Solar Power System

SOLAR POOL HEATER: HOW IT WORKS & GENERAL OVERVIEW 2020

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Thinking of the cheapest way to heat up your pool? Well solar pool heater is the best answer. Solar pool heater makes it comfortable to swim in for longer stretches throughout the year – it also helps you save money on heating costs.

When you sit down to calculate the amount of money you have spent just for heating your pool, you will marvel. But then you can’t stop heating your pool because people don’t pay to swim just to freeze up and die. So as long as the swimming pool is concerned, heating can’t be scraped off.

Whether the pool is for a commercial purpose or private purpose, there is a great need for solar pool heaters.

HOW DOES SOLAR POOL HEATERS WORK?

Solar pool heaters simply make use of thermal energies from sunlight to heat up your pool to a moderate temperature for swimming. Just like the normal solar panels, solar pool collectors will also be mounted on your roof while it traps the energy coming from the sun.

With the use of filters, water from the pool is pumped up to the solar collectors on the roof. Filters serve to sieve out the debris in the water. These solar collectors are similar to solar panels, but the solar collectors contain tubes that help in the circulation of the water around the heater.

Working principle of  a solar heater
THE COMPONENTS OF SOLAR HEATING SYSTEM

When it absorbs much heat, it is then pumped back to the pool. Another interesting spice to these pool heaters is that most of them contain a control valve and automated sensors. These additional components go a long way in preventing overheating.

Imagine someone coming to your pool and ends up dead due to overheating, I wonder how you will explain that. So the essence of these control valves and the automated sensors is that they regulate the temperature.

If the water coming to the heater is very cool, the heater heats it up to a moderate temperature, while if the water is already heated enough, the pool prevents additional heat from getting into the pool. So what this means is that you need to keep a filter, solar collector, tubes, control valves, and automated sensors standby.

So with this, the reasons why you should get solar pool heaters are already very evident.
Solar pool heaters are energy clean and do not pollute or cause harm to the environment.
It saves you the cost of constantly buying fuel or gas for heating your pool.

INSTALLING A SOLAR POOL HEATER

As you are already considering a solar pool heater, there are a few things you should consider before you go ahead and install.

From what I have written above, It is already clear that you need a solar collector, filter, solar pumps, and control valves.

You should also note that different materials are used for making solar pool heaters which accounts for the two types of solar pool heaters available. Some of these materials are glazed, while others are unglazed.

Now, whether you will use a glazed or unglazed pool heater depends on the climate and how often you intend to use the pool. If you are planning to use the pool when the temperature is above the freezing point, then you should probably go for unglazed pool heaters.

UNGLAZED SOLAR POOL HEATER

Unglazed solar pool heater, is not made up of glass. It is made with heavy-duty rubbers or plastic treated with ultraviolet(UV) light inhibitors to improve the life of the panel.

Unglazed solar pool heaters are usually less expensive, and can also be used in indoor pools when the temperature is cold, and if the water will be pumped back in the pool when not in use.

unglazed solar pool heater
unglazed solar pool heater

On the contrary, glazed heaters are made of copper tubing on an aluminum plate, with an iron tempered glass covering, which accounts for why it is expensive. It is used in colder climates and can be used all year round. They can also be used for heating water at home.

So before you commence with getting your solar pool heater, you should check the temperature mostly common in your pool area, and then decide the type to use. Other things you should do includes

CHECK YOUR SITE SOLAR SOURCE

For you to have a solar pool heater successfully installed, you need to check your site solar source. This means that you need to determine the area where the sun most effectively reaches your pool heater.

Even if you are in an environment where there is no adequate sunlight, with a proper evaluation. You can still get the best site to mount because a solar pool heater can use both direct and diffuse solar radiation.

All you need to do is to implore the help of a professional solar installer like me to help perform a solar site analysis.

DETERMINE THE SIZE OF YOUR SOLAR POOL HEATERS

For you to do this, you need to consider the size of your pool, length of the swimming season, the average regional temperatures, desired pool temperatures, site solar resource, collector orientation and tilt, collector efficiency, and also use of a pool cover.

Having all these records in place will go a long way In helping you install the adequate solar pool heater. If you want to replace a conventional pool heating system with a solar system, you need to get a pump bigger than the one you are using now, in order to move the water to and through the collectors.

SITING A SOLAR POOL HEATING SYSTEM COLLECTOR

Before you mount your system collector, you should choose any site near the pool that has the perfect exposure and tilt towards sunlight. Getting a perfect position will greatly enhance your solar heater performance because any mistake with this can leave you frustrated.

So it very necessary that at this stage you should invite a solar installer like me to do the proper analysis.

Recent studies have shown that depending on your location and collector tilts. Your collector can face up to 45° east or west of true south without reducing in performance.

solar swimming pool

However, solar pool heater collectors should be oriented geographically, to maximize the amount of daily and seasonal solar energy that they receive.

CHECK THE EFFICIENCY OF YOUR SOLAR POOL HEATER

It is very important to confirm the efficiency of your solar pool heater. This can be done by using the British thermal unit or megajoule(MJ) per square meter. You can alert your installer for more clarification on this. But it is highly important that you try to find out.

MAINTENANCE OF SOLAR POOL HEATERS

Depending on how you maintain your solar pool heater, it can last you for approximately 7- 10 years. So endeavor to read the manual that is usually attached to your solar heater when you purchase it so that it will last very long for you.

COST OF SOLAR POOL HEATERS

Getting a solar pool heater at first may appear very challenging because of the cost of installation. But generally, the cost of buying and installation costs approximately between 3000- 4000 dollars.

This can last for a very long period of time, so your cost is already saved and you don’t need to keep spending on gases and fuels.

CONCLUSION

There is no need for you to continue burning fuel or gas to heat your pool. So many big hotels and also some individuals already embraced the opportunity this solar pool heater has to offer.

So if you are not yet considering switching to it, I don’t know what I can say to that. But once you are a lover of a clean environment, and stress-free operations, you should consider getting one.

If you are in Nigeria and you are considering this, you can always CONTACT ME. We are open for collaboration, business, and adverts

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