Solar Pool Heater

Thanx to all

Chopper in NE Pa

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.

Coincidentally, we are having a new heat pump installed shortly. Could you please expand on your idea?

Thanks

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