DIY Solar heater results - satisfied

[Angeltrader]

Hi Everyone

First of all, I'm not native English so sorry for any mistakes written. Secondly I work in metric system so I've converted the measurements below.
Attention: the setup is not finished yet, it's just a temporary test setup. The whole pump environment will be set on a concrete slab in the near future.

My pool is setup in Belgium, and it's a 3.170 Gallon (12.000 liter) pool.

Results yesterday, full sunny day with ambient temperature of 80F :

Morning temperature water : 69.8 F
Midday water temperature : 77 F
Temperature at 3PM : 80.6F


Temporary connection on the pool, in future will have a Y-split for (a) pump and (b) vacuum cleaner attachment



Water comes underground from the pool into the pump and then onto the SWG



Onto the SWG with handy clear see through tube



From the SWG the piping continues to a Y-split. One is the direct return to the pool and the second
one goes to the solar heating panels on the roof via a 0.6" Tyleen splitter.



This is the Tyleen splitter that I made with and endcap allowing pressure to build to pump water
up to the roof to the 4 pannels set in parrallel.



The collectors, set onto the roof at 25° slope. Currently only running 2 in test , but will become 4 in total



Back return to the other tyleen splitter which is set on top of the return to the pool. So warm water from the
pannels gets mixed with the cold water from the pump.

By way of the 2 valves after the Y-split, I can regulate how much percentage of water goes to the pannels.
This way I can keep the Delta T around 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Which is ideal.

[Logan5]

Looks great, we were just talking to another user about distribution manifolds, your home made manifold is a good example. Do you intend to put glass over the collector?

[Angeltrader]

Hi Logan5

Thank you for your comment. I did not know it was called a "manifold" Learned again.
It takes about 5 minutes to make something like that. Real easy, just buy the PVC to PE adapters and put cutoff pieces in between, at the end an endcap and glue it all together.

I was debating on putting glas over it. Here in Belgium we do not have so many experts on the subject (a forum like this gets around 20 visitors per day in Belgium lol)
Some say it's not worth the investment, others say it does. So not realy sure about it. I guess it would help by taking out the windchill factor and raise the return a little bit
by the greenhouse effect, but I am unsure what the net return would be and if it's worth the investment since glass and plexi is quite expensive here.

[Logan5]

hot boxing an array like yours almost always improves performance, keep your eye out for used recycled, reclaimed plexiglass,

[J.P.M.]

hot boxing an array like yours almost always improves performance, keep your eye out for used recycled, reclaimed plexiglass,

Depending on the temp. diff. between the collectors' surface temp. and the outside ambient air, with some consideration for the wind velocity, and somewhat counterintuitive to what many folks think (or don't think), covering the panels with semi transparent material usually impairs performance in low temp. applications such as pool heating.

The goal is to get as much solar energy into the water as possible, not produce high temperatures. There is a difference.

Collector covers are useful for applications such as domestic water heating where the collector to ambient temp. diff. is larger than most pool heating applications. At low delta T's, like most pool heating applications, thermal losses to the environment from uncovered collectors will be less than the decrease in solar energy caused by the semi transparent cover.That's why most solar pool heating applications used unglazed collectors.

As far as plexiglass poly(methyl methacrylate) is concerned, it will probably decrease in solar transmittance over time, making matters worse.

What the OP has will not be as effective as collectors made for the purpose, but probably cost effective for the investment, and can be a learning experience, especially, as it looks to me, when a wind event has it's way with the assembly. I'd also have a way to inspect under the boxes for bugs/mold/etc. as well as roof damage those things can cause. Out of sight, out of mind is not a friend of solar energy.

Suggestion: See builditsolar.com for ideas.

Add: Almost forgot - a pool cover will be much more cost effective than almost any solar pool heating scheme. Get a cover, reduce the looses and any remaining pool heating load will be smaller and easier (+ <$$) to effect.