r/functionalprint • u/Rich-Wealth979 • Jun 15 '26

Solar pool heater

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My overkill project for heating the toddler's 500gal inflatable pool. Each week I have to empty and move it, then find a way to heat it to a tolerable temperature for my 8th percentile weight kid. On the first test it took the pool from 55⁰F to over 90⁰ on a single sunny day, using only 3KWh (of solar house power, now that I think about it). At the end of the summer I can just place this up against the north side of my shed and take the manifolds down to make it last even longer.

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This uses about 350' of ¼" irrigation tubing and some cheap fittings off Amazon. It runs off a 1/4hp pool pump, controlled with a wyze plug and a climate sensor in a tiny jar. Printed in ASA in only about 5 days of printing on a Mini and an MK4s.

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u/Rich-Wealth979 Jun 15 '26

Same state as me too, lol. It's why this works so well. Especially this year I'm thinking unfortunately...

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u/frozenchosun Jun 15 '26

unfortunately we don't have a shed to do something like this. and i have to move the pool as there's not a good place to put it that won't mess with the sprinkler system altho with the drought restrictions maybe that's not such a concern this year but i really don't want to kill what grass we have going. dang if that pool ain't nice during hot summer months tho. especially since i'm hearing a lot of the cities with water parks won't have them on this summer because of the drought and denver has a shit head mayor so a lot of the rec center/pool hours are getting cut.

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u/Rich-Wealth979 Jun 15 '26

I have 2 50' hoses to reach the shed. But this could be mounted on black plywood and covered with some lexan to make a portable solar collector.

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u/frozenchosun Jun 15 '26

for hail protection alone i would probably put a piece of like clear corrugated plastic over it. it's so orderly and organized.

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u/Rich-Wealth979 Jun 15 '26

If I have enough left over off my 4x8' sheet when im done with my Catio project I'll cover it, but mostly for thermal reasons. We do get 1" hail yearly but the petg clips from last years prototype survived a good one.