Idea for a hot water pool...

[redjohanna]

Hi all,
We dont have a bath here (only a shower) and miss a good soak.
Ive been thinking about an idea for a hot water pool and could use some advice.
Here are my plans so far:
1. Get an old round concrete or plastic stock trough. Deep enough to sit in.
2. Place in a nice spot in the garden. Add plants and rocks around for effect
3. Use an old Jotul wood heater we have here to heat water via a water jacket
4. Use some type of thermosiphon system to drop heated water in to the pool and circulate cool water to be reheated

Would then use no power and water is only heated via the wood stove when needed. We may need to be super organised and fire it up well in advance of anticipated time of use. Water supply is no problem...got more than enough of that...
We could then use as a cool pool in summer Do you think this is do able?
Any helpful hints as I am no plumbing expert?
Thanks in advance

[HannahO]

How would you clean the water in the pool? I would think the hot water would kill any aquatic plants that could help filter the water. Unless there is some type of tropical aquatic plant but then you'd have to worry about it dying from the cool nights.

[Terra]

You can get little 12 volt hot water pumps that will run straight of a solar panel if you search " Brushless Water Circulation Pump 15W Solar Hot Water " ( ebay of course ) come in 5w and 10w as well or run of a car battery , ( no electric shocks ) . Im nutting out a system of useing a polypipe coil set up permanant for solar water heating in summer and potential compost heater winter time (South Australia) to feed pretty hot water into my existing hot water service . Might start a thread .

[Pakanohida]

Take a stainless steel horse trough big enough to soak in, or a cast iron tub.

Set this on rocks with a 1' clearence between ground and tub.

Put down a layer of cob, and then slowly level the trough / tub.

The idea here it to have a fire on one end, have the hot air go under the tub / trough, and come out the other end. Yes you can recapture this energy.

Anyway, cob up the sides of the rock to keep air drafts down, and cob the sides, make it look nice.

Fill tub with water after cob dries.

Set fire on the one end, let heat up. Best to do this HOURS before you are done working.

Hop in for a soak at end of work day. Easy.



http://ilovecob.com/archive/cob-hot-tub

Not my website, but illustrates the idea very well.

[labradel]

some rules of thermo syphon systems the hot water use vessel (bath/pool) must be higher than the heat supply, there must be no break in the water column, the pipes from the heat source need to rise from the heat source to the use point as evenly as is possible as any downward movement of the rising hot water will severely inhibit the system operation, this also applies to the downward flow of the cooler water, cold water out the low /bottom of the tank and the warmed water into the tank at a point below the water level in the tank. NO pumps or solar panels required . oh and if space black poly pipe layed in the sun following these rules works as a very good heat accumulator for very minimal cost.