Solar Panel Question for Above Groud Pool.............

[Player101]

Thanks for the information and quick response matt4x4. I am actually in northern Ontario, but I believe we have been getting similar temperature and weather as southern Ontario; although it may not be as humid in northern Ontario.

In your last paragraph you mentioned my panel may not be working well, I am suspecting that also, as I expected a larger temperature increase. Basically, the pool is getting up to day time temperature. If it's 80 degrees in the air, the pool basically gets to 80 degrees. I thought I would be able to get more temperature from the panel. At least 3 to 5 degrees above air temperature on a full sunny day. My panel does feel cool to the touch when water is going through it.

I got my pool up in the beginning of July in time for the heat wave to hit (we got like 90 to 100 degree days for a week), so the pool warmed up quickly. It contains about 34 500 litres

I should maybe try opening the built in valve to fully on for maximum flow through the panel as you suggested. The panel is mounted on my garage roof, so it gets ful exposure to the sun from sunrise to sunset. There are no trees or tall buildings to shade the pool or solar panel. I haven't been running my panel at night or on cloudy days. The only thing I haven't been doing is covering the pool with the solar blanket. Maybe this is why I haven't been seeing a gain in temperature? Would I gain 5 degrees if I used the solar blanket?

Thanks again for your time and information…..John

PS: Not sure if this helps in determining if my panel is working, but the other day when I turned on the panel after a few hours of sun in the afternoon, I ran over to the pool and put my hand over the water outlet; the water was very warm for the first few minutes as it transfered the water that was sitting in the panel during that few hours to the pool.

[mkelley]

And it *is* south facing, right?

It makes a tremendous difference if the panels are facing the south sun -- mounting the panels northfacing (even if the sun hits them all day long) will not be nearly as effective (optimum tilt is around 30 degrees if I remember right, but you can easily look this up).

[matt4x4]

Panel is working fine, but yes, open the valve fully.
Now that I know you're up north, I can tell you there WILL be big differences, the humidity down here actually helps keep heat in the pool (less evaporative cooling). My pool gets this warm because we have 100% humidity.
With the breeze you probably get up there and less humidity, you're cooling your pool while heating your pool, thus less gain, a solar blanket will help you quite a bit with retaining the heat.
Wind blowing over your panels will also cool them some making them less effective.
You're doing pretty good though, getting your pool up to 80 on a day that only has a high of 80 or so, my pool never gets warmer than air temperature, unless the sun starts setting

[Player101]

Hi mkelley....The panel is facing south....actually it is facing due south and gets sun about 90% of the day on the garage roof. The garage roof is a truss roof so the panel is on an incline installed on the roof shingles (whatever angle the truss roof is at).

Matt4x4....thanks for confirming my panel is working fine....I will try the panel with the valve open fully to see if that makes a difference (with the valve open it only increases my gauge by 2 PSI). We do get a lot of days with some wind as I am near Lake Superior. The last few days we have had day time air temperatures in the 80s, but the evenings have been going down to 58 to 62 degrees. I will definitely start using the solar blanket to decrease heat loss at night.

cheers..John

[mkelley]

The rule of thumb is that if nighttime temps drop below 60 you need a cover or you just can't make up the heat loss with solar no matter how oversized you get it. So, yes, if your evening temps have been as you describe I'm guessing that a solar blanket will help you tremendously.

[tribe_fan]

I have that exact same panel - and you should be able to feel the warm water coming in the return when the sun it out. The panel itself should be cool when pumping water through it. If it is hot it means the valve is closed or defective. The valve itself is kind of a PITA - mine is on the ground and it gets bumped of moves on its own. I'm in northern Ohio. My pool water got up to 92 this week. (18 x4 ).