Thanks for the advice Matt. Good advice (as usual). I will look for the ABS screw-in clips.
I'll also hang the 2 2'x20' panels at 70 degree angle instead of 90 degrees (vertical).

The 4 4x10 panels will be mounted on a rack I'm building above our existing 16'x8' deck pergola. The rack will be angled 30 to 45 degrees toward unobstructed Southern exposure . I'm planning on putting metal corrugated panels below where I'll mount the panels. That way the deck can be used when it rains (which is often in the Seattle area ).

I'm building the two separate arrays for a couple reasons:
1. We live just North of Seattle in a convergence zone. That means it rains and/or is cloudy where I live more often than it does in Seattle. My DW loves heat and we don't have a spa. The warmer we can get the pool the better. The other challenge is that I don't want to spend the money and consume the energy necessary for a heat pump or gas heater. Going from 65-70 degrees to low 90 degree (ideal) will take as much solar as possible.

2. The pergola roof mount will take me longer to build. It may be Mid-September or later until it is ready. I have to order the panels, construct the mini-trusses, buy corrugated panels and 16' of gutter, etc. Oh yeah, I already bought the SunHeater 2 2'x20' "cheap panels" before I did the research and math to figure out better panels are 4'x8' or 4'x10', and I have just enough room for 4'x10' panels.

3. I actually get a kick out of designing construction projects. This is my first plumbing project. I take pride in doing more than the default cheap-20'-panels-plumbed-in-series installation. I think I watched too much "Home Improvement" on TV. Bring on the Binford 5,000.

Actually in contrast with my serial sadistic overkill pool projects I need to buy a smaller pump because the 2hp Waterco pump packaged with the pool is too noisy (and overpowered for my 12'x24' pool)... back to ). It's really too bad that I couldn't read and understand every post in this forum before I bought my pool (which tried that for 1 year). I'm still a beginner on the chemicals... but we're clean and algee free which is my bar.

Speaking of dreams, I'll have a nice supply of water 10' above the deck right next to the pool edge. I'm going to plumb a valve up there to feed a future fountain or other water feature. I have no idea what it will look like or when I'll do it... but it will be cool!


<Note to self: Once solar heater(s) are working algee and other stuff will be able to grow faster. Keep reading the chemical posts and get water PH and other factors balanced beyond just Chlorine and CYA stabilizer using test strips .>