I've just put an inflatable pool in my garden. Tap water is rather cool
but there's too much of it to think about warming it using hot water
from the house. Nor do I want to wait for it to warm naturally. It's
about 2.5 m across.

I can't see why I couldn't make a black panel of some sort to
capture the sun's heat and warm the water, rather like a
solar heating panel on a roof. Question is what to make it from?

I thought of making a grid of 15mm copper pipes and elbow and
T joints, perhaps flattening the pipes a bit with a soft hammer. The
trouble is the gaps would be large and heat wasted, even if I put
a black board behind. Then I thought of an old radiator
painted matt black. The water should flow by convection, but if it
doesn't I can use the output from the motorised filter that came
with the pool.

Has anyone else tried this and/or got some good ideas?

Peter Scott

"Peter Scott" wrote in message
...
I've just put an inflatable pool in my garden. Tap water is rather cool
but there's too much of it to think about warming it using hot water
from the house. Nor do I want to wait for it to warm naturally. It's
about 2.5 m across.

I can't see why I couldn't make a black panel of some sort to
capture the sun's heat and warm the water, rather like a
solar heating panel on a roof. Question is what to make it from?

I thought of making a grid of 15mm copper pipes and elbow and
T joints, perhaps flattening the pipes a bit with a soft hammer. The
trouble is the gaps would be large and heat wasted, even if I put
a black board behind. Then I thought of an old radiator
painted matt black. The water should flow by convection, but if it
doesn't I can use the output from the motorised filter that came
with the pool.

Has anyone else tried this and/or got some good ideas?

Peter Scott


A friend in Southampton does this with a home built panel, the sun face is
old Perspex twin wall, the tubing is ten millimetre copper tube with very
few joins in an across wise pattern, I can't remember what the backing is,
but anything should do with silver paper on it to stop the heat warming the
back too much, personally I would use a sheet of cellotex, he uses a central
heating pump to circulate it all, the panel is about 6 foot by three and
faces southish. it makes a lot of difference, likewise cover the pool at
night with an insulating blanket of bubble wrap

mrcheerful

mrcheerful
. expressed precisely :
likewise cover the pool at night with an insulating blanket of bubble wrap

2" thick polystyrene [1] sheet is quite cheap and would provide a much
better level of insulation and it would float on the surface. [1] The
extremely light, white plastic, as often used for packing of delicate
items.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.org

Peter Scott wrote:

Has anyone else tried this and/or got some good ideas?

A couple of layers of bubble wrap cut to the shape of the pool floated
on the top when not in use would be a good start. Spray paint one layer
black.

That will capture some solar radiation, while at the same time
preventing so much loss due to convection. Might also keep some leaves out.

--
Cheers,

John.

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On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 21:34:26 +0100, Peter Scott wrote:

I've just put an inflatable pool in my garden. Tap water is rather cool
but there's too much of it to think about warming it using hot water
from the house. Nor do I want to wait for it to warm naturally. It's
about 2.5 m across.

I can't see why I couldn't make a black panel of some sort to
capture the sun's heat and warm the water, rather like a
solar heating panel on a roof. Question is what to make it from?

How about some black hose pipe coiled to and fro, using water circulated
from the filter?


--
the dot wanderer at tesco dot net

In article , peter@peter-
scott.org.uk says...
I've just put an inflatable pool in my garden. Tap water is rather cool
but there's too much of it to think about warming it using hot water
from the house. Nor do I want to wait for it to warm naturally. It's
about 2.5 m across.
=20
I can't see why I couldn't make a black panel of some sort to
capture the sun's heat and warm the water, rather like a
solar heating panel on a roof. Question is what to make it from?
=20
I thought of making a grid of 15mm copper pipes and elbow and
T joints, perhaps flattening the pipes a bit with a soft hammer. The
trouble is the gaps would be large and heat wasted, even if I put
a black board behind. Then I thought of an old radiator
painted matt black. The water should flow by convection, but if it
doesn't I can use the output from the motorised filter that came
with the pool.
=20
Has anyone else tried this and/or got some good ideas?
=20

=09I tried something similar on one of the recent hot days, as a=20
quick rough and ready feasability study, to see if I could install a=20
diy solar water heating system that stood some chance of being=20
effective.

=09I found an old radiator in the shed, about 550mm x 800mm at a=20
guess, and sprayed it matt black. I fitted a couple of 10mm rad valves=20
- one to top of rad other to the bottom - pushed normal garden hosepipe=20
onto the valves, connected the hosepipe ends to a small tank, filled it=20
with water and waited for the results...

=09I think that it took about 4.5 hours to raise about 14 gallons of=20
water from 12 odd =B0C to 39=B0C.

=09Having read up on the subject in some depth, it appears that with=20
an airtight insulated box containing the radiator the front being=20
double glazed and the length extended to be longer than the radiator -=20
the extra length of said box being built such that the excess "ends"=20
are returned at an angle to catch more hours of sun - then the=20
efficiency of the panel should rise to the point of being viable.

=09So, as was already mentioned, if the pool is covered with a=20
thermal blanket whilst not in use, solar heating should be moderately=20
effective, at least.

=09Of course, if you utilise the filtration pump to force water=20
through a long length of black pipe laying in the sun, then the=20
insulation of the "collector element" is not needed, as the volume of=20
water passing through the pipe will ensure that only a modest rise in=20
temperature of the water will occur, so that losses back to the=20
atmosphere would be minimal.

=09Hope this proves to be of interest...

--=20
Regards,

Will.

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 00:40:13 +0100, Will wrote:


=09I found an old radiator in the shed, about 550mm x 800mm at a=20
guess, and sprayed it matt black. I fitted a couple of 10mm rad valves=20
- one to top of rad other to the bottom - pushed normal garden hosepipe=20
onto the valves, connected the hosepipe ends to a small tank, filled it=20
with water and waited for the results...

=09I think that it took about 4.5 hours to raise about 14 gallons of=20
water from 12 odd =B0C to 39=B0C.

I would also ensure that the inlet is at the bottom of the rad and the
outlet at the top. That way you'd be drawing off water at the maximum
temperature.

sponix

Talking of Bubble Wrap.....

I hate to admit this but sometimes I do the washing-up.

We have a double sink. One contains the hot water plus the Fairy Liquid and
the other contains just hot water for rinsing the dishes. I've noticed and
insulating effect with the sink containing the bubbles from the Fairy Liquid.
This sink remains noticeably warmer than the sink with plain hot water in
it.

This effect might make the paddling pool a bit more fun for the kids.

Chris.


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In article ,
Chris wrote:

Talking of Bubble Wrap.....
I hate to admit this but sometimes I do the washing-up.
We have a double sink. One contains the hot water plus the Fairy
Liquid and the other contains just hot water for rinsing the
dishes. I've noticed and insulating effect with the sink
containing the bubbles from the Fairy Liquid. This sink remains
noticeably warmer than the sink with plain hot water in it.
This effect might make the paddling pool a bit more fun for the
kids.

I visited a place that made expanded polystyrene. Big
tanks full of very hot water. They reduced evaporation
loss by covering the surface with ping pong balls.

--
Tony Williams.

"Chris wrote in
:

This effect might make the paddling pool a bit more fun for the kids.

Save bathing them later, too. ;-)

--
Rich P
Replace .invalid with .com to reply.

Chris McBrien wrote:
Talking of Bubble Wrap.....
I hate to admit this but sometimes I do the washing-up.

A man needs a clean tea-mug / beer-glass occasionally.

We have a double sink. One contains the hot water plus the Fairy Liquid and
the other contains just hot water for rinsing the dishes. I've noticed and
insulating effect with the sink containing the bubbles from the Fairy Liquid.
This sink remains noticeably warmer than the sink with plain hot water in
it.

This is interesting as one would think the sudsy water would get cooler
quickly; presumably this is the sink into which the room-temp dishes go
first, which would have a cooling effect on the water.

This effect might make the paddling pool a bit more fun for the kids.

An aerator with a small (solar?) pump should help produce lots of bubbles.

Owain

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 21:34:26 +0100, Peter Scott wrote:

I can't see why I couldn't make a black panel of some sort to
capture the sun's heat and warm the water, rather like a
solar heating panel on a roof. Question is what to make it from?

You haven't googled in here have you? This was mentioned about 2 or 3
weeks ago and last year. I should think "pool solar heating" should
find the relvant threads.


--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

How about those building bricks with about 8 holes in them. They look about
15mm. in diameter and just waiting for a piece of Copper pipe. You could
make an angled frame to hold the bricks so that it points to the Sun. Don't
bother cementing them together just slide the Copper tube down the holes.
Could spray bricks black or maybe they come in that colour.

No Patents Pending.

Chris.


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x-- 30+ Days Binary Retention with High Completion
x-- Access to over 1.9 Terabytes per Day - $8.95/Month
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On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 21:34:26 +0100, "Peter Scott"
wrote:

I've just put an inflatable pool in my garden. Tap water is rather cool
but there's too much of it to think about warming it using hot water
from the house. Nor do I want to wait for it to warm naturally. It's
about 2.5 m across.

I can't see why I couldn't make a black panel of some sort to
capture the sun's heat and warm the water, rather like a
solar heating panel on a roof. Question is what to make it from?

I thought of making a grid of 15mm copper pipes and elbow and
T joints, perhaps flattening the pipes a bit with a soft hammer. The
trouble is the gaps would be large and heat wasted, even if I put
a black board behind. Then I thought of an old radiator
painted matt black. The water should flow by convection, but if it
doesn't I can use the output from the motorised filter that came
with the pool.

Has anyone else tried this and/or got some good ideas?

I'd be surprised if that raised the temperature by much.

My parents used to have a proper inbuilt swimming pool in the garden.

We looked at heating options. To get the pool to a reasonable
temperature using a proper electrical pool heater would take a couple
of weeks. I think the electricity cost (and this was back in the
1970s) was going to cost about £300 - £400 per year. The pool heater
would only be on for a few months in the summer.

Graham

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 21:34:26 +0100, "Peter Scott"
wrote:

I've just put an inflatable pool in my garden. Tap water is rather cool
but there's too much of it to think about warming it using hot water
from the house. Nor do I want to wait for it to warm naturally. It's
about 2.5 m across.

Lots of great ideas. Thanks. There is a cover but once it's warmer
I like the idea of bubble wrap. The data about temperature rise was
very useful. I'm going to discuss with my engineer brained son and
decide which approach to use. I'll let the group know if we come
up with anything that extends the above ideas.

Peter Scott