Hey all.
Some people I have talked to off this forum have been on a tight budget due to heating costs of big setups. why not build a sloar heater. Search for solar pool heater at google and check it out. A good pic i found a minute ago is at http://ffaat.pointclark.net/blog/archives/107-DIY-Solar-Pool-Heater.html. I will be doing this in a few years when I own my own place. Only thing I would suggest to add on is a tempreture control device or a shut off solinoid to control it if it works too good :lol:
Just a thought.
BJ :D
Hi BJ,
Thanks for sharing, would love to give it a try but it seem the only place i get sun is the roof :lol: :lol:
May be i can have irrigation pipe go around the roof :roll: :roll:
:wink: :wink:
A lot of the them just have the 10-20mm flexible black tubing that you use for the garden sprinkling system. fairly cheap from bunnings. you'd need to experiment a bit with the pump size to get a decent flowrate (only needs to be slow but powerful enough to get to the roof). If it is a sealed heating system by rights the pump should only need to overcome the resistance from the tubing and getting the air out of the line. Interesting project that should pay off in the long run if its done correctly.
BJ
i use 100mtrs of 19mm poly from bunnings coiled around on two stakes on my roof which kept 3000lt of water between 23 and 27C all winter i have it conected to a pond pump and a tap timer so it only pumps up on the roof when its sunny and stops when the sun goes down all up it would have cost me under $100
8O 8O so it work in winter as well :D :D
I will heading to bunning this weekend :D :D
fishybusiness, any picture to share :lol:
Thanks for all the info. time to get more tanks again :lol: :lol:
yeah mate some pics would be handy.
Ok some of these are for pools so keep that in mind (some of the stuff used would not be safe to use in the aquarium, use food safe plastic and no metal). You will need a thermostat or something still. Take a fair while to think about it before you make it then test it in some spare drums or something. It could work too well and you might have just made your fishys dinner :oops: :oops: . just think about how hot a garden hoses water gets when its been in the sun for a while. Also the smaller diameter of piping, the better heat transfer will occur. Its all about surface area that receives the sunlight.
Some are good. Some are bad. Work out what would be best for you.
http://www.thesietch.org/projects/solarthermalpanel/index.htm
http://www.thesietch.org/projects/solarthermalpanel2/index.htm
http://pages.videotron.com/logopro/pool/
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/PoolHeating/pool_heating.htm
http://www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/CPVCCollector/cpvccollector.htm
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/HorzPondDHW/DHWPondProto.pdf
you have to have a thermostat other wise your water will have heat fluctuation and day is not the problem is it. then for night you still need other heating source. and black polly may be cheep but if the fish over heat then it becomes expensive again unless it is controlled by some sort of thermostat it not fool proof
i don't think a thermostat is necassary unless you have a small amount of water i just use a tap timmer and adjust it like 3 times a year i dont use it in summer only thru the colder months .
if you did want to go full on, look for spa thermo's they are approx $350 new or ebay for a secondhand one they have three sensors 1 on the roof one in the box and one in the water and you can adjust the temp to stabalise at whatever you want will try and get some pics tomorrow
nigel
sorry it took some time but hear is some pics
100mtrs of poly 19mm on roof
[img:9456392e5d]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/nigelrat78/IMG_1222.jpg[/img:9456392e5d]
water switches on roof during the day using a tap timer
[img:9456392e5d]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/nigelrat78/IMG_1227.jpg[/img:9456392e5d]
water then flows thru sand filter
[img:9456392e5d]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/nigelrat78/IMG_1226.jpg[/img:9456392e5d]
then water flows thru barrels
[img:9456392e5d]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/nigelrat78/IMG_1224.jpg[/img:9456392e5d]
then thru sump
[img:9456392e5d]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/nigelrat78/IMG_1225.jpg[/img:9456392e5d]
then water pump up and splits either on roof thru day or direct thru sand filter by night
EASY
Hi Nigel,
Will it be as effective if we use 13mm poly pipe??? and how is the tap timer works?
Cheers
it sounds EASY, but that system sure does look like it has Complicated bit in it, especialy that sand filter
1 use to use 13mm pipe but found it restricted the water flow two much found 19mm to be more effecient
hi,
had a test run on a half filled 4ft today and the temperature raised from 22 to 28 :D :D
will hook up to the sump tomorrow and will fit a tap timer when i get the fittings :D :D
Thanks
I was toying with a variation on the previous post, If you have the coil on the roof feeding a 1000L tank with gravity/induction feeding the water through the tank, then you would have say 20 turns of poly pipe in the tank to feed the water through the system. Like a hot water system. i was going to feed tap water through a pool filter filled with carbon, then through the heated water exchange unit & then into the tanks for water change. You could have a 2nd coil in the 1000L tank for keeping the water temp constant in the tanks instead of heaters. I will test my autistic ability's & do a drawing to illustrate :P
Cary
Just wondering if you hooked this up to a sump would it heat all the tanks on the system. Through the sump that is
That was my intention! If you wanted to keep the water seperate between the systems (cross pollination of water types/deseases) you could have multiple coils in the 1000L for the heat exchange.
Cary
I think the only way to use this is on a large system. I'd be surpised if it was effective in anything under 1000L's.
The bigger the system, the harder to heat, BUT the harder it is to come down (why pen oceans are nearly constant temps).
I a small system, the heat will drop off over night, in large systems it wont.
Mitch