I live in SW FL and have an in-ground pool that is not heated. I’ve been thinking about a solar roof mounted pool heater. Some days the water is too chilly for us to enjoy the pool. Even on very hot days.

I was wondering if any of the members here use solar to heat their pools. I’m talking about just a solar heater, without another source of heat like a heat pump. I have no interest in covering the pool at night, so don’t factor that in.

Are solar heaters worth the investment? How many degrees do they raise the water temperature? It would be helpful to know what part of the country you live in.

There are many web sites with information, but I don’t know if the information is reliable or just a sales pitch. Thanks.

We installed Solar panels on our Resort pool. We had a large metal roofed building for the panels and had them installed on both the West and East facing sides. These were installed to, in the long term, reduce Natural Gas consumption on the pool heater. It worked great but we had to reverse flow at night in the summer to cool the water, otherwise..too hot. Eventually we shut the panels down in the summer. I no longer have the documents for what we were spending for our winter gas consumption, but I do know we saved quite a bit of money.

8 panels.

Had a system on our house in Vegas. It would raise our water temperature noticeably. Ours had a thermostat we could set. Also had a light detector that would keep it off unless there was enough sunlight. Ie cloudy days.
Keep in mind they only work when the filtration system is running.

I lost mine on a Friday the 13th in August of 2004. It really worked well before that though. It couldn’t keep up for about two months in the winter without covering the pool. My roof has a 4/12 pitch that faces south which is fantastic for solar water heating panels.

Had it for many years, works great, you can get the water quite warm, hot tub bath levels.

Didn't put it back on after replacing the roof because it was over 20 years old and needed some panels replaced.

Cost wise, the difference in solar and an electric heater isn't much in the acquisition costs, just in operation. So you need to look at how long you'd run the heater.

Also in November to Feb you may or may not be able to get it as warm as you like with solar depending on how the temps run in those months like you can with a gas/heat pump.

You being in SWFL should be able to get the pool nice and warm, depends on how big the pool is, and how much roof you have for panels...

We are in CFl.. North of the Mouse House...

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Had it for many years, works great, you can get the water quite warm, hot tub bath levels.

Didn't put it back on after replacing the roof because it was over 20 years old and needed some panels replaced.

Cost wise, the difference in solar and an electric heater isn't much in the acquisition costs, just in operation. So you need to look at how long you'd run the heater.

Also in November to Feb you may or may not be able to get it as warm as you like with solar depending on how the temps run in those months like you can with a gas/heat pump.

You being in SWFL should be able to get the pool nice and warm, depends on how big the pool is, and how much roof you have for panels...

We are in CFl.. North of the Mouse House...

I've been watching this thread with interest because I use the solar pool covers and have for around 12 years or so.

Based on what you wrote, the solar is only slightly better than a pool cover as my swimming season with the cover ends around November 1 and starts around mid March.

So I'd get around 2 months more than I get now for a considerable cost.

Hmmm...

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Also in November to Feb you may or may not be able to get it as warm as you like with solar depending on how the temps run in those months like you can with a gas/heat pump.

Thanks. I’m not expecting solar to make the pool toasty warm during the winter months. But I would like to know if it will warm the pool enough in the spring and fall.

You should have no issues warming the pool, remember it's dependent on the amount of sunlight, so if you have a week of rain, overcast sky, and cooler than normal temps it's not going to help keep it that warm.

You need to have a temp controller and an automatic valve so it will divert water to keep it from cooling or over heating.

The nice thing about solar over a blanket is you don't have to do anything to make it work.

Using a blanket WITH solar will help keep the pool swimmable dang near most of the year down here..

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Sure you should have no issues warming the pool, remember it's dependent on the amount of sunlight, so if you have a week of rain, overcast sky, and cooler than normal temps it's not going to help.

You need to have a temp controller and an automatic valve so it will divert water to keep it from cooling or over heating.

The nice thing about solar over a blanket is you don't have to do anything to make it work.

A blanket WITH solar will help keep the pool swimable dang near most of the year down here..

True, but it takes me & Mrs Flash something like 3 minutes to take it off and the same to put it back on. Not a huge investment in time and effort.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
True, but it takes me & Mrs Flash something like 3 minutes to take it off and the same to put it back on. Not a huge investment in time and effort.

Not suggesting a blanket change in your process , and it's not inexpensive, however here in FL rooftop solar is pretty popular, and it's advantage is zero costs for heating after the initial cost of the unit.

Unlike propane/heat pump, where a full month of running can add several hundred bucks to your electric or gas bill.

We built a very simple system in Ohio That warmed an in ground pool very well. We just put 75 feet of 3/4inch black waterline on the roof of the garage and ran a small pump. You can cycle it with a timer. He had to shut it off in July because it was too warm. I'm sure you could add a thermostat.

quote:

Originally posted by Zecpull:
We built a very simple system in Ohio That warmed an in ground pool very well. We just put 75 feet of 3/4inch black waterline on the roof of the garage and ran a small pump. You can cycle it with a timer. He had to shut it off in July because it was too warm. I'm sure you could add a thermostat.

Until you have to haul it down during hurricane season or find it 10 miles out in the gulf, or wrapped around your neighbors house.... LOL

Blankets work well in Florida to keep heat in overnight. They don't work so well to heat the pool because most pools in Florida have screened enclosures that reduce the amount of solar energy reaching the pool by 50%-90% depending on the screen.

The 15,000 gallon pool at our other house has a heat pump which costs about $50 a month for 7 months. There's about 3 months in the summer that the heater was not needed and 2 months in the winter where it wasn't worth it.

Our first and current house, because we moved back into it, was the one with the solar heating panels. I don't remember if we had 5 or 7 panels, but it doesn't matter because your system should be sized for your pool. Our panels, before Hurricane Charley took them, kept the 13,500 gallons plenty warm except for 2 months out of the year until we started covering it during those months when we didn't use it. They were not needed during the summer for about three months.

I didn't mention it, but I like 85 degrees.

Nobody here is going to be able to tell you how much heat gain you'll get because you haven't provided any the of information that would be required to figure it out.

For example:
How many gallons is your pool?
What size pump do you have?
How many hours do you run it?
If the pump is variable speed, what do you have it set at?
Where will the panels be located?
What pitch is your roof?

Really, just get some bids.