Printable View
On a lark, I bid $375 on a Smartpool solar system and won it. I was really planning on using a gas heater, but for this cheap I'll try this. The system I won says that it is for 22,500 gal. It has 3-4X20 panels. Will I actually need more panels than it says? I have a 14X30 12,500 gallon pool.
According to their website, you have more than enough assuming I have the correct product you got.
http://www.smartpool.com/website/sun...rder_guide.htm
WOW - good deal, normally 2 sets cost about 350, so essentially you got a replacement set free!
On your size pool, I would only utilize 2 sets and store the third for when something happens to the ones in service.
The answer is it depends. What is your expectations of your solar system system? How much warmer do you want the pool?
When I was doing my solar system, I found it is suggested you need enough panels to cover about 75% of the surface area of the pool. (This is for a southern exposure with 25% shade.) So for a 14X30 pool (420 sq ft X 75% = 315 sq ft). You should have 315 sq ft. of solar panels.
For solar heating, you need to increase the water temp in the panels only a few degrees to make a difference in the pool. Depending on how long you run the system in the heating period affects how much warmth (BTU's) you get into the pool. In your case, if you want to increase the temp of the pool in the warmest part of the swim season, what you have should work fine. If your expecting to extend the swim season by several weeks on each end, you don't have enough.
Plumb the solar panels AFTER the filter. If you live in a warm area you will also want to plumb in a valve so you can direct the water to bypass the solar panels and go directly into the pool. This is because if you run the filter/solar pump 8-10 hours a days, at some point in the heat of the season you may end up with a spa! (If this happens you can run the solar system at night to cool the pool!)
I have an IG 575 sq ft. with 650 sq ft of panels (eastern exposure in Northern CA). I expect to extend my swim season by several weeks on each end of the season. I would have gone bigger but I ran out of roof!