DIY Solar Water Heater – Simple and Easy

Although it’s awesome having a swimming pool in the backyard, being limited by the outside temperature is not ideal. It would sure be nice to be able to enjoy the pool even on a cold day but for that you need a heater. A really great and convenient solution that we suggest is making a DIY solar pool heater. We’ve selected a few tutorials for you to choose from so let’s have a look at them together.

Green DIY Solar Pool Heater

DIY Solar Pool Heater

It’s easier to understand how a solar pool heater works and how to build it if you break the project into smaller steps. That’s just what this tutorial from instructables does. The first part of the project is making the solar collector. To capture the heat you can use a couple of simple and accessible materials, in this case a 4×4 piece of plywood and a vinyl irrigation hose. Paint the plywood black so it attracts heat, then take the hose and coil it tightly on the plywood, securing it with UV-resistant zip-ties. You’ll need to drill a bunch of holes into the board as well.

To take that heat into the pool you then need to assemble a series of valves and Y adapters. This particular system also has 1/2” ball valves that allow the water to shut off when the heater is no longer necessary. A timer was also installed which gives the water enough time to heat up before it gets sent to the pool. Without it this heater wouldn’t really work.

DIY Pool Heater – $50 Solar Heater

DIY Solar Pool Heater 30 Degrees Temperature Increase

There’s a video tutorial made by Do It Wrong Yourself which explains a fairly similar process. This one uses two black hose coils placed side by side and attached to a painter board. The board is made out of scrap pieces which helped reduce the cost of the project even more and the whole system was attached to the pool’s existing pump. It heats the water when it’s a bit chilly and makes the temperature just right.

DIY Solar Water Heater – Build A Solar Pool Heater From Polycarbonate Sheet

DIY Solar Pool Heater 30 Degrees Temperature Increase

This other solar pool heater shared by kukomio uses a different design. It looks a lot simpler and cleaner which is nice if you’re going for a more modern and minimalist aesthetic. It uses materials and tools such as a PVC fish tank connector, a flexible and extendable garden hose pipe, a digital kitchen thermometer, a garden connector and 34 pcs of carbon steel vibration saw blades. When all done it has a capacity of 31 liters. The whole thing ends up measuring 16mm x 22mm x 88m but these measurements can potentially be adjusted.

A Unique Open Flow Solar Pool Heating Collector

A Unique Open Flow Solar Pool Heating Collector

Another interesting design idea can be found on builditsolar. This pool heater uses corrugated metal roofing as an absorber which can work out great if you already have some leftover materials from other projects. Alternative, you can get everything from the local hardware store without spending a fortune. The way this works is by having water from the pool pumped to a header along the top of the collector. Small trickles of water head towards the bottom of the collector into a channel that carries it back into the pool.

DIY Solar Water Heater – Build A Solar Pool Heater From old Double Glazed Window

DIY Solar Water Heater - Build A Solar Pool Heater From old Double Glazed Window

To make projects like a DIY solar pool heater even more affordable a good idea is to make use of reclaimed or repurposed materials. For instance, this design shared by kukomio features an old double-glazed window. It’s a really cool idea especially considering old windows are underutilized and most often end up in the trash. This is a very clever use for it and can hopefully inspire you to also give other items a second chance.

Making a homemade solar water

Making a homemade solar water

Some of the questions related to the whole DIY solar water heater idea are answered on thethingswellmake and the answers you find here can help you decide whether you actually need to build something like this, what it takes to make a heater, how it actually works and so on. You can also find here a tutorial that explains how to make a solar pool heater so check it out if you want more info.

How to Make a Easy DIY Solar Pool Heater

How to Make a Easy DIY Solar Pool Heater

Another idea is to make several small water heaters instead of a single large one. This gives you a bit more flexibility and can work out better for small spaces. It also means you can make everything in stages and you need to invest a bit of your time for each one. You can make one of these small heaters in about an hours. Each one requires a 4ft long PVC pipe, 4 90 degree PVC elbows, some PVC glue, duct tape, black plastic, 8ft of foam pipe insulation and wire ties. Everything needs to be black. Check out the video made by DIYeasycrafts for more details and information.

How to heat your pool easy:

DIY Solar Pool Heater 30 Degrees Temperature Increase

Of course, making only one heater can be more efficient and would make more sense in certain cases. We really like the design featured on manomano because it’s simple and the project is easy to follow. You can find here the complete list of all the materials and tools needed for the project and then everything is split into steps. It’s all straightforward and that makes the project very manageable.

DIY Solar Pool Heater 30 Degrees Temperature Increase in 3 Steps

DIY Solar Pool Heater 30 Degrees Temperature Increase in 3 Steps

We also recommend checking out this video by TheGamerVillage which offers lots of useful information about solar heating in general, pool covers, prefabricated solar heaters, copper heating and also offers actual before and after results which give you a better idea of what can be achieved. This can also help you decide whether or not a solar pool heater is the way to go and what type would work best in your case.