Solar Panels for Swimming Pools

JohnnyM_2

Hi
Does anybody heat an outdoor swimming pool using solar panels?

I already use E7 to filter and heat my pool but looking for some cheaper ways as unfortunately the 7 hours at night are not enough to keep the water warm enough. Heating it during the day hours works out around £10 a day!!

Thanks.

Cardew

There are some really good(unbiased) USA Government sites on swimming pool heating.

Whilst the costs they use are not relevant to UK, they do give the advantages and disadvantages.

Solar panels are more effective at raising large amounts of water a few degrees, than small amounts lots of degrees! However you might be surprised at just how small is their output.

Do you use an Air source Heat pump?

JohnnyM_2

No I dont use an Air source Heat pump.

My simple theory on solar panels is that they are a waste of time on a house as you generally want lots of hot water in the colder months for heating when the sun dont shine. But I want hot water in the summer on my outdoor pool when the sun is supposed to shine.

I have made one tentative enquiry with a solar panel firm and the figure of £10k was mooted. I reckon thats a bit steep. I should (well i am hoping to) be able to almost negate the need for the existing electricity powered heater that costs so much to run...except perhaps for the start of the season when the water needs dragging up from a low temp.

I am hoping to find someone who has solar panelled their pool for an impartial opinion.

I have seen that you have responded to a solar panel thread elsewhere, are you an expert on this? Or just someone who takes an interest?
Thanks

icocopops

i have looked into this same problem and came up with this model ( i am an engineer but cant afford to fit it yet but will). Solar panels are about £500 each and depending on the size of your pool you will probably require a minimum of 6. these need to be in a circuit that feeds a heat exchanger in your pool pump outlet. the heat exchanger should be stainless steel and can be found on ebay for about £300. you need a seperate circuit ( expansion vessel and controler so all in all with the panels a DIY kit will cost you about £3500. take a look at the Navitron website and this will give you all the information you need. a local plumber qouted me £600 to fit. good luck.

paceinternet

As an observer on this one, but very interested in Heat pump (air source in this case) applications, could you comment on how you see the pros and cons v solar.
It seems to me that yes you would have some electricity costs, but if you can use some E7 and some day units, it could give you much more flexibility of when you could use it than solar. Capital cost could well be lower as well.
Efficiency, COP, would be very good with the higher air temperatures.

JohnnyM_2

icocopops wrote: »

i have looked into this same problem and came up with this model ( i am an engineer but cant afford to fit it yet but will). Solar panels are about £500 each and depending on the size of your pool you will probably require a minimum of 6. these need to be in a circuit that feeds a heat exchanger in your pool pump outlet. the heat exchanger should be stainless steel and can be found on ebay for about £300. you need a seperate circuit ( expansion vessel and controler so all in all with the panels a DIY kit will cost you about £3500. take a look at the Navitron website and this will give you all the information you need. a local plumber qouted me £600 to fit. good luck.

Cheers for the reply. My pool covers approx 42 sq metres. I understand that I will need solar panels equivalent to approx 60-80% of this, so probably around 30sq metres of solar panels.
I also understand that there are different sorts of panels too. The black rubber ones that just use the suns heat (so dont work when cloudy) and the glass covered ones, that use the suns uv rays. Whilst the black rubber type ones are cheaper, I am not sure which are most cost effective/recommended.

reginald_2

I bought 8 panels second hand about seven years ago out of E&M. These are about 7ft by 3ft. They are glass boxes with matt black aluminum collecters with five stainlees steel pipes running straight though each one(aprrox 35mm dia). I covered my pool with a polythene tunnel greenhouse ( we have a lot of trees and leaves it was the cheapest option) and mounted the panels in a long line down the center of the roof under the polythene. The water is taken from the pool pump oulet down the two outer pipes of the panels the back again along the three innner pipes (a trip of about 80ft) A valve contols the flow throught the panels so the the ouput is always two degrees hotter than the input(hotter the heat gain the more flows, postive feedback. The panels can become radiators if the pool temp is greater than the solar gain). Does it work . Yes. On a hot day the first water through is steaming and most of the time the valve is fully open showing max postive gain. The tunnel greenhouse is 30C plus in the summer . Planted two vines at one end for sun shade over a patio area inside greenhouse and now harvest about 70lb of grapes each year for wine & eating. Also good for barbecues out of the rain. The stanless steel pipes are unaffected by the chlorine water. Total cost £200 panels £1000 greenhouse (20m by 6m) but a few years ago. I built the valve and electronics myself and it is controlled by an old laptop along with a few other things like the pool pump and plant watering when I am away. We are about 30 miles from Manchester not the best place for solar energy. So if you can get the bits cheap and you can DIY abit it's worth it.