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Chopper 07-19-2003 05:59:09 65.121.220.50 117249 Report to Moderator	This may be a little out of the realm of the forum, however. I would like to build a solar heater for a 13,000 gal swimming pool and was wonderig if anyone out there had any ideas, suggestioins, plans or would know where I could find some. Thanx to all Chopper in NE Pa [Reply]   [Send Email]
Hal/WA 07-19-2003 21:37:32 216.64.132.185 117265 Report to Moderator	Re: Solar Pool Heater in reply to Chopper, 07-19-2003 05:59:09   Do you have a floating solar blanket on your pool? We found that using one on our above ground pool would get the water to 100 degrees this time of year and made the pool usable out into September. The solar blanket also held the heat in so the water was still quite warm at sunup. A solar blanket is not too expensive and the only real hassle is that you need to remove it and store it somewhere to use the pool. We usually just folded ours up and hung it over the edge of one side of the pool. The solar blanket is completely passive. I also tried an active system that worked OK collecting heat. I put down black plastic sheeting over an area of ground near my pool. Then I plumbed two 300 foot lengths of 1 inch black plastic pipe into the line that returns the water to the pool from the filter and carefully spread the coils of plastic pipe on the sheet plastic. It worked and put some very hot water into my pool, but it also put a lot of back pressure or friction loss on the return line. I quit using it because it seemed to lessen the return flow into the pool more than I thought was a good idea. Maybe if I had used a stronger pump it would have worked better. My experiment didn't cost much though, and I later used the plastic pipe for my sprinkler system. If your pool is an above ground type, another idea I had was to insulate the outside of the side tin. At night that area feels very warm and probably is a major source of heat loss. I would think that using plastic foam could make the heat retention much more efficient. Good luck.   [Reply]   [No Email]
buickanddeere 07-19-2003 19:49:31 67.203.37.245 117263 Report to Moderator	Re: Solar Pool Heater in reply to Chopper, 07-19-2003 05:59:09   If your house has A/C just install an stainless freon to pool water heat exchanger.   [Reply]   [Send Email]
Chopper 07-20-2003 05:09:38 65.121.220.50 117269 Report to Moderator	Re: Re: Solar Pool Heater in reply to buickanddeere, 07-19-2003 19:49:31   Buickanddeere Coincidentally, we are having a new heat pump installed shortly. Could you please expand on your idea? Thanks   [Reply]   [Send Email]
TimV 07-20-2003 07:22:39 64.19.90.184 117272 Report to Moderator	Re: Re: Re: Solar Pool Heater in reply to Chopper, 07-20-2003 05:09:38   I'm not BuickandDeere, but I believe what he's saying is that your air conditioner generates waste heat from the compression/expansion cycle of the compressor--that's what cools the air. If you can plumb up a heat exchanger to take advantage of this and route it to the pool, you can use this to heat the pool water. I know that many larger buildings use a similar system to pre-heat their hot water supply--it's a substantial energy savings.   [Reply]   [No Email]
T_Bone 07-19-2003 10:31:52 171.75.15.81 117251 Report to Moderator	Re: Solar Pool Heater in reply to Chopper, 07-19-2003 05:59:09   Hi Chopper, Heres my thoughts on solar HW systems that works very well. Has a drawing and small explanation of orperation. T_Bone T_Bone's Solar HW   [Reply]   [No Email]
walt 07-19-2003 18:57:16 65.144.94.245 117260 Report to Moderator	Re: Re: Solar Pool Heater in reply to T_Bone, 07-19-2003 10:31:52   I can't get this link to work..   [Reply]   [No Email]