Pressure Release Valve Wood Stove Pool Water Heater, Question

[fst2011]

Hello everyone,


Im building a 55gl wood stove pool heater. The plan, based on the videos Ive seen online, is to take 50ft 1/2 copper Type ACR tubing coil inside at the top. The poolwater will be pumped thru tubing and back into the pool. All the videos seem to show that this does work very fast at.My concern is do I need to worry about this thing blowing up? Meaning, I know never to heat the tubing unless I have pool water running thru it... but when I have this running with pool flowing thru, and getting heated up, would this create enough pressure or steam to burst?

Most videos... actually about all videos, don't have anything added to the line to protect from that, except this one video. Guy had a fitting that he called pressure release valve. Said it was there in case temp gets too hot.

I don't think I need it...he was the only video that installed but I also know i DON'T know enough about heating water/steam/etc etc. Please let me know what you think. If you guys agree I should get one, can you please recommend a brand and specs. Also where on the tubing would this be installed?





Thanks for your advice.

Brian

PS: I also was thinking about adding a temp gauge on the in and out side. Can I use any water temp gauge?

[Marmite]

Hi, I have built one very similar. The only danger of pressurising is if for some reason your pump stops or for another reason ie blockage or air lock .If the water stops flowing it starts getting a bit er..stressfull! I have 25mm rubber tubing bringing the water to and away from the barrell stove so this just bursts if have this issue. You could also send a pipe upwards and open at the top say 6 8ft high as a safety blow off if the system isnt running with too much pessure. I have moved away from wood and now use used frying oil etc to heat using same barrell. Good luck its all fun and learning!

[fst2011]

Thanks for taking time to answer. Few other people said same, not to worry about getting valve cause either the garden hose or pool hose will burst first.

As for your new method of heating pool. I'm very interested. How does it work exactly? Any videos you could point me to? Is this extremely dangerous or if setup correctly is just as safe? Any other helpful tips/ advice would be great.

I feel like your method is less labor with not having to chop wood or pallets.

Thanks so very very much

[Marmite]

Hi, What I am using is a large steel kitchen pan approximately 8-9 inches in diameter with a hole in the centre of the base approximately 3.5- 4 inches in diameter. Then a steel tube approximately 10 inches tall with lots of holes drilled in the top 7 inches and this tube is welded to the base of the pan and also has a piece of metal welded on to the top to seal the top. This is the burner tube. You pour a couple of inches of used frying oil or engine oil or a mix of both into the pan, pour a small amount say 100mls of diesel in and a firefighter or blow lamp to get things going!
you have to have this st up with a clear air way under the burner and the barrel stove sealed. It's a bit of trouble getting it sealed and need to play around with it but when you do get it going the burner starts to roar and when you get the air intake working ok no smoke! I was going to fit a gravity fed fuel hopper but runs fine for about an hour with 3-4 inches in the pan. I think a fuel hopper would make it much more dangerous and higher risk of fire!
This is not for the inexperienced experimenters! There are risks in experimenting with homemade boilers! Good luck and take care

[J.P.M.]

If the water in the 55 gal. drum is not pressurized, and the water in the pool loop is at a higher pressure than atmospheric, the water in the pool loop will not boil. If you somehow manage to seal off the barrel and then pressurize it by adding too much heat to the barrel water, or if the barrel liquid has a higher boiling point than the pool water, or if the materials are used at a higher temp. than they are rated for, then may the Good Lord have mercy on your soul.

This is a B.S. way to heat much of anything. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Mike90250]

As a moderator, I'm going to ask for a halt on DIY oil burner suggestions, way beyond the scope of this solar forum, and very dangerous. Sorry, but the forum management cannot condone the use of DIY tubing in a fire pit or a DIY burner. Other forums may specialize in things like that, but not this one.
Here's a start for your search http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=3147.0