating there. Possible though if you have a heating vessel rated for such and endeavor and sizable pile of coal, lots of propane or maybe even some uranium if you have any of that laying around.

[@Two_Buck]

Cool video. What are those lights in your pool?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Cheap led pool lights. Here is a link. amzn.to/3tZUjXP

[@bradleyseidel6738]

Do you know how many gallons that stock tank is roughly.?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

It's around 4ft wide but only filled about a foot and a halfish so around 140 gallons

[@BiteTheCurbNow]

Hi,I'm a boiler tech/pool heater guy from Michigan. Good work, for cheap too...my comment has to do with temp...most customers desire 85 to 90 degrees, 90 being pretty warm- I leave new heaters at 88 degrees and let the customers figure it out from there. I'm assuming 100 was just the goal?? Or are you actually looking for that above 100 for a "hot tub" ???lol

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello and thanks for the comment. It was most certainly a challenge. Not a very efficient one I might add. The amount of wood I incinerated to maintain peak temps is simply not sustainable for everyday use. It is funny that you’re a boiler operator. Most of this was envisioned by a mine ventilation and cooling engineer I work with. Thanks again and take care.

[@rdebije]

A coil would be far more effective because of the increased surface area. And the burning of A LOT less wood. especially in an old fire bricked wood stove.

[@zachlister2162]

How did you keep the ash out of the water?

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Well I had a cover on most of the day, but when I took it off quite a few particles from the fire made it in....along with leaves, bugs, dirt in general, carrots, empty beer cans and a hula hoop.

[@vanhalenman60]

i still dont understand why people do the copper coil on the outside of the drum. it will be much hotter keeping it in the open flame, and trust me without forced induction that fire wont melt the copper/

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

I could not agree more but the coils primary purpose was to cool the bottom of the barrel. If you caught it when I first fired up the barrel you will see how hot it was around the bottom intake holes and given the weight on top I feared it may buckle. A bonus of it cooling the bottom was it picked up some heat as well and since the design relied on excessive consumption of fuel I was then free to blaze away. Take care and thanks for checking out my vid.

[@Ricks2Cents]

I’m on a Mission to do the Same… I’ll post My Frankenstein Idea… lol

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Well I hoped you learned bit from the comment section here and make the new and improved Franken Heater lol!

[@stbam1965]

Come on just stay on it. No talk no cat no bull

[@kennywilliamson]

Also probably be more efficient if pool in ground. I do dig the shorts though... have some myself. Forever embarrassing girlfriend.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

LOL! I keep telling the Wifey they are going to make a comeback.....someday. Oh ya. Can I borrow your tractor

[@borgirek1]

Just buy hot tub

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Great advice, but I'm never to old to do something pointless and silly.

[@GreatBigBoat]

98?...there would be visible evaporation....from 52 to 98 in 8 hours?........with a few feet of 3/8 copper. I don't think so.

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Hello Bruce. You are indeed correct but the copper circuit only accounts for a small portion of heating. There is yet another line running 25 gpm through the barrel. Both of these sources are then heated again in the tank on top. Check out the vid around the 3:45 mark for a good explanation. As for the lack of steam I did have an assist from mother nature that day when the sun came out and gifted me with around 70 degree temps. Thanks for checking out my vid and take care.

[@craigr306]

real men use a welder not rivets lol

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

I agree but did you find the video riveting?

[@Ryanuuuwuu]

Why would you do all this when you can just run the water through black irrigation tube in the sun lol

[@jdtracing6502]

Why didn’t he do black irrigation tubing? Because he wanted to. Maybe he doesn’t have a lot of sun where he is. It’s fall when this was done. Why does anyone do anything? Because they choose to. I am planning to do something similar. Why you ask? Because I can and because my pool is cold due to lack of sun all day. When the water is super cold people don’t want to swim. Who wants to only swim 10 days out of the year when if it’s heated you can use it for 6 months… there are people that do things and there are people that just hate on others for doing what they can’t. Best of luck to you….

[@thecrazykiwi123]

the squares you cut off weld on the bottom as spacers /foot

[@CraftyClusterfarg]

Good idea but I chose instead to leave a couple of them lying around in the grass and mowed over them.