Solar Panel Heater Questions

[Poolsean]

hmmmmm....

1) I'd prefer not installing it on my roof just yet. Can I install these vertically (straight up and down) against my fence, or does it need to be tilted diagonally?
ANSWER: Southern or South Eastern exposure is optimum for sunlight exposure. It does not need to be perfectly diagonal, but the better the exposure is to the sunlight, the more heat (efficient) it will be.

2) Can this be left out in the winter time?
ANSWER: Depends on how cold it gets there. Anytime you have water in freezing conditions, you're prone to damage from the water expanding/freezing. We don't worry much about that in South Florida. = )

3) I would be installing it myself, however I am hearing that there is a lot of considerations relating to water pressure and something related to the pump head. Is it easy to figure all this out?
ANSWER: Pumps are rated either Medium Head or High Head. This corresponds to the amount of resistance to flow (feet of head or total dynamic head) the pump will experience. You should have a high head, especially when you place the solar panels on the roof.
Is it easy to figure out? Well, it all depends on pipe diameter, length of run, amount of fittings, rise of your roof, equipment used, etc... on the suction side and pressure side of your pump. These all have an equivalent pipe length that when added up will give you your feet of head.
THEN, you take that feet of head and compare with the flow charts of the pump you have to see if you will have enough flow to handle it.
Easy right? uuughh.

4) I have an 18X36 foot pool (I believe). All I can really fit as far as the panels go would be 4X20 or 6X20 worth of panels. I know this is not ideal, but will it make enough of a difference to justify doing this?
ANSWER: I believe the minimum recommendation is to have 75% of your surface area in solar panels. Yes, even a small panel will make a little difference, but it's your decision as to if it's worth it. Just remember too, if you run your pump 24/7, night time operation through the panels will COOL the water.

5) Until I do install this on my roof (a few years from now) I would have the PVC piping above ground. No issues with that, right?
ANSWER: Shouldn't be a problem unless you're gonna run em over with your mower.
All kidding aside, if you spray paint the pipes black, that will help "absorb" more heat. Careful with LONGER runs of pipe, as it may dissapate some of the heat you've collected from the panels. The shorter the run, the better.

6) My estimate for pulling this off is in the neighborhood of $1,000 (give or take a few hundred). Would you agree?
ANSWER: Depends on which panels you use, where it's going to be located, and whether you've got the efficiency you need to gather heat with it's cooler out. Another consideration is your environmental conditions. Are you where you may have wind storms/hurricanes/tornados? You're going to need to ensure the panels are securely attached, or easily removed for storage, otherwise your panels are just hugh wind sails!

7) Is this truly as easy as it sounds to install this?
ANSWER: Installing these are simple enough. Run your pipe to the inlet header of your solar panels, after all your equipment (but before any chemical feeders), then run the pump from the outlet header of the solar panels back to the return line.


Hope this helps.

[NullQwerty]

Thx for the response!

"Depends on how cold it gets there. Anytime you have water in freezing conditions, you're prone to damage from the water expanding/freezing."

RESPONSE: I live in MA, so there are freezing winters, but my thinking based on your answer is that so long as I blow out the pipes, I should be fine. I just wasn't sure if I had to bring the panels inside for the winter, but I guess not.

"It does not need to be perfectly diagonal, but the better the exposure is to the sunlight, the more heat (efficient) it will be."

RESPONSE: So, it sounds like that as long as the sun is hitting it, it's fine for it to stand perfectly vertical?

"Pumps are rated either Medium Head or High Head."

RESPONSE: Mine is a 1 HP Hayward Super Pump which at least one site says is a High Head.

"This corresponds to the amount of resistance to flow (feet of head or total dynamic head) the pump will experience. You should have a high head, especially when you place the solar panels on the roof.
Is it easy to figure out? Well, it all depends on pipe diameter, length of run, amount of fittings, rise of your roof, equipment used, etc... on the suction side and pressure side of your pump. These all have an equivalent pipe length that when added up will give you your feet of head.
THEN, you take that feet of head and compare with the flow charts of the pump you have to see if you will have enough flow to handle it."

RESPONSE: See this is where you lost me. And this is the part I'm nervous about. I know nothing about flow and valves and pressure... Right now the panels would be about 25-40 feet away, but once it goes on the roof it would be around 50 feet away (plus the height of a 2 story house). I guess I'd use 1.5" pipe? Do I need to worry about all this stuff?

"I believe the minimum recommendation is to have 75% of your surface area in solar panels. Yes, even a small panel will make a little difference, but it's your decision as to if it's worth it."

RESPONSE: If I could raise the temp 5-10 degrees with that number of panels, it's definitely worth it. I just wasn't sure if I'd only get 1 or 2 degrees.

"Installing these are simple enough. Run your pipe to the inlet header of your solar panels, after all your equipment (but before any chemical feeders), then run the pump from the outlet header of the solar panels back to the return line"

RESPONSE: This part I'm good on!

[cleancloths]

Your estimate is way high. I recently bought a pair of 2'x20' panels on E-bay, the delivered price was $169. That included almost all the fittings and a diverter valve. I bought another $30 or so of 1.5" pvc pipe and fittings so my total cost was about $200 for 4x20.

To heat your pool - probably not - but every BTU you add is a plus. My pool is 20 by 40 IG - and I just look at this as extra heat that the heatpump won't have to produce.

I have not run the heatpump at all since bringing the pool up from 44 degrees to about 74 degrees last month. Today the pool is 83.

[NullQwerty]

Do you know the name of the seller? The cheapest I'm finding on ebay is around $600 with shipping. Maybe I could email your seller and find out if he still has more, or maybe he has an ebay store I can order it from.

Thanks!

[cleancloths]

Neelypools on e-bay. Its listed as being for above ground pools, but what they actually sell is for inground.