Solar water heater from pond liner

Guess you know that there is nothing greater than a fresh bath in the heat of the summer. But with the end of summer the high temperatures will be gone too and going for a bath outside might be just a bit chilly. But not with a solar heating device for your pool, that will heat your pool for free!

There are a few high price solutions to this problem, but nothing really useful or portable. This device I present here can be carried around (if empty!) and used anywhere where you want to have warm water. It is quite stable and cheap.

Step 1 Parts

You need:

- 2m x 2m of 0.5mm black PVC pond liner. 0.5mm is enough and of course it should be black! That should cost you something around 8-12Euro.

- 150-200ml of PVC-Glue. Most people think that PVC is not glueable, but that is not really true. You can actually buy this kind of glue I think it consists of soluted PVC in butanol. In Germany it is sold in cans of 200ml and 1000ml by 'Heissner' for example. But ebay should give you a lot of alternative sources. This stuff is either for pond construction or repair of inflatable boats. This might cost you something around 10.-Euro for the small can up to 30.-Euro for the liter.

- 30cm of PVC-tubing 12-20mm diameter with suitable adapters to your favorite hose-coupling

- a cheap paint-brush, because it will be destroyed after use. Some PVC-glues come with brushes in the cap of the can. Watch out for these!

- a few old rags

- 250ml of benzine, for cleaning purposes

- a flat space of 2x1m somewhere outdoor in the shade

Comments

[JeonLab]

This is great idea! I also agree with rimar2000's comment that any transparent plastic cover will increase the temperature.
Thanks for sharing!

[l8nite]

  This is a really neat idea, well thought out and executed.
Ive mentioned this on here before but I think its worth repeating. When I was little (in the 1960's before green was anything but a color) we had a couple of truck innertubes, these were laid flat on the van roof or top of the boats cabin, there was a hose coupling on the top with a cap and a short length of hose on the lower side with a valve. The water got really hot during the day. It wasn;t for drinking of course but for washing up and gravity showers

[amackie]

In my opinion something like this, placed on a flat surface and filled with water, would not blow around in anything near an average thunderstorm. It's just to heavy and to low for wind to get under and lift.

[mr.incredible]

Awesome idea. I've been looking for a cheap way of extending the swimming season. I imagine a shorter version could also be used for a camp shower. Maybe one about 4x8 laid out flat. I wouldn't want to backpack with it but a camp site location with only cold running water would benefit. Or even a much smaller version hung up with an open end and a shower head and valve would last longer than the store bought camp shower

[rimar2000]

Very good work. I suppose that if you cover the mattress with a loose clear polyethylene sheet, it will protect the heater from the wind and thus it will be hotter.