DIY Pool Heater

This is episode number 154 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hacken, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're glad that you could join us for this live episode of The Homeowner Show here from The Homeowner Show studios. That's right. How you doing, Kev?

Dude, I am excellent. A little cool front came in this evening and it's still humid as everything. However, it feels better. Yeah. So I'm doing good. How are you doing?

I'm doing good, man. Yeah. It is a little bit chillier.

Yeah.

But, you know, we, we had a bit of an incident on the lake yesterday.

Dude, it was weird.

Is that what you were gonna talk about?

No.

No? Okay.

No, but we can talk about it.

You wanna talk about it?

Yeah, let's talk about it.

Dude, that is the craziest thing. Okay.

for, for people that don't know, um, last night, uh, which was, uh, Saturday night at this point, we're recording on a Sunday. I— so I live on Lake Conroe, and, um, there's a, a riverboat. It's a smaller riverboat.

There's a couple riverboats on Lake Conroe.

There's a couple. One of them's big, one of them's a little bit smaller. This is a little bit smaller one. It's a paddle boat, like old school paddle boat. That was moved down here from Michigan.

Think Huck Finn minus the racism. Well, I don't know.

We'll see.

Give it time. Yeah, who knows?

But either way, it was on its nightly cruise around the lake, one of those dusk things. And man, it was weird. I just put my kids to bed. And so all of a sudden, like the wind was howling outside of our bedroom window, and I was like, what's going on? And I look at the radar, and out of nowhere, this cell just pops up. And I'm like, this is the weirdest thing. Like, there's nothing around it. It didn't move in. It just started.

Yeah.

And so, um, about 20, 30 minutes later, it starts raining at our house. Like, the wind's howling. It's kind of crazy. Uh, I didn't think much about it. It's just one of those things that happens, right? I get up the next morning And one of our friends has posted on Facebook that there was a boat that capsized on the lake.

Yep.

And he and his wife were on it when it happened. And so—

It's not funny. It's funny now because we know that they're okay.

Right.

And like, but like just the idea of like a riverboat flipping.

Yeah.

In a lake.

Right.

Because of a thunderstorm. Yes.

And it's just totally bizarre. And it's one of those deals where, um, I mean, it's a— Lake Conroe is a dangerous lake in many ways. A lot of people don't realize it's a bulkhead lake.

And dude, a lot of people die on this lake.

They do.

And, and somebody died last night.

They did. They did. Yeah. And, and so it's weird because, well, first of all, I mean, No disrespect to anybody who has family members who has died. That's not my point. There's a lot of people drunk on this lake.

Okay.

That being said, because it's a bulkhead lake, there tends to be waves that pop up in this lake that are completely unexpected. So if you don't know what a bulkhead is, basically it's a wall. Instead of it having a bank, has a wall. So whenever the wave comes up and hits that bulkhead, it's just a wall. And so it slams it back into the lake.

Yep.

Creates a bigger wave. And so if you don't have a good-sized boat that can handle big waves, you're gonna have problems. And so anyway, um, the, the wind was crazy. It started whitecapping, it started having these huge waves, and this boat like just didn't handle it well. And it's a double-decker boat. And our friends were actually up on the second deck. And when it happened, I mean, it just tipped one side, tipped the other side a couple of times. And then what he told me is it just, it just went over. It's not like this went back and forth, back and forth for, for minutes or, you know, even tens of minutes. It was like seconds.

Yeah.

And this thing was like over. He said he was in the, in the water for like 20 minutes. Like there was debris hitting up against him, you know, furniture.

Being in the water for 20 minutes is crazy. Yeah, that doesn't seem like a lot of time because most people go to the pool and spend like an hour or two, but like being in the water where you're floating for 20 minutes, and it's scary.

It's dark at this point. Yeah, I mean, it, it was dusk, now it's dark, and not everybody was able to get a life jacket on immediately. In fact, his wife had a life jacket, he didn't. It was just, man, just crazy stuff.

Yeah.

And thankfully, most people survived this without incident. And, you know, our thoughts go out to the family whose family member died last night. It's an older gentleman that didn't make it. But man, crazy.

Yeah, we were— and I assume you were watching some of the same video I was this morning.

Yeah.

getting the news of our friend out on the, uh, you know, I mean, like, and he even shows up in the, in the footage.

He does.

Um, which, I mean, it's sort of surreal when you start watching, like, tragic footage of something that happened and then you see somebody that you know going through it. Um, so it's, it's a crazy thing, man. And it's, it's going to be interesting to hear what, what kind of comes out as a result of this.

Like, I don't know that there's anything they could have done No, in fact, our buddy was telling me that the owners of the boat, the— I assume it's a husband and wife couple. They were on the boat.

Yeah.

And apparently they had been talking at the beginning of the cruise that they just hired this new captain, how experienced he was, and like how great he was and all these sorts of things. But he said like when this started happening, the owner like elbows him out of the way and takes control of the helm and is like, I've got this type of thing. And so who knows? I mean, there's an investigation, all that kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, we know the culprit is a freaking storm that just popped up out of nowhere.

Which, yeah, and like speaking, speaking as someone who's been in a really bad storm with a boat, you have little to no control.

Sure.

I mean, like At some point you're just like, I'm going wherever this water's telling me.

Yeah.

You know, and like to hear that it capsized in like seconds, that's not surprising at all.

No.

I mean, I've been in a really, really bad storm where, and not to go into like the whole story, but like swells big enough where I was in a smaller sailboat and we were losing sight of oil tankers.

Oh.

You know, and it's like at that point you just sort of realize like, oh, I'm a gnat.

Yeah. Like, death is upon me.

Yeah.

Right? What was that movie that came out? I don't know, probably when we were in our late high school years that was like—

Speak for yourself.

Well, you're older than me, but it was one of those Alaskan fishing boats that got completely taken over by a wave and it was based on a true story.

I think George Clooney was in it or something like that.

Do you know what I'm talking about? You're asking the wrong dude. Anyway, it was one of those terrible movie references. It's one of those deals where it's like, I am too, where it's like you really, you have no control. It is what it is. And, you know, they're, they're fortunate not to have, you know, had worse outcome than they did because there were 50-plus people on this boat.

Yeah. You know, so I mean, definitely prayers out to the families who are suffering loss and also just those that experienced it because I mean, there's, there's trauma involved there that you're going to be, you know, living through for— I mean, I would imagine years for to come.

Sure.

I mean, 'cause I think some of us might listen to that and go, and it is, I mean, like on the outside listening, it is kind of funny. I mean, like it's a riverboat flipping in a lake.

Yeah.

But like the people, for the people that experienced it, man, I mean, like they're gonna be dealing with this experience for the rest of their lives. It's, I mean, like, I think I was even watching some of the video of the aftermath and there were kids.

Yeah.

On this boat.

Yeah, of course.

That's something that's gonna stick with these kids for a long time. Yeah, they're not gonna forget it. Yeah. So, so not to bring the show down.

Right, right, right. It's just one of those weird things that happen. It's on our brains.

Like just last night. Yeah.

I mean, yeah, it just literally happened.

Yeah.

But that's not what we're here for today.

Not at all.

We're here to talk about something completely different, although still involving water.

Still involving water.

And potential drowning problems.

Yeah. Like specifically swimming pools.

Sure.

So this is something that I think everybody's been dealing with. And in the coming months, I think what we're gonna be talking about tonight is gonna be specifically pertinent to people's pool experience, especially here in the South. And probably through like the, you know, like the midsection of the country more particular.

Right.

But heating your pool is an extremely expensive thing to add to your pool. plethora of pool equipment.

Right.

And, and so we don't get to do a whole lot of DIY. I mean, we talk about, you and I talk about a lot of the DIY stuff that you and I do.

Sure.

But there's not many times when we kind of get to go through like the specifics of a DIY that, that we've done.

Right.

And so tonight we want to take the opportunity to go through that because this is one I've been working on for the better part of a year.

Well, and it's, it's one of those deals that it's like, I just kind of have always assumed because of your pool being where it is, uh-huh, it's, it's just going to be cold, right? And, and I've never really thought— I mean, because it's, it's not my pool, right? I've just always kind of thought this is a cold pool, like it's just always going to be cold. Because for those of you who haven't been listening to the show and don't know, your pool is under a roof. Yeah.

And I mean, because it's under a roof, it's just always under shade. The, the best way I've learned to, to explain it, even though it's not like you know, specifically accurate is to tell people that my pool is indoors.

Yeah.

I mean, because it is. Yeah. For, for all intents and purposes, it's indoors.

Yeah. I mean, I had a friend in high school who had an indoor pool. Crazy actually to think about. But, um, that pool, like when you walked into the pool area was always hot and humid in that area.

Right.

Because I mean, there, I mean, even if you have the, the the pool heated or cooled or whatever, just the humidity in that room with all of that water makes it hot.

Yes.

And humid in there. And so the same feel you're going to get in an indoor pool. I mean, many of you have been to Hawaii or something like that. It's always humid where the pool is, right?

I think probably the— like, if you've ever been to like Great Wolf Lodge. Yeah. If you've ever walked into like the indoor pool, which is mostly Great Wolf Lodge indoors. Like, it's like walking into a blanket.

Yes.

When you walk into the pool area, I mean—

Or, or it's just like entering Houston.

You fly from New York, you land in Houston, you step off the plane. That's what it's like.

Exactly what it's like. Yeah. So, you know, either way, it's— that's a good descriptor. I think it's a good descriptor.

But what winds up—

the net result of that is your pool's cold.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, the pool, well, and I mean, again, unless you're Great Wolf Lodge or one of these other places that like the water temperature feels kind of like what it is in the rest of the room.

Right.

And that's because they're using all sorts of systems and expensive gadgetry in order to make that happen.

Sure.

So it feels nice. So, but if you're like me and you have an indoor pool, you know, quote, finger quotes, finger quotes, internet. If you have an indoor pool, my pool never sees, UV rays, right? We don't have a skylight or anything, but there's a roof over it. And so that water is just super cold all the time, no matter what you do. And we've— I'm like, this is— so we're, we're talking about my DIY solution to my pool heater because we've gone through like 3 or 4 iterations of solutions at this point.

And, and you don't want to go spend $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 minimum, right?

Which, yeah, that's, that's what it's going to cost.

Sure.

And it's like once you start crunching the numbers, because the most expensive option to operate is an electric pool heater, which is the cheapest one to install.

Of course.

And so it's very attractive. But then when you start looking at the long-term numbers of what it costs to operate that thing, it's like, holy cow, no, that's gonna cost me, you know, 10 times what it would cost to install like a natural gas water heater. But then you start having, okay, so then I gotta run the natural gas line. Then the, you know, the utility company's gotta get involved. And, you know, depending on what state you live in, like me and Eric G have talked about this ad nauseam, you know, like here you, you may not necessarily have to have a license in order to be a contractor in order to do certain things. And so you're able to get away

with some stuff as a contractor, you know, like maybe burying gas line, which—

Right.

I don't recommend. Like, you should never have an amateur burying gas line on your property.

True.

And I'm not sure about the laws on how that works. Here in Texas, I know you have to be a licensed master plumber in order to even mess with that kind of stuff. Sure.

And you should be.

And you should be.

Yeah.

But that doesn't keep people from doing it outside of those bounds.

Right.

And in Texas, we like to do things outside of the bounds.

Pretty much always.

So, but then, I mean, like the, the cost of burying the line and installing that and doing all the things that, you know, involve the, the gas supply company, you know, like, you know, that's a huge expense.

It is.

In order to get that to the pool heater. And, and there's ways around it and you can be strategic and smart about it. And I'm sure there's people that have done it. My property's a little bit different and unique. And so we had to get creative.

Right.

And so what we ended up with, and this is gonna sound weird to people, but like, I am not the only one that's come up with the solution because if you go on YouTube, you can find people that have done this, particularly folks that tend to have above-ground pools use this solution sometimes. I used a propane camp heater in order to heat my pool. Yeah. And so, and I think, I think you actually, do you have the picture of it to bring up?

I actually was trying to get it over there and it's not working. It's not working right now. The way I want it to, but either way, I can tell you what it is. I mean, it's, the brand is Vevor, it's V-E-V-O-R. And it's just a propane hot water heater, but it's— It's a tankless. It's a tankless hot water heater.

Yeah.

But it's not a typical tankless hot water heater.

Yeah, it's intended to be a camp shower.

Right.

Is what it is. And so the way that it works is you would— there's a, there's actually like a shower nozzle that you attach to the output of this thing. And so when you open up water pressure, that's when it engages the hot water heater. And the hot water heater is actually ignited by 2 D-cell batteries.

Okay.

Um, and so you don't have to run any power to this thing other than getting propane to it.

Right.

And so what, what's the smallest tank, Kev?

So I know there's a 20-pound tank.

This is like a— is this a 10-pound?

This is, this is a— well, as far as poundage goes, it's a 12-liter. That's, that's what it's showing online, what you sent me.

Um, it's the smallest propane tank.

Yeah, I mean, it's not, it's not huge.

It's like the one you use for like your gas grill. Right.

And, and that one, if you, I mean, oh, oh, you're talking about the, the propane tank.

The propane tank.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a 20-pound tank.

20-pound tank. Yeah.

Yeah. There you go.

Okay. What's the bigger one that you have?

I've got, I've got 2 30-pound tanks that are on my, on my, they're on my RV.

Okay. So these, these are the 20-pound tanks. I think they typically cost like $18.99 at most places.

And, and it's just as simple, like the ones that you see, the Blue Rhino, whatever that you see whenever you go to Walmart, you can just do the, exchange. That's exactly what these are.

Which, have you seen the propane, uh, vending machines at Home Depot now?

Uh, I don't know if I have.

Dude, they are cool.

Okay, tell me about them.

So, I mean, it's, it's pretty simple. You go up to the cash register and you tell the lady, like, I've got 2 tanks to exchange. I've got 2 20-pound tanks to exchange. So she rings them up, you pay for them right there, she hands you a code, you walk outside to the vending machine, you punch your code in, It opens a door, you stick in your used tank, it opens another door, you pull out your brand new tank.

Oh.

Simple as that.

Well, it's, it's controlled at that point because I've always wondered, like, that, that employee has to walk out with you and make sure you're not taking 14 tanks, right?

Yes.

So this is a controlled system.

This is a controlled system. It's essentially a vending machine.

Sure.

You put the code in, you put one in, you get one out.

Gotcha.

Yeah, it's fantastic.

Yeah, I love it.

Yeah.

And the cool thing is like a lot of gas stations even have like tank switches now. Like, so it's super easy to find these tanks these days.

Oh yeah.

Easy.

Well, and if you go to someplace like Tractor Supply, rather than having to exchange the tank, they'll just refill it for you.

Right. And actually, and there's a lot of places, just FYI, Uh, some storage, uh, units have, uh, propane places, RV places. U-Haul has, has propane, um, refill stations. Typically it's cheaper.

Oh yeah.

To do that because you're not paying for the service as well. You're just paying for the actual gas that's being put in there. So if you have the time and, and the, you know, it's, it's not, you know, forever away from your home, I recommend you going to one of those places to refill.

Oh yeah, like if, if you're like me, there are places, and I'm, you know, I, I try out all these different places specifically because we do the show. Yeah. But however, nearby, if, if you're like me, there's a lot of welding supply stores. And typically the welding supply stores where I go to get my CO2, none of your business why, um, you can figure it out for yourself, um, uh, they'll also do the propane refills. There you go. And it's, it's always cheaper there. Always. It's, but it's always a question of convenience because those places are not gonna be anywhere near the major intersections. Nope. They're gonna be off the beaten path.

Unless—

where welders go.

Yeah, unless you can find like a U-Haul, it's still gonna be cheaper to go to a U-Haul place than it is to do the tank exchange. But it's gonna be dollars cheaper. It's not gonna be like, I mean, you're, we're talking about a 20-pound tank. I mean, we're not talking about, I mean, those hold like what, like 5 gallons?

Something like that.

Something like that.

I should look at the tank.

It's weird. Propane's weird, isn't it? Like, it's weird because you measure it in gallons, but you weigh it and that's what you—

That's right.

It's the weirdest thing. I don't know how to figure it out. All I know is that whenever I pick it up, if it's too light, I gotta fill it up.

I gotta tell you, Kev, there's a lot of pressure right now.

Okay, tell me why.

My dad is watching live on Facebook.

That, that was a complete accident on his part.

That takes it up to 11.

He didn't mean to do that. He has no idea why he's watching us right now. I love your dad, by the way.

I love my dad too.

Partly because he could beat me if I, uh, didn't.

So anyway, there's lots of ways to get your propane.

Sure.

All that being said, this, this particular tank runs off propane, um, and, and I'm sure there's somebody out there screaming like, that's a terrible idea, propane's not as efficient.

Maybe.

For my pool, it makes sense because it's a much smaller pool.

Sure.

I mean, you're talking about like something that's around 15,000 gallons. Right. So, and we'll get into the numbers of that here in a minute. But I have tried multiple different ways to heat this pool. So the, the first foray into this was a solar heater up on the roof.

Yeah.

Which did work.

It It makes sense that it should work.

Right.

But it's, it's more complicated than that.

Yeah, it's very slow.

Yeah.

And it's very dependent on sun exposure and when the pump is running and all these kinds of things.

Sure.

So it's, there's a lot of variables involved with the solar heater. It's not to say that it can't be done.

Yeah.

But, you know, it's just not very efficient in the amount of power that you're using to operate that pump.

Right.

To push the water up to the roof through all the little spindles up there and then back into the pool, which is part of the problem, right? Is that you're expending the energy of the pump for the pool that circulates the water in order to push it up to the roof, to push it through all the little, you know, tubes, and then get it back into the pool. And hopefully it like slowly heats, because the idea is it's a, it's a black plastic that, you know, slowly heats the water as it passes through a smaller area. Yeah. Um, which in, in principle should work.

Yeah. Um, but, but it, it, it would take so much of that to heat a pool. Like, if we're talking like a hot tub, that's different, like the size of a hot tub. But we're talking about a— I mean, it's a pool, right?

Right. And, and like, you know, you— funny you bring up hot tub because what I think a lot of people have started figuring out, it's like, it's almost faster to heat a hot tub with a fire than it is to pump it through some—

You should ask our friend Haley about that. Not Haley Thayer, but our other friend Haley that lives around here.

No, I know what that story is. We're not allowed to repeat that story online.

But it's, it's a good one.

I know that story.

It's one of the best stories I've ever heard.

Haley, if you want to give us permission, we'll share that story. We just won't give any names.

That's right, to protect the Guilty.

Yeah, not innocent at all.

Okay, continue.

Yeah, so anyway, so that was failed experiment number 1. It wasn't necessarily a complete failure. It did heat the water some, but at best maybe 5 degrees. That—

which, your pool is cold, y'all. This is not a cool pool. It is cold.

Like, cold.

Like, like I want to get out immediately cold. Yeah, yeah, it's cold.

Like Tony Robbins cold.

I had other descriptors I was going to use and they weren't going to be very internet friendly.

Yeah.

Okay.

So solution number 2 was this, uh, camp shower. And I really thought that I could integrate it into the pool system, create a recirculating mechanism in order to pump the water out of the pool, in through the heater, out and back into the system.

Okay.

The problem is, is, and I don't know why because I don't understand pool systems all that great. I'm not a pool guy. I mean, I, I have a general concept as to how they work. I own one. I mean, like, I know the on/off switch. I know where water flows. I'm, I'm actually typically pretty good at plumbing. Like, I know how to plumb something.

Sure.

Um, but, like, I couldn't get water to flow very well through the heater and then back out into the pool.

It was, it was like a pressure problem, right?

Like, yes, it was a massive pressure problem.

I mean, it's like, it's like the difference in some ways of like having, like, for instance, um, and Caroline just said hi.

Hi, Caroline. Looking forward to having you and Eric G on the show. Yeah, coming up pretty soon.

Awesome. Yeah, she's awesome. Thanks for joining us, Caroline.

She's fantastic.

Yeah. So, um, when Harvey hit, I have that courtyard area at my house. Yeah. and the sump pump decided to stop working. And so I was trying to figure out what to do. I was over at your house every night and you didn't tell me you had a portable sump pump that I could use, jerk.

But you usually have to tell me the problem and then I usually have the tool. I can't just like—

That's true. Either way, what I did instead of using this portable sump pump that would have ejected this water in moments. I thought you eventually used that. I did for a day and then Harvey stopped. After, you know, day like 12.

Heard my footsteps. That's what it was. Yeah, exactly.

Um, but instead what I did, looking back on it, it's hilarious, but it worked. Um, I had 3 hoses that I siphoned water out of there with.

Oh yeah.

Like, I literally went— like, I had 300-foot hoses that I had to wrap around the back side of my house because I had to get it lower. I had to get the end of the hose lower than the than the beginning of the hose. And I went out there with my shop vac and I started like sucking water through it to get it started. And I was siphoning water out. It worked.

Yeah.

But it was slow. Yeah. I mean, it took forever, but it worked. What you're talking about is a similar problem, right?

Yeah, because closed systems— hang on, it's fixing to get real on the homeowner show. Did I ever get that back from you?

Yes.

You did?

Yes.

Really?

Yes.

I haven't seen it. Oh gosh.

No, I definitely brought it back because if not, I would know exactly where it is.

I don't know where it's at.

Because I'm the person that knows exactly where things are in my house.

Which, I mean, interesting point. You guys should be looking for some DIY garage improvement soon.

Yes.

Because as Kevin witnessed tonight, the Homeowner Show studio exterior got a massive cleaning. It's different and about to get some major upgrades.

So, which is good for those guests that are coming in.

That's right.

It'll look a little better.

It'll look a lot nicer. But I mean, if you guys have ever seen the picture of our guests in front of the big Homeowner Show sign, yeah, that's the exterior of the studio.

Looks great in the pictures.

Looks great in the picture. The rest of the area surrounding that has been pretty terrible. Horrific, if I might say. So it got a massive cleaning and we're about to start some upgrades.

And by cleaning, you meant junk removal.

Massive junk removal. Massive junk removal.

So where were we? Okay, we were—

my unreturned sub pump.

Good luck. Uh, what we were talking about, the flow issue.

Yeah, so we, we had a flow issue. So like, the— there were, there are some adjustments that you can make on, on this, you know, tankless hot water heater, but like, I could never get it just right. And like, it just wasn't getting enough pressure to the pump in order to engage the hot water heater.

Okay.

And then even once it did, it wasn't putting enough— it wasn't getting enough output to even heat the pool.

But, but let's talk about why, because I think so many people that are listening to this that actually have had a hot, you know, a tankless hot water heater, they're going, this shouldn't be an issue.

Yeah. But there's a—

this is not a typical tankless.

No, it's because it's a shower heater.

Right. And that is a huge distinction for a couple of different reasons. And the first one and the most important one is because it's only $123.

But yes, it's a very, very cheap hot water heater. So like when you think tankless hot water heater, like, why did you spend $800 on that? It's like, no, I spent $120.

Right. Because this is not meant to be like a whole home tankless water heater.

This is a— Primitive camp shower.

That's exactly right. This is almost like a, like a, what do they, what am I trying to say? It's, it's a it's a point of hot water type of heater. Like, wherever you're trying to get hot water to, you put this there.

Yes.

Right?

Yeah. I mean, like, it would be like if you wanted a dedicated hot water heater for your bathroom.

Yeah.

You could do it like that.

I would think a lot of people would use this type of thing, like, down at the beach, for example.

It'd be great for that.

And they've got, like, an outdoor shower before you walk into the house. It'd be perfect for something like that.

I tell you the idea I had for it that I thought, like, if someone hasn't taken this, It would be great for like an outdoor pet bath.

Oh yeah.

It would be really, really good for that.

Yeah.

You just have to learn how to blend in the cold with the hot.

Sure.

Which wouldn't be hard.

No.

But yeah, it would be great for something like that.

So that's part of the reason you're having a flow issue though, because it is not a typical tankless water heater. This— it is not intended to shove water through the entire home type of thing.

And you got to understand, pool systems are just built differently than homes. Right? Because pools are intended to move volume.

Mhmm.

They're not necessarily a high pressure system.

Sure.

I mean, like, and it's, it's not to say that they're not a high pressure system. It's just a different pressure.

Yeah.

Right? Because they're intended to move lots of water in order to keep the pool clean. It's not necessarily about— because when you, when you think about, like, the water that moves through your house, it's moving through very small pipes.

Yeah.

You know, whereas when you're talking about the water that's moving through pools, it's moving through very big pipes, and so it's intended to move lots of amounts of water, not necessarily specific pieces of water pressurized to a particular point. Good descriptor. Yeah, that's why this thing was having problems, because it was reducing it down from a large amount of water, not highly pressurized, to a small tube that was then not as pressurized, that just wasn't moving it through. And so it was, it was really frustrating to watch it just sort of trickle out.

Sure.

as it was coming through. And it's like, why is this happening? Is this like a, you know, you know, be— not being a master plumber, didn't really understand it. Yeah.

No, it makes, it makes a lot of sense. And so there, you were still having a problem, but you figured out the solution to that problem, right? Yes. Yes.

So after doing a little bit of research, it was like, okay, why is like, My, my disappointment was in the amount of water coming out of the hot water heater.

Right.

And so what I, what I finally figured out is I needed an intermediary to grab the water and, and, and move it at a higher pressure.

To help it.

To help it.

Yeah.

So what I ended up doing is I, I, you know, sidestepped the whole pool system completely and did a separate piping into the pool and basically an in and out.

Sure.

So, and then I got a separate pump specifically for the hot water heater. And that pump cost me $100.

Right.

So, you know, with pump and hot water heater and then hoses, which are just basically garden hoses, right, that I introduced into the pool.

Nothing special there.

You know, and like my— I'm able to do this with my pool because it sits up on a deck. And it sounds tackier than it is. It actually looks pretty nice.

Well, and all of that is, all of that is behind the building except for the hoses running in. You can run that through the deck.

Right, right. Underneath it.

You don't see any of this.

You don't see any of it.

Right.

So this pump and all these things that I got, I bought, except for the hoses, I bought off of Amazon.

Yeah. In fact, we're gonna link these up.

Yeah.

In the show notes just so that if you— so if you're listening to this on Tuesday or afterward, all— just go to the show notes and you'll be able to see exactly what you purchased. And so really for less than $125 plus tax, you're gonna be able to— I mean, you could do—

Well, no.

Plus the hoses, right?

Well, no, the hoses and then the pump. The pump's another $100. So you're really—

No, no, but, but the, but the tank was only $125.

Right. So the tank was $125. The pump was $100.

Okay. So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm— I should have said $225.

$225.

Right.

Plus the hoses, which was like, you know, another $30.

Sure.

So, like, you're looking at around $300.

Yeah.

To, to do all this.

Tax included.

Tax included. You know, so, and I talked to a couple pool guys. It was gonna cost me over $3,000 minimum to get a pool heater installed in my pool. So you're looking at a difference between $3,000 and $300. Now you do have to incorporate the cost of the propane.

Yeah, but you're gonna be incorporating the cost of fuel one way or the other.

Yes.

Because electricity is just a different form of fuel.

Electricity, natural gas, whatever it is. Yeah, you're gonna be paying that no matter what. So the propane tank—

The difference is it's more taxing on you as a person having to go replace the propane tank.

Which, I mean, like, you know, do a barbell every once in a while.

Yeah. You'll be fine.

Yeah. introduced the pump. Now the pump, and Kevin's gonna link the pump up, but it's a, it's a 3.3 gallon per minute pump.

Yep.

So it sucks the water out of the pool, pushes it through the hot water heater, and then back into the pool. And I was able to increase the temperature on my pool by 15 degrees within 48 hours.

Which again, you're talking about earlier, over days and days, you increased it by 5. And so you're talking about this—

We're talking about like weeks.

Yeah, exactly. So now we're talking about a period of 2 days, which is not that long really.

Right.

15 degrees?

Yeah.

It's massive.

So basically it was running at about 70 degrees. I was able to kick it up to about 85. And I can kick it up even more.

So the other thing that I asked you is, you were able to do that all at once, but you don't need it to continue to rise and rise and rise. So you really only need it to run how long per day in order to keep it at that constant temperature? I—

so I— it's not even per day.

Okay.

I probably need it to run for like 2, maybe 3 hours every 2 to 3 days.

Okay.

At most.

Okay, so— And that—

and part of that is because I'm able to pump so much water through at such a high temp.

Okay, yeah, because you can change the, the temperature of that hot water tank.

Yes.

But that being said, like, How are you gonna do that? And so, because are you gonna have to go out there every day or every 2 or 3 days and turn it on?

So this is, this is something I'm still playing with. Okay. And I'm, I'm playing around with 2 different ideas. I'm a big fan of rotary timers.

Yeah.

The problem with rotary timers is it would make me run it every day. Um, and that could potentially expend a lot of Yes.

Because rotary timers only work on a 24-hour timeframe.

Right.

Right.

And if you don't know this, I mean, you expel most of your waste on your fuel on ignition.

Sure.

Rather than run.

Right.

Which is why when you have like a diesel truck, they'll tell you if you're gonna be somewhere for, you know, less than 20 minutes, it may not be worth it to turn your truck off.

Right. And it— that's why you'll see a lot of diesel trucks at gas stations, it is, it is safe to fill your diesel gas engine, um, while it's running. While it's running. It's not safe to do that with gasoline, but with diesel it is. And it's why most of them just keep it running.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Because you, you, you lose a lot on ignition.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, um, so in light of that, what I've thought about doing is getting a smart plug.

Okay.

Because I do have, I do have Wi-Fi out there and I could, I could use the If This Then That app. to set it up on a sporadic timer.

So just like a Philips or whatever brand?

There's a bunch of different ones. I'm doing some research right now. And part of the reason I'm doing some research is because I haven't, I haven't completely finished hardwiring or hard piping in this, this unit, right? I've tested it. It's completely functional. But I wanted to keep it out to where I had access to it in case there were any leaks or you know, just troubleshooting makes it easier to troubleshoot when you, when you have access to all the units. Now that I've got it operational, I'm gonna, you know, you know, hardline it in and, and actually put it away.

Yeah.

Um, and, and so I'm, I'm looking at different smart plugs to see what the different options are, see which ones work better with the If This Then That app, you know, because Alexa has their own, Google has their own. There's, you know, different proprietary ones from Lowe's and Home Depot. And some of them you can buy like a 3-pack from Amazon for like $24, or this one's $50. Okay, well, why is that one $50?

Sure.

So I'm doing some research on smart plugs to see if there's any different like intermittent timing, smart, you know, Internet of Things I could put on this to make it run like, you know, every Tuesday for 2 hours and every Thursday for 3 hours, that kind of a thing.

But then you could also remotely at any point where—

Turn it on with my phone.

Your wife calls like, dude, it's cold out here, whatever, you could turn on from your phone anywhere.

Yes.

Yeah, that's, that's a great idea. And you would not have that flexibility with a rotary timer.

No, no matter what. No. So, and I will, I will say I have, I have tested this pump. And, you know, after about 6 to 7 hours of constant running, it's kind of reached the peak of its heat. Okay, what heat tolerance? Yeah, probably, you know, And, and any, any pump's gonna have that. You can't run it 24 hours on a smaller pump like this that's pumping that much pressure.

That's not its point.

No, it's just gonna get hot and burn up. Yeah, any pump's gonna do that. So you need to be able to, you know, have variable time on, on those pumps.

So cool, man. I, I, I, I will tell you, if you're listening right now, like, we went out and looked at it before the show began.

And I had to show it to Kevin.

Yeah, of course. I was I was blown away about how well it worked. I mean, I—

It was hot really quick.

Yeah. I mean, he turned it on and within moments, uh, I walked over there. He's like, go, go, go see how, how it feels. And I was like, dude, that's really hot water pouring in there. And I'm like, not scalding, but it was warm. Like, it was as warm as what I would take a shower in or warmer than that. And, um, so just the whole system really works.

So, you know, maybe you felt the pool.

Yeah, yeah. And the pool was warmer too. I mean, just feeling it on the other end of the pool from where it was actually being, you know, introduced, it was great. So if you're one of those people out there who has an above-ground pool, or, um, I mean, your, your pool's pretty big for an above-ground pool. It is way bigger than above-ground pool.

Well, and here's what I'd say about this. is if you have a bigger pool than me, which there's plenty of pools bigger than mine.

Yeah.

And you're looking for like a budget solution to heat your pool, maybe through like the October, November months.

Yeah.

Right?

Definitely.

And you're like, I don't— my sun hat— my, my pool has sunshine through the summer. I don't really need it then. In fact, maybe I need a chiller, you know?

Yeah.

You know, there's a lot of pools around here that get chillers.

Oh yeah.

And those are big expensive units. Worth it. But, you know, if you're like, you know, and you're like, hey, I just need it for like late October, November.

Yeah, it's still warm enough outside for me to be in the pool, but the pool is too cold for me to want to be in the pool.

Right.

Yeah.

Rather than getting a pool heater, and let's say you have a really big pool, right? Like let's say you 30,000, 40,000 gallons.

Sure.

Something like that. If you bought 2 systems, like what I'm talking about.

Okay.

And maybe put it on like a roller cart, which this wouldn't be difficult to do. I mean, like, you know, because it doesn't require power.

Mhmm.

All you need is propane.

Right.

With the D-cell batteries.

Right.

If you put it on a roller cart where you've got 2 of these things, 2 pumps, right? So it's, it's $200 for the pumps.

Right.

It's $300 essentially.

Sure.

For the, for the hot water heaters. A couple of hoses to stick in the water. I mean, that's—

You know, you're, you're saving—

That's $500.

You're, you're probably, but in that, you're probably spending 10% or, or less than what it would cost to go put in something different than this. It's a more permanent solution.

Right.

That you would be using for 2 months out of the year.

Right.

And so this—

That you roll out next there, you stick it in the water, you run it for 48 hours and it heats the water up.

Yeah.

I mean, like, whoop-de-doo. Roll it back and put it on casters, roll it back in the garage.

Yeah. And again, you're talking about a propane system.

And let's be realistic. Like, so you build a wooden frame, you buy the casters, $600.

Okay. But even then, I mean, you're talking about a propane system that most of you have gas for your grill anyway. Right. And so, and, you know, this is a pretty cheap option for sure. It's working. It's hacking your grill. Finally.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. It's been like 2 or 3 years, man. I've been messing with this thing. It's really been one year where I've been serious about it.

But even still, like, I mean, there— how many people have you had over since you've owned this home? They're like, you know, the kids are like, it's too cold.

So I've owned the house for 6 years. So it's been 6 years.

Every one of them. Every one of them.

They're like, Craig, my child's blue. And I was like, they got here like that. I don't know what to tell you.

Like, my kids come over here from time to time. I mean, they're over here every once in a while. Yeah. And it's regular for them to get out of the pool chattering.

Yeah.

I mean, legitimately, they got blue, blue lips. And I'm like, you need to sit out for a little bit.

Yeah. Warm up. Right. Go back in the pool.

Exactly.

Which is the complete opposite of what she does. Go chill off in the pool.

Right.

Yeah.

Well, you'll be there about 3 minutes and you're cool.

Yeah.

You know?

For sure.

Yeah. So it is what it is, but great solution, man. I love it.

I was excited, man. It's, uh, one, just to have one that finally works.

Yeah. Well, I mean, cuz it's one of those deals that those of you who are out there right now, they're going, Man, finishing a DIY project is awesome.

Yes.

Because I mean, there, there are times whenever you wake up in the middle of the night, that's all you can think about because you're trying to figure it out. And you're talking years that you've been working on this and, you know, trying to find a solution. It should be a simple solution. It's not a simple solution. I mean, my, my situation is just a little bit different than everybody else's that I'm looking at a forum online, right? And so like, finally you've got a solution. And what's bizarro Is as soon as you find the solution, you find a dozen other people that are like— That have already found it. Yeah. No, no, no. That haven't already found it, that are looking for it too.

Looking. Yeah. They're looking for it.

Yeah. Yeah. And you're finally like, go, look, I've got a good solution. That's kind of what we're able to offer you guys tonight.

Yep.

So good stuff. Yep.

I get to swim in my pool finally.

Yeah. Because you know what?

That's a good point.

I don't— I think I've seen you in there once.

Yeah.

And that was just because it was like, your wife is like, go, like, they're wrestling each other. Go fix it.

Go get them.

Yeah, go fix it.

Yeah.

And then you start wrestling.

Yeah, that's about the only time you see an adult in my pool in the last couple of years is like there's a child drowning.

Yes, so true, man.

So true.

Well, because the chips and salsa are out on the bar, so why would I get in the pool?

The beer and the chips are over there. That's not in the pool. Exactly.

And now you got that great 12-foot table or 10-foot table It's a 10-foot, yeah, 10-foot table that's out there. Man, that thing looks great.

Yeah, it's perfect. We had a few meals out there now.

Perfect.

It's turning into a good space. Yeah, I'm not done with it yet. Yeah, we got some more DIY to go.

You know, we got it. We got a 10-foot table in our courtyard and man, we eat out there as often as possible. It's great. It's great. Yeah, it's wonderful.

So I can stay far away enough from my children. They don't splatter me. Uh-huh. Yeah.

Yeah. And if you spill something, Hose it off. That's right. No big deal.

So pretty cool.

No tears.

At least.

Yeah, it is what it is.

Not about that.

That's right.

What else, man? You got anything else? That's it. The pool is warm, man.

Good times happening at the Craig Ranch.

Yes.

So it's good, good stuff. Well, listen, thank you guys for downloading today's episode. It's been wonderful. Thank you if you have already subscribed. If you haven't clicked that button, Leave us a rating and review on iTunes. We'd absolutely love that. And yeah, we're here each and every Tuesday. You can find us on YouTube as well. But until next time, we'll see you later. See ya.