Coal Boiler to Heat Swimming Pool

Use a stainless steel heat exchanger if you want the boiler to last. Otherwise the chlorine in the pool and the oxygen it brings in will eat the boiler up in no time. If you consider the boiler expendable then go for it as is. If you get some of those ground based heat exchangers that roll up like a rug when not in use, you can heat pool water for free. Then on shady days you can fire the boiler and no matter what happens you can have a heated pool.

I heat my pool with my EFM 520. I have a 4th zone going to a stainless steel heat exchanger. Then I have loop coming off my pool filter that goes to the heat exchanger. I can almost get 1 degree an hour. I really have to choke down the flow from the pool to the exchanger to not drag the boiler down. I burned 4 ton of coal last summer June-August to heat my pool 18,000 and heat my domestic hot water.

That's a lot of coal! Imagine how much it would have cost for propain.

I was hoping the burning issue in warmer weather would be negated by not trying to keep it burning all the time. I'd like to only fire it up when we need it

Well, as we all know, coal isn't that "convenient" when trying to get some instantaneous heat, for temporary burning. A wood burner in my opinion would work better for that, rather than waiting hours for a good hot coal firebed.

joeq wrote:Well, as we all know, coal isn't that "convenient" when trying to get some instantaneous heat, for temporary burning. A wood burner in my opinion would work better for that, rather than waiting hours for a good hot coal firebed.

In this case, the boiler needs only to heat up the water within itself ,30-60 minutes & then the pool water heating can start..
The boiler has little "mass" to heat.

Quite a bit of difference from firing a stove to heat a big room or entire house where all contents & surrounding walls are the "mass".

I understand Dave, but even firing coals from a dead start takes quite some time, depending on the bed size.

joeq wrote:I understand Dave, but even firing coals from a dead start takes quite some time, depending on the bed size.

30-60 minutes in a stoker boiler (estimated time)..
The OP is thinking about a handfed boiler, so he could build quite the wood fire to get the coal going,it could still be in the 30-60 minute time frame that the boiler contained water would be able to start heating the pool water.
I will be looking to see what some long time boiler users have to say about this issue.

cArNaGe wrote:I heat my pool with my EFM 520. I have a 4th zone going to a stainless steel heat exchanger. Then I have loop coming off my pool filter that goes to the heat exchanger. I can almost get 1 degree an hour. I really have to choke down the flow from the pool to the exchanger to not drag the boiler down. I burned 4 ton of coal last summer June-August to heat my pool 18,000 and heat my domestic hot water.

This "pool heating" thread finally seals the deal.

Bet Discovery would give us a reality show especially since Trump is in.

We could watch Carnage inhale ash dust

What would we call ourselves ?

I'm glad I sparked such a debate. I realize coal may not be the greatest way to approach this but as I said in my OP, I'll also use this boiler to heat my garage in the winter. I know the Chappee boilers have creosote issues but I'm willing to try burning wood in it for the summer to heat the pool and if I get creosote build up I'll try to burn it out with coal. I also have a small building next to my pool that I plan to put this boiler in. I should be able to have at least 10-14 ft of flue pipe on it. Hopefully that will be enough draft.
I understand the basics of this stuff but I always like to hear opinions from others who have been there done that.

Sounds like you've got a worthy plan evolving FL. Can't wait to hear the results.

fastlane4 wrote:I'm glad I sparked such a debate. I realize coal may not be the greatest way to approach this but as I said in my OP, I'll also use this boiler to heat my garage in the winter. I know the Chappee boilers have creosote issues but I'm willing to try burning wood in it for the summer to heat the pool and if I get creosote build up I'll try to burn it out with coal. I also have a small building next to my pool that I plan to put this boiler in. I should be able to have at least 10-14 ft of flue pipe on it. Hopefully that will be enough draft.
I understand the basics of this stuff but I always like to hear opinions from others who have been there done that.

You will not burn creosote out with a coal fire. I sold a Chappee to my father in law (that I'd picked up to use and never did) when I bought my AA130. Had the displeasure of cleaning years of wood burning out of it as well. Would not do it ever again. IIRC there are way too many nooks and crannies, nothing but a PITA.

You can choke these boilers down to only use around a 5 gal pail/day if you were to keep it going without needing the heat.

cabinover wrote:

fastlane4 wrote:I'm glad I sparked such a debate. I realize coal may not be the greatest way to approach this but as I said in my OP, I'll also use this boiler to heat my garage in the winter. I know the Chappee boilers have creosote issues but I'm willing to try burning wood in it for the summer to heat the pool and if I get creosote build up I'll try to burn it out with coal. I also have a small building next to my pool that I plan to put this boiler in. I should be able to have at least 10-14 ft of flue pipe on it. Hopefully that will be enough draft.
I understand the basics of this stuff but I always like to hear opinions from others who have been there done that.

You will not burn creosote out with a coal fire. I sold a Chappee to my father in law (that I'd picked up to use and never did) when I bought my AA130. Had the displeasure of cleaning years of wood burning out of it as well. Would not do it ever again. IIRC there are way too many nooks and crannies, nothing but a PITA.

You can choke these boilers down to only use around a 5 gal pail/day if you were to keep it going without needing the heat.

Excellent. This is the kind of info I'm looking for. You probably just saved me a ton of work. For the cost of a 5 gallon bucket of coal, it's not even worth the effort to mess with wood

Black plastic pipe laid on he roof of the shed would be a great heater. I know of a guy that did just that and could raise the temp in his in ground 7 dregs a day. He put a bubble cover on at night. Cost of pipe and fittings. If it became too hot he just put a reflective cover over the pipe.

crazy4coal wrote:Black plastic pipe laid on he roof of the shed would be a great heater. I know of a guy that did just that and could raise the temp in his in ground 7 dregs a day. He put a bubble cover on at night. Cost of pipe and fittings. If it became too hot he just put a reflective cover over the pipe.

I've heard of several people doing this with mixed results. I just don't see it working for 30k+ gallons of water. Another big drawback I see is when the pool temp drops it's usually associated with several days of rain and very little sunshine. If you live in PA, you know how unpredictable the weather can be. I'm looking for an on demand solution.