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Hey modern self-reliance if you would put that pump a little bit below the pond or the pool you will get so much more flow it's a gravity fed pump so it's going to be below the water level so if you would have raised the lever of the cold water so being so low you would have had so much more water pressure and be coming out like a shower head
You can’t use those screws to hold the pipe in place. Your going to wreck the copper (electrolysis, dissimilar metals touching is bad ) having said that the barrel is going to have the same effect Look into stainless steel tubing maybe
Also Kevin pro tip If you want to remove a pec ring just hit it with your torch. It will net the pex pipe and the ring just pulls off with channel lock pliers
This is correct except for one thing You do not have Syphon Because of the t piece it's letting air break the Syphon process If you have the return going into the water with no way for air to break and you need around 1 ft fall into the pool so that it can draw water as it flows
Tilt your entire barrel rig at an angle and it will significantly increase the thermal efficiency. Open top burning loses 95% of heat exhausting right out the top instantaneously, and pull up your coil and tighten the last few winds samller so it is directly in the heat plume. Or re-do the thing with the coil on the inside of the barrel (not at bottom/will burn/steam too much) Condensation becomes a big problem in the combustion chamber though. just lean it over and reap the added heat!
I built a hot tub just like this, one thing that made a huge difference was putting down 2 inch foam board under the tank and wrapping the tank in foam board. Now I can easily heat the 8 foot diameter tub from about 70 to 105 in about three hours. Before adding the foam board I noticed the bottom of the tank had cold water while the top was much warmer until you stirred it. after the foam board underneath it now heats up evenly without stirring telling me I'm not loosing nearly as much heat to the ground.
Even easier is to dig out a fire pit underneath the tub, or raise the tank on bricks and fire up under the tank - much quicker and more efficient, you only need an isolating grid of heavy wood to lay down in the tub and avoid overheating any bunns...
@@user70331 Do you really want to constantly sit in that smoke and handle a fire underneath your pool that you can hardly reach for cleaning and adding wood?
Do you think putting the coil inside the barrel packed full of sauna rocks with a propane burner underneath (think turkey fryer) would work for a small outdoor stock tank hot tub 🤔. I want a DIY solution with the ease of propane.
I built a hot tub with the same concept. I built a rocket stove with the copper coil inside with direct contact to the flames. Also while heating the tub I covered it to help retain the heated water. Your losing heat from it not being covered and you could insulate the return pipe from fire. That will also protect anyone from getting burnt. Great to see you work through the process.
My neighbor built something like that. Instead of copper he made a coil with a bunch of 5000 psi stainless tubing I gave him. He uses his for a small kids swimming pool.
Most of the heat is being lost from the top. Commercial products for heating water with wood are basically an insulated wood stove with coils on the sides and top. That setup isn't extracting a very high percentage of the energy from the burning wood.
We have a lot of wood heated hot tubs here in Finland. We call them "palju". They all work without pumps. They basically have a woodstove that has pipe inside it just like yours, but with direct contact with flame. Also a difference with our hot tubs is that we do have both ends of the pipe submerged in the water. Intake at the bottom and hot water comes out usually about half of the total depth. This way you dont get air in the system and water doesnt need so much heating to circulate effectively. Pipe is also wider diameter and there is surprisingly little "loops" inside the wooden stove. Also as others already mentioned, Insulated all way around, lid too!
Im guessing you use copper tube inside the wood stove with direct fire to the tube, my question is does the fire eventually burn the copper tube and destroy it ?
If you want steady flow without a pump both ends need to be submerged. One at the bottom and one just below the surface. The pulses of really hot water is because there is air in the system and when some of it boils it forces some out. Same as a coffee perk. Get both ends in the water and get the air out and you will have steady flow without a pump and a more efficient heat transfer in the exchanger too.
I'd also consider making the base adjustable to manage the heat of the incoming water.....you could effectively have hotter or cooler water flowing based on the elevation. Could be pretty simple with a screw jack/scissor-lift platform idea. Then the fire could burn at maximum temperature but if it isn't, you could still achieve adequate heating regardless.
Maybe adding a check valve at the bottom of the pool would work, since water opens the valve as it rushes to the heat exchanger, once in the exchanger it boils and creates pressure closing the valve and forcing hot water to the exchanger outlet. Just like a glorified coffee maker. Although he just wanted to pump water by the difference in density between hot and cold water.
Played around with a similar setup. The best solution is to add an inlet on the tank below water level so the hot water can flow into the tank easily. The pump is a workaround.
I questions too, how much heat is lost by putting the coil on the outside versus inside, but since the coil is in direct contact with the metal that’s in direct contact with the fire, it may not be as much loss as we think. Greatest loss is not having a cover like a grill.
Any plans building a deck so you can feed the fire and get back into the pool to keep your feet from getting caked with mud? Might be a good idea to build a fence to protect the hose from the pool to fire heater and the Cooper piping. It will also give you and your guest somewhere to hang your clothes. Maybe even build a little storage compartment to keep chemicals for the pool and house the water pump.
I read the entire Ryan’s ruclips.net/user/postUgkxGqOCINHE0Z0E5gxzSdNi9NWGugRY5Hm2 Plans and was able to make a shed plan. Using Ryan’s Shed Plans alone, the shed itself is great. Where I wish I knew more is with respect to ground preparation and foundations. Maybe that's beyond the scope of Ryan’s Shed Plans.
You need to add a pool noodle to the hot pipe to preserve the heat and protect people and pets from being scalded. Perhaps at a future date you can augment the burn barrel with a bricklayer or stone outer shell similar to the pizza oven structure. You are correct in your assumption of adding a thermal insulating layer to the outer surface of the copper coils. Wishing you and your family a blessed summer season, gentle weather and restful evenings. Peace brother
A one-way check valve would help with flow greatly without a pump. Also, putting the coil pipe inside the barrel, rather than outside, would greatly help with heating the water quicker.
Love seeing this. Glad to see you got around to doing it after we talked about it. I never did get the heater done on my hillbilly hot tub because I haven't gotten a good deal on copper yet lol. This is awesome
I built my wood burning heater using 60 feet of copper inside the fire barrel wrapped on the inside exposed directly to the flame. I have a 1/2hp transfer pump to flow the water through. It comes out about 25-30 degrees warmer than the base water temp. I have a 12500 gallon pool and in a few hours the pool will warm 5-10 degrees. I will fire it up first thing in the morning and by lunch time the water is nice and toasty in the pool. A partial cover over the barrel to reduce the amount of heat that escapes helps too. Flow rate is more important than temperature differential. A thousand gallons of 5 degree warmer water per hour is better than 10 gallons at boiling temp.
That makes much more sense his heat is just escaping upwards , and only indirect heat is ging to the poor contact from the wall of the drum to a small surface of the pipe
this is such a cool project! very doable and not too complicated. love the father/daughter interaction. I'm sure she'll cherish this moment for years to come. p.s. I'm thinking about adding a faucet to the output so when it gets hot enough you could turn off the flow without getting out of the pool!
So glad to see you put some uumph into the flow, and extra copper tubing to help increase the amount of heated water returned. We used this type system for fumigating termites years ago with Methyl Bromide gas, it was called a heat exchanger. Also, I've built several mosquito foggers out of lawnmower exhaust pipes and ice maker line as a drip method directly into the hot exhaust pipe. Great build! Love what you're doing ❤️
I made a solar pool heater and had the coil on my garage roof to get better sun and added heat from the rest of the hot roof. I used a sump pump and plugged it into a timer. It would cycle and run for 30 seconds to add the hot water and pause for 15 minutes. I would just plug it in each morning and it helped a lot in the spring and fall. The one year I plumbed it into a mess of old galvanized pipe and elbows and threw it directly into the fire pit and worked even better but had to babysit the fire. I love watching all your projects thanks for sharing
All you need is to install a check valve at the inlet. The overheated water can only exit through the outlet. That's how the coffee machine works, no pump needed.
you make a strench, of the basin diameter a gently sloping side : air inlet, and wood-burner, 2-3 gas outlets connected-stick to the basin, such as clay craters (you redo the seal with clay before each heating) and a last chimney exit on the other side. you remove the wood when it's hot before entering the water
I took the easy way (just built a bit fire pit under my 6 X3 cattle tank). It takes 3-4hours but gets up to about 105 with just direct exposure to fire. 2 full years & it's blackened but 100% still intact.
With the flame directly under the floor wouldn't that make it too hot to have your feet make contact with the bottom or do you get in after the fire is out?
@@salvadorw.empent2778 Ah, I added a thick yoga/exercise mat (a bit tricky to keep it at the bottom), which works fab. Otherwise there are a few very hot spots!
If you don't want direct flame contact that could melt your solder you might want to tighten the copper around your barrel. With the air gap you are losing a lot of heat. Also if you restrict the airflow (i.e. chimney) through the barrel you will burn less fuel and most of the heat will not be lost to exhaust. Just another thought. Have you considered with all the clay you appear to have building a rocket/thermal mass heater? It could work in conjunction with a thermo siphon as well as giving a heated seating area depending on how far you want to go with it the possibilities are quite broad. I wondered as I saw a video where they used it to heat a green house with not much more than a handful of sticks and this was in Canada as well.
When the copper tubing is filled with sand prior to wrapping it around the barrel the tubing is flattened slightly as it’s wrapped and this increases the surface area in contact.
Kevin….if you can you need to cover the pool at night. You are right they loose a LOT of heat during the night. If you have any more of that heavy duty stuff you used as a roof on your cabin maybe you can cut a circle to cover the pool. Your little girl reminds me of my daughter when she was that age. PS…..rain has a lot of acidity & I always had to shock my in ground pool because it would turn green after a bunch of rain. Rain + pools & ponds are not a good mix. It’s a pretty cool set up you got. ♥️
i've been thinking bout building one for my inground with a loop on the pump but the water flow on the pump is way too much... seeing your adaptations is giving me some idea for building a separate water flow system via the skimmer box... may i suggest a small paper filter system on your pool (a spa system would be good ... with kids you kinda need some kind of water treatment )... on your pond, may i suggest putting in either an aerator or bubbler system to improve the water quality in it ... your fish health should improve with it
I grew up in northern Montana and remember well the warm (hot to us) mountain days. Our only option was the creek that ran past our cabin. Ice cold, but once you were numb, a lot of fun. Wish we had had you as a neighbor… 😄
for the opposite effect (cooling wort) - I've found that the surface area to volume ratio was improved using several small diameter annealed lines in parallel as a heat exchanger - maybe for a future project... Enjoying the vidoes!!
My only suggestion is perhaps a lid you can put on top after you switch from sticks to actual firewood, then you can possibly keep the heat in the barrel longer by damper on the exhaust pipe coming out of the lid. I don't know if I explained it well at all, anyway you are very intelligent so I'm sure you can figure out what I was trying to say . Always glad to see Don on the video. A Forrest buggy would be a fun build, gasifier powered. For hauling people and materials and lumber.
Looks good! Hey, regarding the heating rate and water circulation, it would've made sense to install cold water PEX at least 90 degrees away from the hot water inflow. That way you'll be getting cold water into your exchanger (instead of tepid water,) and that will generate an internal current in the pool. I'm using a $20 large fishtank filter/circulation pump on our 150 gal soaking tub, and it's strong enough that I think that might do for your pool. If not, they have larger models with wave action and fountains for larger marine tanks. Those will draw less power off your EcoFlow, too.
Great project. I loved the whole process and was excited at the end of the video… with all that white skin I was sure we were going to see you burst into flames when the sun hit you. I guess sitting in water makes you fireproof. Thanks for sharing!
As soon as i saw that pump i knew youd hate how loud it was 🤣 we just bought one at work to replace an old pump on a flower basket water system. Apparently the old pump was an RV pump, it was almost silent and it had a pressure switch built into it so you can turn it on or off with a valve.
my thoughts are make the fire barrel more like a furnace with a lid and a smoke stack it would hold more heat and also make a hot tub lid it probably heat up way faster if it kept its heat contained much love man you did a amazing job and ps I felt so happy when you threw a pump on it
I haven't gotten all the way through the video yet, but I believe if you add in a one-way check valve (on the cold end) you might get better pressurization on the hot side.
Awesome video as always Kevin! I think you done great !!! Your daughter was so excited about it ! That's memories worth all the money in the world ! Anyways great build ! Take care and stay safe my friend!!
🤣🤣🥰🥰Adorable at the end!! Your daughter has grown so much, she is so sweet. That pool turned out awesome 👌. How fun. Peace and good fortune and good health to you and your family. 😃
Nice try on the heater, I think that for efficiency sake maybe a small firebox with a chimney piped into a chamber full of copper tubing before venting out would make better use of heat source kind of like a meat smoker only you'd be smoking tubbing, this is just my idea, love the show. Cheers from Jacksonville Florida 🌞
I suggest adding chlorine and algae control chemicals. I live in Texas, where the pool temp can rise to 95+ degrees on its own. That temperature is a perfect environment for stuff you don't want in your pool/hot tub! A minimal amount of chemicals will probably not affect the chemistry of your plumbing.
Love watching guys and I think your pool heater has potential but I think you wold get more heat if the barrel was on its side with a door on one end to feed it and a chimney pipe on the other end just a thought because you are losing most of you heat straight up out of the top of hour barrel.
Easy way to keep temperature regulated is add a bubbler ring around the bottom and it will cool the water down fairly quickly and you can adjust the airflow to keep temp from getting too hot.
I really got into this one for the powerless heating and flowing water then it went to pumps n power:( but still enjoyable n the family involvement with lil miss shows your a true father and nothing mattered just playing mermaids and swimming with your daughter love that good family natured stuff 👌😎
OMG 😳😳😳 hi there, long time, finally beside the pond , now comes the heated pool and kid's pool. Jolly good 👈👍 Kelvin, you sure know how to utilize your area and used materials too. Good job 👌👍
Guessing now you have the pump you don't have to drill the hole in the bottom either. Thanks for the journey and the benefit if your trial and error experience. Saved me so much time.
I’ve boiled water in a plastic water bottle before because the max temp you can get water is 100°C 212°F . I’m 100% confident you could have the coil inside the burn barrel for Max heat transfer/efficiency and not worry about the copper/solder joints melting (provided the tube is primed with water). Insulation on the inlet/outlet pipes would further increase efficiency. As well as insulation around the tub (under floor as well), and an insulated cover while heating would also prevent heat loss. One more thing I would do is have the burn barrel closer. So adding wood is within tossing distance so you could add wood while inside the pool (and have a stack of wood within arms reach of the pool) Nice job on the pool! 👍
Put the inlet hose into the water a foot or so inside a cage. You got the right idea without an electric pump. Thermosyphons are amazing. I also feel your clay addition is holding back your thermal conductivity. Copper to steel is best. Add some insulation between the chunk of barrel if you want more retention.
Waiting to see what the upgrades will do. Such as insulation, sound deadening and maybe even a disc suspended over your burner to Force heat to the sides. Well descended whole and it could be used as a wok. Duel purpose. Just some random thoughts.
just a thought... your current setup is pumping hot water directly above the cold water drain, effectively supplying the pipe with lukewarm water rather than the coldest current pool temp. if the drain was opposite to the hot water supply you could maybe increase efficiency? you could rotate the pool 90 degrees to create a triangle to the fire. just a theory. Loved the video!
Dude this makes me so pumped, I had A 8 inch steel tube welded in the middle of a huge cooking pot that fits in a 55 gal drum and put 300 feet of landscaping tubing fitted with pecs to copper to the outside In/Out and keep it filled with water with wood fire on the bottom middle of winter I can keep the water over 90f in a greenhouse environment....... I do have a pump though
My neighbor put this copper coil on his woodstove with a high pressure relief valve and circulated it through his water heater. It worked perfectly saving electricity by pre heating shower and dish water
11:30ish, I was thinking to put a ~ Like two 45 bends. The top hose to the bottom and the bottom to the top (Heater to pool respectively) to cycle the heat bottom to top.
If you want to use power. A small little giant submersible pump in the pool. Connect to some PEX at a safe distance away from barrel to save on costs. Works great.
Nice. I was wondering what the t at the end was for on end of the return. A syphon break? Wouldn't it be more efficient if it had the return under water so when the air is boiled out it could suck a bit of water back in and heat that till the heat cycle really kicks in? Or am I wrong about that? Been wanting to do something like this for my upstairs heat off our gas stove figured a closed loop with a bit of an expansion chamber so it didn't explode but this shouldn't need one being open air right? Anyways looks fun as can be.
Iverted cone? I am using a rock crusher cone and making an iverted cone heat exchange. I have seen one like that that didnt have a water heater and i saw that it did, in fact, focus the heat to a narrow point. Just getting all the pieces together now, but this winter hopefully be much cozier than last
do you think much efficiency would be gained by putting the coil inside the barrel and just protecting it by burning the wood in a metal mesh to protect the copper pipe but still have flames lick the copper directly?
Use some steel piping to make a lower case t in the bottom of the pit with one end running out of drum, drill holes in the t and hook up an air mattress pump or hand pump and you can get the fire roaring up super hot fast.
I love the way you repurpose stuff my man. This is how we done it all my life, my father saved any material. Anyone looking for something they would come to my dad and bring something to trade, everyone got what they needed without money.
My heart is always happy when you salvage, save, and repurpose material. I know it’s a huge part of your builds, but as a fellow saver of everything, because…”you never know when it might come in handy”, I get so pumped when you share stories of where your materials come from. 👏🏻☺️
That is how your coffee pot works also A check valve at the bottom pipe would also help so water can only flow one way You can also solder the pipes to the barrel the water will keep it cool enough so the solder will not melt
The hot water output pipe needs to be connected to your pool tank below the surface of the water to allow the natural circulation of the hot water to occur. The heating circuit must be full of water at all times. As a lad our house was heated by a coal furnace. A large storage tank was connected to a loop that was inside the furnace. As the fire heated the water it naturally rose up to exit through the piping connected to the upper port in the side of the tank. The natural convection will continuously circulate the heated water. Be carful , this can produce extremely hot water.
Hey Kevin have you changed anything about the tub since this video? I have a smaller stock tank that’s not circular. Trying to build one. Thanks for your input!!
What’s there a reason to do it so far away? I’m about to start building one at probably half the size for the heater and tub but was planning to have it much closer
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Hey modern self-reliance if you would put that pump a little bit below the pond or the pool you will get so much more flow it's a gravity fed pump so it's going to be below the water level so if you would have raised the lever of the cold water so being so low you would have had so much more water pressure and be coming out like a shower head
You can’t use those screws to hold the pipe in place. Your going to wreck the copper (electrolysis, dissimilar metals touching is bad ) having said that the barrel is going to have the same effect
Look into stainless steel tubing maybe
Also Kevin pro tip
If you want to remove a pec ring just hit it with your torch. It will net the pex pipe and the ring just pulls off with channel lock pliers
Had you put the coil inside the drum without any joints, you would definitely get the flow you need without needing to worry about the solder...
This is correct except for one thing
You do not have Syphon
Because of the t piece it's letting air break the Syphon process
If you have the return going into the water with no way for air to break and you need around 1 ft fall into the pool so that it can draw water as it flows
Tilt your entire barrel rig at an angle and it will significantly increase the thermal efficiency. Open top burning loses 95% of heat exhausting right out the top instantaneously, and pull up your coil and tighten the last few winds samller so it is directly in the heat plume. Or re-do the thing with the coil on the inside of the barrel (not at bottom/will burn/steam too much) Condensation becomes a big problem in the combustion chamber though. just lean it over and reap the added heat!
Good man thanks very much for your information, made things very clear. Makes so much sense when you explain it like that.
I built a hot tub just like this, one thing that made a huge difference was putting down 2 inch foam board under the tank and wrapping the tank in foam board. Now I can easily heat the 8 foot diameter tub from about 70 to 105 in about three hours. Before adding the foam board I noticed the bottom of the tank had cold water while the top was much warmer until you stirred it. after the foam board underneath it now heats up evenly without stirring telling me I'm not loosing nearly as much heat to the ground.
Even easier is to dig out a fire pit underneath the tub, or raise the tank on bricks and fire up under the tank - much quicker and more efficient, you only need an isolating grid of heavy wood to lay down in the tub and avoid overheating any bunns...
Where do u buy the coil from
What if you make fire under the tub. Won't it heat better?
@@user70331 Do you really want to constantly sit in that smoke and handle a fire underneath your pool that you can hardly reach for cleaning and adding wood?
Do you think putting the coil inside the barrel packed full of sauna rocks with a propane burner underneath (think turkey fryer) would work for a small outdoor stock tank hot tub 🤔. I want a DIY solution with the ease of propane.
I built a hot tub with the same concept. I built a rocket stove with the copper coil inside with direct contact to the flames. Also while heating the tub I covered it to help retain the heated water. Your losing heat from it not being covered and you could insulate the return pipe from fire. That will also protect anyone from getting burnt. Great to see you work through the process.
It also looks like that pump has a filter port on it. Gotta keep your water clean!
Yah. The hot pipe it's at the right height for someone to bonk his head on it.
My neighbor built something like that. Instead of copper he made a coil with a bunch of 5000 psi stainless tubing I gave him. He uses his for a small kids swimming pool.
I was thinking a rocket stove would be much more efficient with the wood use.
Most of the heat is being lost from the top. Commercial products for heating water with wood are basically an insulated wood stove with coils on the sides and top. That setup isn't extracting a very high percentage of the energy from the burning wood.
We have a lot of wood heated hot tubs here in Finland. We call them "palju". They all work without pumps. They basically have a woodstove that has pipe inside it just like yours, but with direct contact with flame. Also a difference with our hot tubs is that we do have both ends of the pipe submerged in the water. Intake at the bottom and hot water comes out usually about half of the total depth. This way you dont get air in the system and water doesnt need so much heating to circulate effectively. Pipe is also wider diameter and there is surprisingly little "loops" inside the wooden stove. Also as others already mentioned, Insulated all way around, lid too!
do you even know to build something?
Im guessing you use copper tube inside the wood stove with direct fire to the tube, my question is does the fire eventually burn the copper tube and destroy it ?
@@brianblithe2271 It's amazing how long the copper tube lasts if directly exposed to the fire IF you keep it full of water.
@@cody481 Ah my brotha, dere is a trick to it, much obliged
Honestly, best part of the whole vid was the time you spent with your daughter. Those times make forever memories.
If you want steady flow without a pump both ends need to be submerged. One at the bottom and one just below the surface.
The pulses of really hot water is because there is air in the system and when some of it boils it forces some out. Same as a coffee perk.
Get both ends in the water and get the air out and you will have steady flow without a pump and a more efficient heat transfer in the exchanger too.
I'd also consider making the base adjustable to manage the heat of the incoming water.....you could effectively have hotter or cooler water flowing based on the elevation. Could be pretty simple with a screw jack/scissor-lift platform idea. Then the fire could burn at maximum temperature but if it isn't, you could still achieve adequate heating regardless.
Maybe adding a check valve at the bottom of the pool would work, since water opens the valve as it rushes to the heat exchanger, once in the exchanger it boils and creates pressure closing the valve and forcing hot water to the exchanger outlet. Just like a glorified coffee maker.
Although he just wanted to pump water by the difference in density between hot and cold water.
Yes you are spot on in out water below durface
That’s correct, plus by the looks the pipe is still going uphill and looks possibly too far from the pool too.
You are the living proof that when someone wants something they can build it.
Great job !
I've been told that more than once in my life! You can do anything you put your mind to.
yea man
Where do u buy the coil from
Played around with a similar setup. The best solution is to add an inlet on the tank below water level so the hot water can flow into the tank easily. The pump is a workaround.
Awesome job on the pool. I really enjoyed the daddy/daughter time in the pool, kinda reminded me of the times I spent with my daughter 👍
I was hoping that your redesign was going to expose the pipe directly to the flame of the fire.
Fun video 👍
I questions too, how much heat is lost by putting the coil on the outside versus inside, but since the coil is in direct contact with the metal that’s in direct contact with the fire, it may not be as much loss as we think. Greatest loss is not having a cover like a grill.
@@NealD with the copper tubing being round, the surface area that's making contact is relatively low 🤷♂️
@@NealD best bet would be pipe in the chimney of any fire box. Or directly over the coals with a lid/vent
Any plans building a deck so you can feed the fire and get back into the pool to keep your feet from getting caked with mud? Might be a good idea to build a fence to protect the hose from the pool to fire heater and the Cooper piping. It will also give you and your guest somewhere to hang your clothes. Maybe even build a little storage compartment to keep chemicals for the pool and house the water pump.
I read the entire Ryan’s ruclips.net/user/postUgkxGqOCINHE0Z0E5gxzSdNi9NWGugRY5Hm2 Plans and was able to make a shed plan. Using Ryan’s Shed Plans alone, the shed itself is great. Where I wish I knew more is with respect to ground preparation and foundations. Maybe that's beyond the scope of Ryan’s Shed Plans.
You need to add a pool noodle to the hot pipe to preserve the heat and protect people and pets from being scalded. Perhaps at a future date you can augment the burn barrel with a bricklayer or stone outer shell similar to the pizza oven structure. You are correct in your assumption of adding a thermal insulating layer to the outer surface of the copper coils.
Wishing you and your family a blessed summer season, gentle weather and restful evenings. Peace brother
A one-way check valve would help with flow greatly without a pump. Also, putting the coil pipe inside the barrel, rather than outside, would greatly help with heating the water quicker.
Yes yes yes
Subtle comedic gold: the wireless angle grinder is the perfect tool for "changing out your catalytic converter" 😂
lol heard this as i read it and died haha
was gonna say exactly that... made me laugh
well, he didn't say "replacing"
Or your neighbors catalytic converter LoL
It was so unexpected and that's what made it so funny.
Love seeing this. Glad to see you got around to doing it after we talked about it. I never did get the heater done on my hillbilly hot tub because I haven't gotten a good deal on copper yet lol. This is awesome
yeah, you should!
I built my wood burning heater using 60 feet of copper inside the fire barrel wrapped on the inside exposed directly to the flame. I have a 1/2hp transfer pump to flow the water through. It comes out about 25-30 degrees warmer than the base water temp. I have a 12500 gallon pool and in a few hours the pool will warm 5-10 degrees. I will fire it up first thing in the morning and by lunch time the water is nice and toasty in the pool. A partial cover over the barrel to reduce the amount of heat that escapes helps too. Flow rate is more important than temperature differential. A thousand gallons of 5 degree warmer water per hour is better than 10 gallons at boiling temp.
That makes much more sense his heat is just escaping upwards , and only indirect heat is ging to the poor contact from the wall of the drum to a small surface of the pipe
I love hearing the laughter of children.🥰They are all so precious.
Pipe wrap for the return pipe. insulate the heat and prevent burned fingers. Love the concept!
Came here to say that exact thing 👍🏼
I did the same thing on our swimming pool, a coil in a barrel and burnt sticks and limbs from my trees worked like a charm
this is such a cool project! very doable and not too complicated. love the father/daughter interaction. I'm sure she'll cherish this moment for years to come.
p.s. I'm thinking about adding a faucet to the output so when it gets hot enough you could turn off the flow without getting out of the pool!
That's a terrible idea. If it gets too hot you should extinguishing the fire.
ps: nobody asked
@@ModernSelfReliance harsh response
So glad to see you put some uumph into the flow, and extra copper tubing to help increase the amount of heated water returned. We used this type system for fumigating termites years ago with Methyl Bromide gas, it was called a heat exchanger. Also, I've built several mosquito foggers out of lawnmower exhaust pipes and ice maker line as a drip method directly into the hot exhaust pipe. Great build! Love what you're doing ❤️
Your ideas are amazing, this video is a blast to watch. I’m thinking you made your daughters day, she really liked it.
I made a solar pool heater and had the coil on my garage roof to get better sun and added heat from the rest of the hot roof. I used a sump pump and plugged it into a timer. It would cycle and run for 30 seconds to add the hot water and pause for 15 minutes. I would just plug it in each morning and it helped a lot in the spring and fall. The one year I plumbed it into a mess of old galvanized pipe and elbows and threw it directly into the fire pit and worked even better but had to babysit the fire. I love watching all your projects thanks for sharing
All you need is to install a check valve at the inlet. The overheated water can only exit through the outlet. That's how the coffee machine works, no pump needed.
Just lower the output below the water leven Will create a slow flow naturally without boiling
We use a butterfly net as a pool skimmer. Looks like she's enjoying it and that's all that matters. Great job Dad!
That's seriously cool! And your daughter is sooo cute! She's grown so big! You certainly made her day.😀
you make a strench, of the basin diameter
a gently sloping side : air inlet, and wood-burner,
2-3 gas outlets connected-stick to the basin, such as clay craters
(you redo the seal with clay before each heating)
and a last chimney exit on the other side.
you remove the wood when it's hot
before entering the water
23:14 loving Bean featuring so much in this vid and his little bandanna is super cute! 🐩
I took the easy way (just built a bit fire pit under my 6 X3 cattle tank). It takes 3-4hours but gets up to about 105 with just direct exposure to fire. 2 full years & it's blackened but 100% still intact.
With the flame directly under the floor wouldn't that make it too hot to have your feet make contact with the bottom or do you get in after the fire is out?
@@salvadorw.empent2778 Ah, I added a thick yoga/exercise mat (a bit tricky to keep it at the bottom), which works fab. Otherwise there are a few very hot spots!
Our power went out while we were watching this segment so we plugged our TV and router into our Ecoflow Delta power pack!!! Bingo!! Back in business!
If you don't want direct flame contact that could melt your solder you might want to tighten the copper around your barrel. With the air gap you are losing a lot of heat. Also if you restrict the airflow (i.e. chimney) through the barrel you will burn less fuel and most of the heat will not be lost to exhaust.
Just another thought. Have you considered with all the clay you appear to have building a rocket/thermal mass heater? It could work in conjunction with a thermo siphon as well as giving a heated seating area depending on how far you want to go with it the possibilities are quite broad. I wondered as I saw a video where they used it to heat a green house with not much more than a handful of sticks and this was in Canada as well.
When the copper tubing is filled with sand prior to wrapping it around the barrel the tubing is flattened slightly as it’s wrapped and this increases the surface area in contact.
Kevin….if you can you need to cover the pool at night. You are right they loose a LOT of heat during the night. If you have any more of that heavy duty stuff you used as a roof on your cabin maybe you can cut a circle to cover the pool. Your little girl reminds me of my daughter when she was that age. PS…..rain has a lot of acidity & I always had to shock my in ground pool because it would turn green after a bunch of rain. Rain + pools & ponds are not a good mix. It’s a pretty cool set up you got. ♥️
Growing up we had two gutted water hearers on cinder block. Worked great
i've been thinking bout building one for my inground with a loop on the pump but the water flow on the pump is way too much... seeing your adaptations is giving me some idea for building a separate water flow system via the skimmer box... may i suggest a small paper filter system on your pool (a spa system would be good ... with kids you kinda need some kind of water treatment )... on your pond, may i suggest putting in either an aerator or bubbler system to improve the water quality in it ... your fish health should improve with it
they have an aerator setup on the pond
I grew up in northern Montana and remember well the warm (hot to us) mountain days. Our only option was the creek that ran past our cabin. Ice cold, but once you were numb, a lot of fun. Wish we had had you as a neighbor… 😄
"Daddy, I love playing with you!" Absolutely worth the build and the time to watch it!
for the opposite effect (cooling wort) - I've found that the surface area to volume ratio was improved using several small diameter annealed lines in parallel as a heat exchanger - maybe for a future project... Enjoying the vidoes!!
I like the ingenious trick with the window screen being used as a pool screener
My only suggestion is perhaps a lid you can put on top after you switch from sticks to actual firewood, then you can possibly keep the heat in the barrel longer by damper on the exhaust pipe coming out of the lid.
I don't know if I explained it well at all, anyway you are very intelligent so I'm sure you can figure out what I was trying to say .
Always glad to see Don on the video.
A Forrest buggy would be a fun build, gasifier powered.
For hauling people and materials and lumber.
You are awesome what you do for your daughter and family. I love your off grid tiny homes. ^^ Keep on keeping on!!!
Looks good! Hey, regarding the heating rate and water circulation, it would've made sense to install cold water PEX at least 90 degrees away from the hot water inflow. That way you'll be getting cold water into your exchanger (instead of tepid water,) and that will generate an internal current in the pool. I'm using a $20 large fishtank filter/circulation pump on our 150 gal soaking tub, and it's strong enough that I think that might do for your pool. If not, they have larger models with wave action and fountains for larger marine tanks. Those will draw less power off your EcoFlow, too.
Great project. I loved the whole process and was excited at the end of the video… with all that white skin I was sure we were going to see you burst into flames when the sun hit you. I guess sitting in water makes you fireproof. Thanks for sharing!
That’s hilarious.😂
As soon as i saw that pump i knew youd hate how loud it was 🤣 we just bought one at work to replace an old pump on a flower basket water system. Apparently the old pump was an RV pump, it was almost silent and it had a pressure switch built into it so you can turn it on or off with a valve.
She loves her daddy big time!! Great videos, I always enjoy watching your projects.
sidenote:
Your brother needs to get back into the game again.
my thoughts are make the fire barrel more like a furnace with a lid and a smoke stack it would hold more heat and also make a hot tub lid it probably heat up way faster if it kept its heat contained much love man you did a amazing job and ps I felt so happy when you threw a pump on it
That heavily zip tied rubber pipe you found I think it was likely a former solar pool heater outside of its glass box
Product is easy to install and kept the pool warmer than it had usually been. Extended the use of the pool by a month or so. Great value!
I haven't gotten all the way through the video yet, but I believe if you add in a one-way check valve (on the cold end) you might get better pressurization on the hot side.
Awesome video as always Kevin! I think you done great !!! Your daughter was so excited about it ! That's memories worth all the money in the world ! Anyways great build ! Take care and stay safe my friend!!
Would it have not been easier and more heat efficient to do the coil inside the barrel?
My thoughts exactly
🤣🤣🥰🥰Adorable at the end!! Your daughter has grown so much, she is so sweet. That pool turned out awesome 👌. How fun. Peace and good fortune and good health to you and your family. 😃
Nice try on the heater, I think that for efficiency sake maybe a small firebox with a chimney piped into a chamber full of copper tubing before venting out would make better use of heat source kind of like a meat smoker only you'd be smoking tubbing, this is just my idea, love the show. Cheers from Jacksonville Florida 🌞
You need to get the output side plumbed into the tub below the water line
It will reduce back pressure and increase flow
I suggest adding chlorine and algae control chemicals. I live in Texas, where the pool temp can rise to 95+ degrees on its own. That temperature is a perfect environment for stuff you don't want in your pool/hot tub! A minimal amount of chemicals will probably not affect the chemistry of your plumbing.
I think the only concern is the runoff and draining later
Love watching guys and I think your pool heater has potential but I think you wold get more heat if the barrel was on its side with a door on one end to feed it and a chimney pipe on the other end just a thought because you are losing most of you heat straight up out of the top of hour barrel.
Yes yes yes
Moving the fire closer and adding some enclosures, it could literally be an awesome fireplace/hot tub combo
Easy way to keep temperature regulated is add a bubbler ring around the bottom and it will cool the water down fairly quickly and you can adjust the airflow to keep temp from getting too hot.
I really got into this one for the powerless heating and flowing water then it went to pumps n power:( but still enjoyable n the family involvement with lil miss shows your a true father and nothing mattered just playing mermaids and swimming with your daughter love that good family natured stuff 👌😎
New sub, your builds are brilliant! You're also giving your daughter a great life, top dad 👏
OMG 😳😳😳 hi there, long time, finally beside the pond , now comes the heated pool and kid's pool. Jolly good 👈👍 Kelvin, you sure know how to utilize your area and used materials too. Good job 👌👍
Guessing now you have the pump you don't have to drill the hole in the bottom either. Thanks for the journey and the benefit if your trial and error experience. Saved me so much time.
I’ve boiled water in a plastic water bottle before because the max temp you can get water is 100°C 212°F . I’m 100% confident you could have the coil inside the burn barrel for Max heat transfer/efficiency and not worry about the copper/solder joints melting (provided the tube is primed with water).
Insulation on the inlet/outlet pipes would further increase efficiency.
As well as insulation around the tub (under floor as well), and an insulated cover while heating would also prevent heat loss.
One more thing I would do is have the burn barrel closer. So adding wood is within tossing distance so you could add wood while inside the pool (and have a stack of wood within arms reach of the pool)
Nice job on the pool! 👍
Put the inlet hose into the water a foot or so inside a cage. You got the right idea without an electric pump. Thermosyphons are amazing. I also feel your clay addition is holding back your thermal conductivity. Copper to steel is best. Add some insulation between the chunk of barrel if you want more retention.
Waiting to see what the upgrades will do. Such as insulation, sound deadening and maybe even a disc suspended over your burner to Force heat to the sides. Well descended whole and it could be used as a wok. Duel purpose.
Just some random thoughts.
just a thought... your current setup is pumping hot water directly above the cold water drain, effectively supplying the pipe with lukewarm water rather than the coldest current pool temp. if the drain was opposite to the hot water supply you could maybe increase efficiency? you could rotate the pool 90 degrees to create a triangle to the fire. just a theory.
Loved the video!
Man Kevin it blows my mind on how you come up with these things
Your little mini me is adorable! 🥰
Dude this makes me so pumped, I had A 8 inch steel tube welded in the middle of a huge cooking pot that fits in a 55 gal drum and put 300 feet of landscaping tubing fitted with pecs to copper to the outside In/Out and keep it filled with water with wood fire on the bottom middle of winter I can keep the water over 90f in a greenhouse environment....... I do have a pump though
Hi from Syracuse NY USA everyone thank you for sharing your adventures and garbage picking
How are you going to keep the water clean? Its a cool looking setup.
My neighbor put this copper coil on his woodstove with a high pressure relief valve and circulated it through his water heater. It worked perfectly saving electricity by pre heating shower and dish water
11:30ish, I was thinking to put a ~ Like two 45 bends. The top hose to the bottom and the bottom to the top (Heater to pool respectively) to cycle the heat bottom to top.
Great idea, wondering if you could use that system on a offgrid cabin
"changing out your catalytic converter" LOL! Man, your channel is right up my alley. Good content here. Cheers :)
You never cease to amaze me. Great Job On This Build. Now what you gonna build around it?
like moonshiners do couldnt you get some brick and layer them around the barrell/still (with air inlet holes if needed) to keep heat in ?
Happy Canada day bub, hope you and your family have a good weekend!
If you want to use power. A small little giant submersible pump in the pool. Connect to some PEX at a safe distance away from barrel to save on costs. Works great.
Those hastings tanks are SUPER nice and BONUS they're made in the state I live in! YAY NEBRASKA!!!
Nice. I was wondering what the t at the end was for on end of the return. A syphon break? Wouldn't it be more efficient if it had the return under water so when the air is boiled out it could suck a bit of water back in and heat that till the heat cycle really kicks in? Or am I wrong about that? Been wanting to do something like this for my upstairs heat off our gas stove figured a closed loop with a bit of an expansion chamber so it didn't explode but this shouldn't need one being open air right? Anyways looks fun as can be.
Hey! Could you do a video on testing a portable washing machine? I’ve been trying to do some research but can’t find much
Can you turn your Barrel into a water heater/bbq.. A hot dinner poolside with some cold snacks would be nice..
Keep up the good work there brother..
Post haste maybe build a geodesic dome over the tub to keep snow out of it so you can use it during the winter maybe cover it with epdm rubber roofing
Very cool. Feel like an inverted cone on the top would force the heat to the outside walls instead of simply venting out the top.
My experience confirms your assumption.
Iverted cone? I am using a rock crusher cone and making an iverted cone heat exchange. I have seen one like that that didnt have a water heater and i saw that it did, in fact, focus the heat to a narrow point. Just getting all the pieces together now, but this winter hopefully be much cozier than last
do you think much efficiency would be gained by putting the coil inside the barrel and just protecting it by burning the wood in a metal mesh to protect the copper pipe but still have flames lick the copper directly?
I built mine just like yours but i also found if you use exhaust pipe wrap around the barrel over coper it heats up faster and insulates at same time
Use some steel piping to make a lower case t in the bottom of the pit with one end running out of drum, drill holes in the t and hook up an air mattress pump or hand pump and you can get the fire roaring up super hot fast.
I love the way you repurpose stuff my man. This is how we done it all my life, my father saved any material. Anyone looking for something they would come to my dad and bring something to trade, everyone got what they needed without money.
My place operates like that.
My heart is always happy when you salvage, save, and repurpose material. I know it’s a huge part of your builds, but as a fellow saver of everything, because…”you never know when it might come in handy”, I get so pumped when you share stories of where your materials come from. 👏🏻☺️
That is how your coffee pot works also
A check valve at the bottom pipe would also help so water can only flow one way
You can also solder the pipes to the barrel the water will keep it cool enough so the solder will not melt
The hot water output pipe needs to be connected to your pool tank below the surface of the water to allow the natural circulation of the hot water to occur. The heating circuit must be full of water at all times. As a lad our house was heated by a coal furnace. A large storage tank was connected to a loop that was inside the furnace. As the fire heated the water it naturally rose up to exit through the piping connected to the upper port in the side of the tank. The natural convection will continuously circulate the heated water. Be carful , this can produce extremely hot water.
Awesome build and having fun with your family in your own oasis.
Insulate the top of the water and sides even. That will help it heat faster. I will be building something like this this summer hope.
Another great video! Loved your ingenuity, Kevin! Also loved your Elsa voice! lol
Hey Kevin have you changed anything about the tub since this video? I have a smaller stock tank that’s not circular. Trying to build one. Thanks for your input!!
No, it's been working really well all summer.
What do you think about getting an -> Emeilleur Electric Water Heater Immersion Coil Rod (1000 W)
would it help the heating and fuel consumption if you had some kind of lid on the burn barrel to use as a damper like a wood stove?
What’s there a reason to do it so far away? I’m about to start building one at probably half the size for the heater and tub but was planning to have it much closer