Sorry if this topic has been covered, but I didn't find anything in the archives in doing a search.

I'm looking for relatively inexpensive means to heat my 27' AG pool using radiant heat from the sun ... I'm toying with the ideal of either some type of hose or tubing coiled in the sun with a diverter value routing a flow of water through it and back into the pool OR a 50 gallon black barrel ... again diverting part of the water flow in the to the bottom of the barrel and then somehow pullin the hotter water off of the top.

I've seen an ebayer selling a TAV (temperature-actuate valve AKA thermally-actuated valve) that you simply attach to the end of a garden hose. You need to tapp of the pool pump/filter system to put water in the hose and once it reaches 90 degrees F, the valves opens and dumps the water back into the pool. (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=180007613977)

In either scenario, I would have adjust my pump timer so that it running during the hottest part of the day .. probably from 11am to 5pm ... to take optimum advantage of the sun's heat.

FYI - I live very far upstate in NY ... better described as Southern Canada ... the water stays around 74-76 degrees and I'd like to get it to around 80-82. I'd appreciate hearing any trial-and-errors stories from people that have attempted the same.

Thanks,
Jeff Y.