Solar Panel For Swimming Pool

It also means poolside parties, early morning swims or even romantic late night frolics. And a solar heated pool is an energy smart pool.

For information on how to install your own solar pool heater click here.

How To Make Your Pool An Energy Smart Pool

As the temperature required is quite low - under 30°, most swimming pool solar panel installers will recommend flat plates to keep the price down.

This is because you will require more panels than for heating domestic hot water.

However, if you can buy a high efficiency evacuated tube solar panel for the same money, you might as well because you will then have solar heated pool water for a greater proportion of the year, instead of just in July and August!

If you use flat plates, a method of working out what you need is to purchase panels the equivalent of 50% of the pool's surface area.

For Vacuum tube panels, this is reduced to 25%-35% (depending on type of pool, level of insulation, pool covers, indoor/outdoor, above/below ground level etc). And of course, they will carry on working in the autumn, winter and spring.

Here in the UK, our solar panel for swimming pools are 2.25m2 so (working on the 25% coverage figure) each panel will heat 11m2 of pool area. A 40m2 pool would only need 4 panels.

Compare this to the cost of heating a pool for a year! A solar water heater for pools is cost effective. Large pool installations can pay for themselves in under 18 months!And installation is very simple. Click on the link for information on how to install your own DIY solar pool heater.

If you have chlorine you will need to fit a stainless steel heat exchanger (this is because chlorine causes copper to corrode).

These are available from pool suppliers. If you don't have chlorine, you can simply put the solar panel in-line with the pool filter, so that the pump directs water through the panel before returning it to the pool.

As the pool solar panel will NOT radiate heat on cold days, heat losses will be confined to your pipe runs only - so you do not necessarily need a controller, although one can be fitted, to control a 3-way solenoid valve to divert the water through the panel when the panel is hotter than the pool water.

A solar panel for swimming pools is both cost effective and environmentally friendly.

So why not make your pool an energy smart pool? You know it makes sense.