Swimming pools blog

3 responses so far ↓

• 1 Cornelius Mckenzie // May 26, 2003 at 12:42 pm

  $400/month of fossil fuel, for a pool???
  The environmentalist/global-warming-worrier in me is, ah, wincing.
  I hope the solar option works out for you. Solar for pools is one of the
  simplest and easiest (and efficient) ways to use solar. If your yard (or your
  roof) is big enough, and your sun shines enough, there’s no reason why you
  can’t lay out enough solar panels to get your water temperature up even in
  March. $400/month will buy a *lot* of those simple solar panels that get used
  with pools.
  By the way — If anyone knows of a formula to predict the actual number of
  solar panels that would be necessary, I’d be *very* interested. The
  installers all seem to use various rules of thumb — the commonest being
  “half the area of the pool” (assuming there’s a good pool cover.) But I’d
  like to be able to plan my layout knowing what my final total’s going to be.
  Garry

• 2 Neva Marjory // Jun 6, 2003 at 2:44 pm

  From what I’ve seen, customers that have used it tend to rationalize
  it, and tell me its working great. In practice, I’ve seen more
  trouble with solar heating. The units are bulky, generally
  ineffective, and tend to add more stress to the pump than need be.
  I’ve had people use the back side of their house as a solar panel,
  and only see moderate increases in temperature.
  We used propane temporarily until we had a gas line installed. It
  costs a bundle, I agree! But I really doubt it would help much if
  you used a combination solar/propane heating system.
  — In homeswimmingpoolowners@y…, “tlf_not_30″

• 3 Neva Marjory // Jun 13, 2003 at 2:31 am

  I replyed to the original message, however I unintentionally sent it
  just to the original poster, and as I did not save a copy, all of my
  “advice “is lost.
  tlf_not_30 if you have the message could you post it here.
  I like to say that there is a simple formula for determining the
  amount of Solar panel area that you need/want but there isn’t. It’s a
  fairly complex problem to represent with a simple formula. And some of
  the problem is related to the expectations of the owner.
  You need to consider things like the average temperature, the legnth
  of time that the panel array will get full sun, how much wind you
  typically have, the size of the pool (gallons of water), the
  temperature you want the pool to be at, and how quickly you want the
  pool to heat up.
  Another facet of the problem is the overall size/location of the
  array. I’m personally not a fan of putting the array on the roof, but
  
  for a lot of people that is probably the only reasonable location on
  their property.
  Our pool is 20 x 40ft. and slightly over 30,000 gallons, my array
  size is about 16 x 36ft. That’s a little over 70% but given that we
  live in the Seattle area we do not have many days in the summer where
  the temperature is over 75 and where we have mostly sunshine. A large
  area was needed to help keep the water temperature in the 80 to 85
  range.
  The design of most of the solar panels will give you about a 5 degree
  increase in water temperature (input to output), when they are used at
  their maximum operating point (how many gallons per minute you push
  through the panel). It can take 6 to 8 hours to cycle the entire
  volume of the pool through the array, so you can see that you are not
  going to be able to get a 70 degree pool to 80 degrees in a single
  day. You need to figure out based on your pool size and pump size just
  how long it takes to completely cycle your pool inorder to figure out
  how long it will take to increase the temperature using only the
  panels.
  If you lived in an area where the average temperature was 90+ and the
  days were mostly sunny with an array of this size you would turn you
  pool into a SPA in just a day or two. So in an area like this a very
  small array would probably work for most people.
  We use the heater to get the temperature where we want it and use the
  panels to maintain it. For us that works fine, so we’re happy with the
  performance. Solar does not eliminate the need to use gas but it
  significantly reduces consumption.
  I mentioned this in my initial response but it’s worth stating again.
  There are some things that the manufacturers and installers don’t
  really tell you. Probably the biggest is that if you live in an area
  where you get a lot of wind. The wind in effect cools down the array
  to what ever the outside temperature is. In order to get the best
  performance you need to create a dead air space above the panels by
  covering them with something like clear plastic or plexiglass. In most
  cases this actually increases the effectiveness of the array.
  We’ve had panels for about 12 years and they are worth having, they
  are not without some problems but as with most pool things care and
  maintenance is needed.
  I’m new to this group and I’ll be happy to answer any questions (if I
  can). I’ll try and check the board every day or two.
  hope this helps.
  — In homeswimmingpoolowners@y…, Garry Wiegand <squeezix@i…

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