Solar Swimming Pool Heating
Solar Pool Heating is now one of the most cost-effective ways to heat swimming pools. Solar pool heating systems increase water temperature by 100C or more and help you enjoy the swimming season for an additional two to three months.
Solar Swimming Pool Heaters are often used to offset or eliminate the use of conventional gas swimming pool heaters and electric heat pump pool heaters. The cost of installing an electric heat pump is normally comparable to that of a solar heating system; however, the initial investment can be recovered in just about three years or even less.
Additionally, the annual cost of electricity used by a heat pump is roughly two-thirds of the cost of natural gas or one-third of the cost of electricity for a conventional resistance electric heater; but the sun’s energy is absolutely FREE and is not plagued by any inflation problems.
Apart from eliminating the operating costs associated with gas and electric pool heaters, you help save the planet as a solar water heater offsets 1.5 to 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
Benefits
- Dramatically reduces or eliminates pool heating costs
- Heats your pool to a warm, comfortable temperature
- Uses a renewable source of energy
- Helps you enjoy a longer swimming pool season
- Adds value to your pool and to your home
- Requires little maintenance
How Does It Work?
A Solar Pool Heater is quite simple to operate and does not change the way you operate standard pool equipment. Solar Collectors usually mounted on the roof and can be ground-mounted on a rack if suitable roof space is not available. The existing pool pump is used to circulate water from the swimming pool through the solar collectors and back to the pool. An electronic controller constantly monitors the temperature of the solar collectors and pool water. Whenever the collectors are hotter than the temperature of the pool water, the controller switches on the heater’s circulating pump and the pool filtration pump simultaneously.
The circulating pump diverts the cool water through the various small passages of the solar collector where it is warmed by the sun. The heated water then flows back into the pool after passing through the pool filtration pump. When the pool water reaches your desired comfort level, the water bypasses the solar collector and returns directly to the pool.
Sizing the System
As the temperature required for most pools is quite low typically under 30°C. Swimming pools are an ideal application for solar water heating. The problem with the older flat panel designs is that you only gain any benefit for a few months in the summer, however with the SolarBase high efficiency Evacuated Tube Solar Panel, you can enjoy your solar heated swimming pool water all year round, instead of just in July and August!
If you used flat plates, a rule of thumb for calculating what you need is to fit the equivalent of 50% of the pool’s surface area. With SolarBase collectors, this is reduced to 25% – and of course, they will carry on working in the autumn, winter and spring. The panel itself is 2.25m2 so each panel will heat 10m2 of outdoor pool area. A 40m2 pool would only need 4 panels.
Installation is relatively simple. We install a high performance stainless steel heat exchanger which exchanges the solar energy into your pool water.
65%-75% of annual radiation occurs during the average swimming season – it makes sense to utilise it! By heating your pool with solar, you will spend more time enjoying it, and spend less on your energy bill.