Solar garden hose pool help...

[glasgowspeaker]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post. I read a lot of stuff here. But apparently not enough....
As the title says I put together a garden hose solar heater for our little pool from information gathered here and elsewhere on the net.

I have a 16 foot round pool, 4' deep, 5000 gallons I believe.

I think that my pump is too weak for the setup. But I will ask you all be the judge of that.

Filter/pump info. (see photos)
Krystal clear model 637R
1.1 A - 60 Hz - 110 - 120 V
According to what I read, this pump is rated at 1000 GPH?

2 Panels (see photos)
- Each panel: 4'x4' - 3/4" thick ply surrounded by 2"x2" boarder painted flat black.
- 20' hose to and 20' fro the pump filter
- About 200' coiled and nailed down with 1.5" aluminum roofing nails and painted flat black on each panel
- Poly attached to the tops of both units (For thermal heating. But I am a little skeptical due to the reflective nature of the plastic)?

Plumbing
1) Filter draws from the pool
2) Instead of just dumping filtered water into pool, it runs into "T". One side of the "T" heads towards the garden hose to be heated (Green hose) - ball valve attached. The other side continues the normal path to the outlet - also has a ball valve attached.
3) Moving upwards I have another "T" installed which "In theory" should mix the return heated water (orange hose) with the bypass water before entering the pool.

Problem
I wanted to check the temperature of the system once I got it running. So I removed the return hose (orange hose) and placed my finger over the "T" to stop the water exiting from the bypass. It was at that point that I realized this is going to take quite a while to heat up the pool since there was NO WATER coming from the orange return hose at all. NOTHING? a little gurgling, but no water.

I know that there are probably people out there saying "Well Yeah obviously, because......." Well you are the people that I need to hear from.

Please help me solve this issue. I have 3 kids (12 year old - doesn't care) but the 2 and 3 year old need heat.

I do not have a blanket to keep the heat in at night as of yet. I will definately get one. Because I have read some really technical stuff about joules and BTU"s and such that mention is actually more important than the solar panel. But not as fun to build right!

Anyhow any help would certainly be appreciated
Thanks

[russ]

Water takes the path of least resistance - apparently you are not forcing the water to your panels.

[glasgowspeaker]

Thanks for the reply Russ. i understand I need to force the water through, that is the reason for the ball valve on the bypass. When I tried to run the system I restricted the bypass valve and left the ball valve wide open to the panels. If I restrict the bypass valve too much I can hear the pump struggling.

Do you think that I could/should run a real pump (1/2 hp or something) inline with my current pump/filter (but unplug my current pump/filter so as I just utilise the filter aspect) and continue as is? I mean do you think I would have enough pressure at that point?

Or is there anything that you would suggest I would do?

Thank you

[russ]

You may have blockage in the lines some place - try checking that - check the flow to or from each section.

[glasgowspeaker]

Hey Russ,
Before I constructed the panels I had all but the last section of hose connected and layed out on the lawn. Water was going through the system. the last 75' that I added was brand new hose. I never thought to test that new hose. I just added it and installed the entire length of hose to make up the system.
Could it possibly be that the water has to travel up 3' before entering the panel? due to the lack of pump strength, or that last 75' was just too much for the pump to handle? or a combination of both? (just asking?)

Thanks