 |
Search |
 |
|
|
Search |
|
|
|
Solar pool heating systems will save you lots of money, and reduce reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Pool heating is a very good solar application. The systems are simple and relatively inexpensive. Pool systems usually use simple, low cost, unglazed plastic collectors. The pool itself is the thermal storage for the system, and the pump you already use for filtering pool water will also circulate water through the solar collectors. All of this leads to inexpensive systems -- some of the simplest solar pool heating systems cost as little as $100.
Some states offer tax incentives for solar pool heaters.
Directory for this page: New idea for homemade pool collectors
|
| Pool Cover -- A must | |
| Pool Cover -- a must
One of many, many suppliers of pool
covers: |
 Using
a good pool cover is the most effective thing you can do to save
pool heating costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Pool covers cost between $85 and $150 for most residential pools. In fact, all of the other pool heating methods discussed in this article should only he used in conjunction with a pool cover. Not to do so would be like running your house air conditioner during August with the doors and windows open. The system will still work, but the operating cost will be as much as three times" higher." David Boehmer |
| EERE -- Estimating Swimming Pool
Gas Heating Costs and Saving
|
This EERE page provides estimates of pool heating costs with and without a
pool cover for a number of US locations.
For example: Denver without cover $2120, with cover $168 These are for a 1000sf pool at 80F, and 50 cent per therm natural gas burned in an 80% efficient gas heater. In the above example, the no cover case would result in about 6 tons more of CO2 emissions per year -- if you are not using a cover -- shame on you!! |
| Solar
Rings Do a Google search on "Solar Rings pool" |
 These
are a potential substitute for a full pool cover. The are rings that
are several feet in diameter. You buy enough of them to cover about
80% of the water area.I have been a bit leery of how well these would perform, but have a report form one person that is quite happy with them, so they may be a candidate if you don't want to mess with a full pool cover. Not as good as a full cover, but much better than nothing? (thanks to Amy for suggesting these) |
| Solar Pool Heating Basics | |
| Swimming Pool Heating -- EERE
|
 A
good general introduction to solar pool heating, covers, ...See the articles below for more detail on installing and sizing pool heating systems. |
| Solar Pool Heating Basics, Two part
article Tom Lane |
 
Home Power magazine articles, issues 94 and 95. VERY good hands on how to size and install a pool heating system. "Three gallons of oil refined and burned provides 400,000BTU ... Once. Three gallons of oil, made into a 4 by 12 foot solar collector, can provide over 10 million BTUs per year ... year after year" |
| FESC Solar Pool Heating, Florida Solar Energy Center
|
 The
FSEC is a very good source of pool heating information.They cover collector sizing, economics, system installation, and provides collector and system ratings based on FSEC testing. While aimed at Florida residents, the information is widely applicable. |
| Conserving Energy and Heating Your
Swimming Pool with Solar Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Download here... (pdf)
|
 This
NREL document gives some good strategies for reducing the energy required to
run and heat a pool.The material on sizing the pool pump and how much circulation time is required is very good, and could save you up to 75% in pumping energy. |
| Residential Solar Pool Heating
System Natural Resources Canada Buyer Guide (1.8MB pdf)
|
 A
good guide on solar pool heating systems from Resources Canada.
Describes types of systems, sizing system, and some installation detail.
Shows that solar pool heaters can show VERY good payback even in the "frozen north". |
| FlaSolar.com
|
 A
very simple calculator for estimating solar panel collector area required to
heat a pool from the FlaSolar website. |
Solar Site Survey...
|
 If
you are going to do a solar project, you need to do a Solar Site Survey to
make sure that your site gets enough sun during the right times of year to
make the project work.This free and simple survey only takes an hour and is fun and educational. |
| Installation Manuals and Specifications | |
| See also the first article above
from Home Power Magazine on pool heating basics.
|
|
| Solar Pool Heating System
Installation Florida Solar Energy Center
|
 Good
tutorial from the FSEC on installing a solar pool heater. Quite a bit
of how-to detail.Colder climates may require some changes for freeze protection if not drained. |
| RimStar
Solar Pool Heating http://rimstar.org/renewnrg/solarpool.htm
|
 Nice
rundown on installing a solar pool heating system for a cold climate. |
| Hot Sun Industries Installation Manual (850K pdf) |
 Pretty good write up on what is involved in
installing a solar pool heater with some hands-on information. Quite a
bit of information on installation and sizing. One of many
manufacturers. |
| SolarEnergy.com
Collector Size Calculator (Good)
|
 A commercial supplier of solar pool
heating equipment. Includes a simple calculator to determine how much
collector area need based on pool size, location etc, and a detailed
installation manual -- all useful whether you use their panels or someone
else's. |
| Above Ground Pool Heating www.smartpool.com/website/sunheater/s220.htm
Another supplier: (Note: I don't know anything about either of these suppliers -- its just a place to start looking) |
 One
example of a simple above ground pool heating package. Comes in a 21
lb UPS-able package!About $110 for one panel and $170 for two (the
picture shows two panels).
|
|
Update -- payback period Costco currently has a 40 sqft pool collector of this type for $99.99 -- what do you think the payback period for this collectorl is ... |
|
| Go Solar http://www.solarexpert.com/poolheat.html
|
 Supplier
of pool heating systems. Web site has some useful technical
information and a fuel saving calculator. |
|
Homemade Pool Heaters |
|
|
Simple Pool Heating Idea
Gary |
 This
is an idea for a simple, cheap and efficient homemade pool heating
collector.
|
| Very Simple Pool Heater from
SugarMtnFarm
|
 A
nice simple pool heating scheme for small pools from SugarMtnFarm.
Also, some ideas on saving pump energy, and keeping your pool clean without
Chlorine.
I was a bit surprised that such a small collector (only about 10 sqft) was able to do worthwhile heating, but the secret is keeping the pool volume fairly small. Walter's pool has about 14,000 lbs of water to heat, where a 20 ft diameter by 4 ft deep pool has almost 80,000 lbs of water to heat -- a good reason to use a small pool! (Thanks very much to Walter for sending this in!) |
|
My Homemade Solar Pool Heater Andy http://www.thecasualtraveler.com/solar.htm
|
 A
nicely done DIY solar pool heater made from 100 ft coils of half inch
plastic pipe.Performance data coming later in the Spring. Details ... Andy has some other renewable energy projects in mind, so keep an eye on his website. |
|
Video on a Pipe Coil Pool Heater
|
 Video
on a simple, homemade pool heater that uses a large pipe coil on the roof of
an adjoining building. |
|
Gull Industries Pipe Coil Pool Heater
|
 A
commercial version of a pipe coil pool heater. |
|
In spite of the fact that most of the entries in this section are for pipe
coil style heaters, I have slightly mixed feeling about how well these will
work out for most people. All things being equal, a square foot of
commercial mat style pool collector is going to be about equivalent to a
square foot of a pipe coil. The message here is that its going to take
a lot of pipe to to heat a pool. A 300 ft coil of 1 inch pipe has a
solar collector area of 25 sqft, so its going to take a lot of pipe to get
up to half your pools surface are. It will be good to get some performance data from Andy or others on their pipe coil heaters. If you are putting in a pool heating system, I would weigh the time savings of installing the mat style commercial collectors yourself as opposed to making up an equivalent area of pipe coil collectors. |
|
| Something Else to Try? | |
| Taking the Plunge Naturally, Permaculture Magazine Building a Natural Pool (pdf) Mother Earth News Article: Description of an article from
Permaculture Magazine: |
 These
beautiful swimming pools clean themselves naturally (no chemicals).
Less impact, less energy, nicer looking, less expensive to build and
maintain. |
| Embedded Pool Deck Collector www.pacificgunite.com/solar%20pool%20heating.htm
|
 This
seems like a potentially good idea for integrating a collector with the pool
deck, or other nearby dark surface.Tubes embedded in the dark colored deck concrete pick up heat from the solar warmed deck to heat the pool. |
| The Rutgers Solar Heating System
for Greenhouses Mears, Roberts, Simpkins, and Kendall Rutgers University The Rutgers Solar Heating System for Greenhouse - 1977 (0.8 MB pdf) Greenhouse Solar Heating-1981 (2.5MB pdf)
|
 The
solar collector shown here was developed in the 70's as a very inexpensive
greenhouse heater. It works well for situations in which only low
temperatures are required (like greenhouses and pools).While I do not know of anyone who has tried this as a pool heater, it seems to me it might work well, and it would be very inexpensive -- perhaps $2 per square foot? The papers give information on a several greenhouse energy schemes, so you have to wade through all this to find the details on building the collector. The collectors described in the paper are quite large, but could be scaled down. Note that even though this is a very simple collector, there are details that you must get right for it to hold together -- so read all the construction notes. If you build one of these PLEASE let me know -- Gary A number of other interesting commercial greenhouse related papers at the Rutgers Horticultural Engineering Website: http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~horteng/ |
| Hot Tubs | |
| My Solar Heated Hot Tub Bob Owens |
 Home
Power Magazine article in issue 104. Good hands on description of
building a drain-down style solar water heater to heat a hot tub. |
| Woodstoves for Tub Heating (or for
heating thermal storage tank?)
Chofu: supplier (one of many):
Snorkel and Scuba Underwater Woodstoves:
Cowboy Hot Tubs:
|
 Chofu:
This
is a simple, wood fired heater for soaking tubs. It uses a simple thermosyphon system to circulate heated water (no pumps, no electricity). The full stainless steel case is a water jacket for efficient heat transfer.  Snorkel
& Scuba: These wood stoves for heating tubs actually live in the tub
water, so heat transfer is directly from the stove walls to the water.
|
| How to build a wood fired hot tub, from Instructables
http://www.instructables.com/ ...
|
 Pretty
funky wood fired hot tub heater. The tub is made from a big plastic
tote tub, and the heater from an old propane bottle. |
| Brian's $350 Solar Heated Hot Tub
|
 This
is a nice simple design for a solar heated hot tub that uses a Rubbermaid
plastic stock tank, and a solar collector made from CPVC pipe. |
| Build Your Own Solar Hot Tub, Robert Herman www.hotspringsenthusiast.com/SolarTub.asp
|
 A
fairly detailed article on building your own solar heated hot tube.The author used a stock tank and a used solar collector to keep the total cost down to $100. The collector is hooked up as a simple thermosyphon, so that no controls or pumps are needed. |
