Swimming pool heating by Solar power - How do I install this??????

[Revd.Mark]

Please, I hope someone out there can advise me...
I have just bought a new swimming pool - 24ft x 12ft x 5ft deep
Concerned about the cost of heating this by regular 3kw pool heater, I found on Ebay the items pictured here. Although it was dismantled by the time I collected, the system was in use until then, and the cyclinder that tubes plugs into was still full with very warm water.

I have then:
framework and large cylinder with 13 large vacuated tubes (2 were broken),
3kw pool heater,
electric water pump (similar to item fitted in standard domestic heating installations,
in-line value attached to lengths of pipe etc
pressurised cylinder??????

Do I really need to use pool heater at all? How do I fit all this stuff together to get a decent and cheap heating source for my new pool?

Thanks,



Mark

[J.P.M.]

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I hope you didn't spend a lot of $$ on that equipment. It will not provide much heat for your pool. It's too small and that equipment is inappropriate for pool heating applications.

You would be better off with a pool cover, seeing what that does to the H2O temp., and using equipment designed to heat swimming pools for the remainder of the heating load.

Then, perhaps you could use what you show to meet some of the hot water load for the house, which is probably what it's intended purpose is, and in so doing salvage some of what you otherwise mostly wasted.

Basically, your solar ignorance caused you to make or be talked into a costly error. What you have will work, but it is not fit for purpose.

I'd suggest your consider getting educated about how solar works, its limitations and types of equipment available, necessary and appropriate for various tasks before you go further.

Welcome to the forum of straight(er) talk and few(er) illusions.

[Revd.Mark]

Thanks for your words - I wholly admit I know very little about solar energy - that's precisely why I registered on forum - had hoped for advice! Not criticism - still very little spent!

[J.P.M.]

Thanks for your words - I wholly admit I know very little about solar energy - that's precisely why I registered on forum - had hoped for advice! Not criticism - still very little spent!

You're welcome. Are you implying that criticism is bad ? Ever hear of constructive criticism ? BTW, ignorance (if that word's use in my post is what you're upset about) is not a pejorative word. It's a state of someone's knowledge about a subject, not a moral or ethical failing.

You want honest and hopefully informed opinion, stick around and learn stuff. You want enabling, feel good, everyone gets a prize simply for showing up wet nursing, you may be disappointed or, heaven forbid, occasionally upset.

Straighter talk, fewer illusions.

[rsilvers]

That won't work at all unless you had so many that it was as large as the pool itself.

[Szumlanski]

I have then:
framework and large cylinder with 13 large vacuated tubes (2 were broken),
3kw pool heater,
electric water pump (similar to item fitted in standard domestic heating installations,
in-line value attached to lengths of pipe etc
pressurised cylinder??????

Do I really need to use pool heater at all? How do I fit all this stuff together to get a decent and cheap heating source for my new pool?

Unfortunately, Mark, the technology you have purchased is not suitable for pool heating. Evaluated tube solar collectors can raise water temperatures very high, but not in large volumes. Glazed and evacuated tube solar collectors are intended for small volumes of water that need a high temperature rise. For example, domestic water heating typically needs 50-80 gallons of water heated about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Solar pool heating collectors require a lot of flow with a small temperature rise. You want a large surface area to heat a lot of water a little bit each time it passes through the collectors. Consider a traditional unglazed solar collector to do the job.

[rsilvers]

Not solar, but I like this idea:

http://www.hotspotenergy.com/pool-heater/

[Szumlanski]

Not solar, but I like this idea:

http://www.hotspotenergy.com/pool-heater/

Please don't consider this. You will be badly disappointed. A household air conditioner does not put out nearly enough waste heat to make a dent in a swimming pool. They used to sell a lot of heat recovery units for domestic water heating here in Florida, but that is a very small volume of water relatively speaking. Nowadays these are not recommended because air conditioning units have become much more efficient and the amount of waste heat is consequently reduced.

More importantly, at least here in Florida, the time that you use you air conditioner most and it produces the most waste heat is during summer, i.e. the time that you need the least pool heating and the pool is the warmest, which reduces the effectiveness of these heat exchangers.

The energy savings for home cooling by this device are way overblown, and you would probably not see any change in reality. You would never recover the cost of the heat exchanger device.

If this worked, it would be installed in every pool home in Florida, believe me.

[rsilvers]

Ok, good to know.

[SunEagle]

Please don't consider this. You will be badly disappointed. A household air conditioner does not put out nearly enough waste heat to make a dent in a swimming pool. They used to sell a lot of heat recovery units for domestic water heating here in Florida, but that is a very small volume of water relatively speaking. Nowadays these are not recommended because air conditioning units have become much more efficient and the amount of waste heat is consequently reduced.

More importantly, at least here in Florida, the time that you use you air conditioner most and it produces the most waste heat is during summer, i.e. the time that you need the least pool heating and the pool is the warmest, which reduces the effectiveness of these heat exchangers.

The energy savings for home cooling by this device are way overblown, and you would probably not see any change in reality. You would never recover the cost of the heat exchanger device.

If this worked, it would be installed in every pool home in Florida, believe me.

I totally agree with you.

When I had my home built in 1988 it included a "heat exchanger" connected to the AC unit to help increase the temp in our domestic water heater. Even with a water softener the exchanger started to plug up and never really increase the water temperature much. When I first replaced the AC system back in 2000 that exchanger went by by with the old unit.