Warming A Pool

[espookid]

I was wondering if it is possible to warm a pool for free
My idea starts with a lets say radiator painted black and in the water ,hoping the black will attract the warmth but then I get stuck on the fact that it wont circulate and therefore just warm the top ,which of of course wont circulate and leave the bottom cold/colder
I then went on to using a solar panel that powers a small water pump with a set of pipewok below ,which would support the weight and hopefully circulate but that would be quite expensive

[The Builder]

Nice idea Kid, but I suspect that the heat losses from the surface of the water will dissipate the heat long before it ever reaches any higher temperature.

Unless the pool is only the size of a domestic bath. ;o(

[heathfield]

Have a look on Google for 'solar heating swimming pools' and find plenty of links with advice on the subject.

[gness]

Esc....MrG and I built a pool I think about 24ftx12ft. We heated it by solar power. This was a deep run of black hose pipe looking stuff on the roof of a large south facing barn.
We swam from late May until sometimes mid October..it heated quite quickly...maintained a good temperature and we covered it each night to minimise heat loss.
During the long hot summers...remember those..... we had to turn the pipes to the solar panels off as the water was too warm to swim comfortably.

[Zacs-Master]

My, you've lived Gness.

[gness]

Zacs...I only did it because I had an urge to drive a digger and once I'd dug the huge hole in the garden I had to do something with it.....mind you...I can't swim well...but a bottle of wine at each end spurred me on....☺

[Sycamore3House]

My parents had an outdoor swimming pool a few ago now heated by solar but covered each night by a covering that retained the heat. Worked well. We swam from Easter until well into October & a couple of years even November. But this was in Cornwall when the weather was better than it is now. The pool was also sheltered by trees/hedging all around.

[Zacs-Master]

Ah Gness. Wonderful image.

[gness]

Sycamore...you're right....I remember Easter visitors swimming so it was that early....I think late May was me recalling the year we built it.
It was up and running by 29th May...my birthday...so we were celebrating with a dip. By the time I had my costume on and down the garden two ducks had moved in and were quite happily swimming away.
Do you know how hard it is to evict ducks....☺

[berniecuddles]

welcome to "PLANET GNESS!"

[kvalidir]

We have a big ugly home made black solar pool heater and yes that too works well, just looks horrific by anyone's standards.

[gness]

Mine is a nice little planet, Bernie...not to all tastes...but it makes me smile...☺

[berniecuddles]

and i'm on it with you xxxx

[gness]

Welcome...leave normality at the door please......xx

[berniecuddles]

normality no such word x

[espookid]

Thanks for the answers some good and some funny
I actually thought of putting two radiators in a ditch but as it is the otherside of the lawn I think I would get some objection from her who is the boss but being lower than the pool it would surely do the job
I will check out the links -Heathfield -thanks
but the cost could be quite high
The reason we have the pool is because my wife has rheumatiod arthritis and it is very good when it is cold but in the summer here it is quite hot and the benefit then is gone ,we often have 30° plus and the water gets to about 28°

[New Judge]

I don't think it will do the job by placing the rads lower than the pool. The (relatively) small amount of slightly warmer water in the rads will not move by convection efficiently enough. It will almost certainly cool before it gets to the pool. You definitely need a pump of some sort.

[Peter Pedant]

There is nothing wrong with the principle
You are not getting it for free from the energy pointof view
and the system might work....

solar heating systems ( with the pump) are available
and you know people buy them

problem is - you never reach the break even point ( it is about 20y)
fun to try tho

[jomifl]

Given that water absorbs(but doesn't attract) infra red tou don't need to add anything else. Given also that the warm water stays at the top where you swim then the only way you can improve the pool heating is to import heat from elswhere. Using solar power to pump the pool water through black plastic pipes laid on the ground in a sunny spot would be an improvement but you would need a lot of pipe. On a sunny day you will get about 300 watts max.per square metre at midday.

[Peter Pedant]

JOmifl yah but....
the pool will heat quicker if he er paints the walls of the pool black ( then insulates the outer shell.

so there are things to do if he dosnt just want to let the pool alone in the sunblight

[EDDIE51]

When I worked in Saudi Arabia it was so hot that the status symbol was to have a swimming pool cooling unit.