Solar Heaters

[mrs.rainbow]

I am looking for suggestions for solar heating systems. I have a 20000 gallon above ground pool in Wisconsin. Given , it's a big pool, but the older I get, the less I like the cold shocks at the beginning of my swim.I don't have a garage to install a panel on, so am looking for something ground based, close to the pool. Any ideas? Thanks!

[Watermom]

Solar panels do not have to be put on roofs. Mine aren't. My backyard is relatively flat (for WV standards!) but it is a slight gradual slope to the back of the yard. There is a street behind my house and I have an extra parking pad that comes off of that back street. The parking pad is built up higher than my yard to be at the level of the street. So, I have a sloped bank from the parking pad to the level of my backyard and there is a chainlink fence at the bottom of the bank.

I have several pieces of PVC pipe with one of the ends laying on the top of the fence and the other end stuck into the bank. There are probably about 8 of the pieces of pipe all in a row and these create the base for my solar mats to lay on. We then used tie wraps to attach the solar mats to the PVC. Does any of this make sense?

One of my fellow moderators, Poconos, has an inground pool with concrete deck. He has one solar mat laying on the concrete in a far corner of the deck out of the way and another one that he made by using black hoses attached to a piece of wood (or something?) that he painted black. This homemade one is out in a field behind his house.

My point is ----- you can be creative and put solar panels where you have space. They do put a lot of heat into the water and especially if you will also use a solar blanket on the pool surface, you will have quite a temperature increase.

[waldreps]

I live in Minnesota and have been plagued with never being able to swim because of cold water temps. I don't have any sort of pool heater and am looking to rig up some type of solar heater. It appears that private messaging doesn't work on here anymore. I would love to see pictures of Poconos system and how he built it. I've read some of his descriptions but pictures would be awesome. If he's reading this, can you send me some pictures of your setup and the construction? I'm not sure I should post an email address here but will if it's ok. Thanks.

[Watermom]

I've contacted Poconos and let him know that you are interested in seeing a picture. He'll get back to you.

[waldreps]

Thanks, Watermom.

[waldreps]

I'm not trying to sound impatient here but I noticed that my email that was on file on this site's profile was really old. I've updated it now in case Poconos is going to email the pics to my email on file. Thanks.

[Watermom]

I just commented on your other thread. Today, I asked Poconos if he had done this yet and he said that he was sorry that he had forgotten about it, but would do it tomorrow.

[waldreps]

No problem at all....thanks.

[Watermom]

You're welcome.