Ok, I have a couple of questions:
1) When the water is running SO fast it seems like it's barely heating up at all are the panels themselves cool to the touch?
2) when you turn off the panels or the pump do the panels now get hot to the touch?
If the answer to both questions is "YES" then everything is working FINE--all the heat is being "sucked out" of the panels and getting into your pool. You are getting all the BTUs into your pool VERY effectively. If your pool is not heating then you are fighting heat loss somewhere else. Are you using a solar cover?
If the answer to either question is "no" then something is wrong. If 1) is no, then there is a plumbing problem.
if 2) is no, then either your panels are not in the sun (!) or something else is bleeding off their heat (but I've never heard of that or how it could happen).
Don't be fooled by the idea that the water in the panels needs to "heat up" first. As long as it's warmer than the pool (even just a little) it's doing its job. People don't realize that the MORE water you move and the less it heats up, the more heat you are "robbing" from the panels.
Think about a car's radiator and engine--the faster the water circulates the more heat it pulls out of the engine that the radiator can dissipate. You are doing exactly the opposite with your solar panels--pulling heat from them for the water, so the circulation is good.
In fact, if your water gets too hot, people with solar panels run them at night instead and they act exactly like the car radiator to cool the pool.
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