# Wood pellet pool heater



## dradam1 (Apr 27, 2014)

Opened our in-ground pool last week. She's clean as a whistle. The little girl even jumped in yesterday. 60 degrees.  She wants me to turn on the heat pump heater but it's still to cold here. Got me to thinking, why doesn't someone come up with a wood pellet pool heater?


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## DZL_Damon (Apr 27, 2014)

Why can't that just be done with a boiler?


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## dradam1 (Apr 27, 2014)

Not familiar how they work. Can it be used outdoors?


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## john193 (Apr 27, 2014)

dradam1 said:


> Not familiar how they work. Can it be used outdoors?


I think he means running hot water off a pellet boiler. I have an oil boiler but have a hot water line going outside. Though is never pump that into my pool. 

I'm waiting till Memorial Day weekend to open ours. Too chilly for me but the dog will be in heaven.


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## DZL_Damon (Apr 27, 2014)

If it's covered up in a shed or something, sure. Kedel has a 7 point firing rate limiter you could use for the pool temp. Circ pool water to a heat exchanger and set the temperature regulation from 81-83*f or so


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## moey (Apr 28, 2014)

Probably because you could do it cheaper with a heat pump and not as many people have pools where they would have a boiler.


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## PassionForFire&Water (Apr 28, 2014)

what about this .... ?


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## Mt Bob (Apr 28, 2014)

Used to be lots of wood fired hot tubs out here(redwood tubs),simple convection loop through firebox.Worked great as long as built fire 4 hours ahead of time,and kept fire all winter.People could not give them away.


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## hoverfly (May 5, 2014)

dradam1 said:


> Opened our in-ground pool last week. She's clean as a whistle. The little girl even jumped in yesterday. 60 degrees.  She wants me to turn on the heat pump heater but it's still to cold here. Got me to thinking, why doesn't someone come up with a wood pellet pool heater?



Maybe you can build a solar pool heater?  You can use plastic tubing.


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## ScotL (May 9, 2014)

My uncle has been considering doing that with his Kedel boiler.


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## maineah1214 (May 9, 2014)

absolutely hilarious. 



PassionForFire&Water said:


> what about this .... ?
> 
> View attachment 132337


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## Pellet-King (May 11, 2014)

Main reason I bought a hot tub 3 yrs ago, it uses very little electricity, it's nothing fancy just a cheap one from Costco called Aquaterra model Verona, my wife loves it and all her girlfriend's come over and they soak away all year long.
Pool's here in NE are used maybe 3 month's, alot of water to keep clean and only maybe 1.5 month's is the water warm enough.


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## smwilliamson (May 13, 2014)

I've heard that chlorine isn't very friendly to  water jackets in boilers unless they're stainless or you run a saline pool


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## bonesy (May 14, 2014)

I just signed a contract for a $32,000 in-ground fiberglass pool. Along with it, at 150k btu propane gas heater.


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## maple1 (May 14, 2014)

smwilliamson said:


> I've heard that chlorine isn't very friendly to  water jackets in boilers unless they're stainless or you run a saline pool


 
Hence a heat exchanger.

My SIL & BIL got a hot tub last year. We just haven't had the urge for one - but if we did, it would be wood fired. If we had a pool, I'd try some kind of DIY solar first. If that wasn't enough, it would be wood fired too.


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## dradam1 (May 15, 2014)

bonesy said:


> I just signed a contract for a $32,000 in-ground fiberglass pool. Along with it, at 150k btu propane gas heater.


That should chew up some propane for you.


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## bonesy (May 15, 2014)

dradam1 said:


> That should chew up some propane for you.


 I don't think it will be too bad, we would only use it in the beginning of the season to get the pool warm and then maybe at the end of the year maybe when it gets cooler.


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## moey (May 15, 2014)

bonesy said:


> I just signed a contract for a $32,000 in-ground fiberglass pool. Along with it, at 150k btu propane gas heater.



I know nothing about pool heaters.

Why would you get a propane gas heater rather then a heat pump pool heater? From a quick glance it seems it would be cheaper to operate and less to install. Operating temps seem like they would not be a problem because your not using your pool when its cold outside. I could understand for a hot tub which gets used when its cold outside.


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## bonesy (May 15, 2014)

moey said:


> I know nothing about pool heaters.
> 
> Why would you get a propane gas heater rather then a heat pump pool heater? From a quick glance it seems it would be cheaper to operate and less to install. Operating temps seem like they would not be a problem because your not using your pool when its cold outside. I could understand for a hot tub which gets used when its cold outside.


 
I know nothing about them either but since I'm just signing the paperwork and my father-in-law is financing the project, he wanted propane. Plus it was $2000 cheaper then the heat pump. The propane/NG unit is $1999. The heatpump unit is $3999. Also I assume the heat pump will run up my electric bill and would not be efficient in colder temps. Not that we are going swimming in the winter but if it were a cool summer or we want to extend the swimming season, from my research, the propane heater will far surpass the heat pump in performance and heat up the pool much quicker (matter of hours vs. days) since it will be something we use off and on, not all the time.


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## dradam1 (May 18, 2014)

bonesy said:


> I know nothing about them either but since I'm just signing the paperwork and my father-in-law is financing the project, he wanted propane. Plus it was $2000 cheaper then the heat pump. The propane/NG unit is $1999. The heatpump unit is $3999. Also I assume the heat pump will run up my electric bill and would not be efficient in colder temps. Not that we are going swimming in the winter but if it were a cool summer or we want to extend the swimming season, from my research, the propane heater will far surpass the heat pump in performance and heat up the pool much quicker (matter of hours vs. days) since it will be something we use off and on, not all the time.


We had our in-ground pool built last year. We decided to go with the heat pump. Our neighbor has a propane unit. He uses it very little as it chews up the propane. You are correct that it does it much quicker than the heat pump, that is true. The units are more expensive as well. Heat pumps actually are very efficient as you will probably be heating your pool only when the air temp is 65-70+ ?   Hot tub would be a different story  IMO.  We like ours, good luck with your propane too. Either way, I'd recommend a solar blanket as well.


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## Phoenix Hatchling (May 18, 2014)

dradam1 said:


> That should chew up some propane for you.


16k gallons should heat approximately 1 degree per hour from my experience. Depending on ground temp which will heat sink the water very quickly if still cool. Convective and evaporative cooling at night when the temps drop will bring your advances back quickly as well. Solar covers help somewhat but are not a cure all. It also doesn't help that we don't have abundant sun exposure on the pool. Heat pump is in the works to replace the propane.


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## Phoenix Hatchling (May 18, 2014)

dradam1 said:


> We had our in-ground pool built last year. We decided to go with the heat pump. Our neighbor has a propane unit. He uses it very little as it chews up the propane. You are correct that it does it much quicker than the heat pump, that is true. The units are more expensive as well. Heat pumps actually are very efficient as you will probably be heating your pool only when the air temp is 65-70+ ?   Hot tub would be a different story  IMO.  We like ours, good luck with your propane too. Either way, I'd recommend a solar blanket as well.


+1


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## Boom (May 21, 2014)

I put some thought into this last month. 

I thought a few wood fired units could be modified with a venturi tube cover to a good sized burn pot. When in the desert there is not much cord wood lying around.

Here are two stainless steel hot tub fireplaces being sold:
http://www.cowboyhottubs.com
or a bigger tub:
http://snorkel.com/hot-tub-info/snorkel-and-scuba-stoves.php


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