Hard Plumbing - Solar Heater or SWG last in the line?

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M

meganv

0
Jul 2, 2012
96
San Diego, CA
This is my first post here, but you all have helped my immensely over the last few months. I have a used 5,400 gallon splash-a-round, 9 x 19, soft sided pool. I recently replaced the pump with a hayward Power-Flo LX, as the bearings died on the old one. Now that I have everything taken apart I am considering getting rid of my flexible piping and hard plumbing with pvc.

Previously I had everything in this order: pump,filter, Intex SWG, then finally my solar heater (a dome style solar pro heater). Is this correct? Or should my SWG be last in the line, allowing the chlorinated water to go directly into the pool, rather than through the solar heater than in?


Thank you!
 
Oh dear, it appears I have two different suggestions. The solar heater doesn't seem to heat our water up very much. But I don't know if that helps me one way or the other - not hot enough to burn people or equipment. Well shoot. I suppose I can just hook it up the way it was before with the heater being the last thing the water goes through. My only concern is that the Intex SWG manual says to make it the last thing in the line. However, the manual said nothing about what to do if a solar heater is in use.
 
meganv said:
Oh dear, it appears I have two different suggestions. The solar heater doesn't seem to heat our water up very much. But I don't know if that helps me one way or the other - not hot enough to burn people or equipment. Well shoot. I suppose I can just hook it up the way it was before with the heater being the last thing the water goes through. My only concern is that the Intex SWG manual says to make it the last thing in the line. However, the manual said nothing about what to do if a solar heater is in use.
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SWG should be the last thing in line. Hydrogen gas is produced along with chlorine during the process. You don't want anything in between the SWG and the pool that could trap that gas. Hydrogen is flammable and can be explosive when trapped in containers like filters, heaters etc.
 
meganv said:
Alright, that makes sense (and is a frightening possibility to me). One other question - are bypass valves required when using a solar heater? The way the previous owner and myself used it, there is no bypass.

Thanks again!
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A bypass is necessary when the pressure increase on your filter gauge rises above the panel manufacturers specs. My flat panels require a bypass if the pressure rises 10 lb. or more over what was my normal filter pressure before installing the panels. The two panels I have only increased pressure by 3 lbs but I have one installed because I can bypass the panels if there's a chance that they'll cool the water instead of heating it.
 
The pressure gauge on my pump always reads 15 psi. Is that too high? Could it be high because I do not have the bypass valve? I have no clue what kind of filter it is, there is no label on it. I bought this whole system used so I have been learning about it as I go.

Also, this is the type of solar heater I have:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Aquaquik-Universal-Solar-Heater/10807074

Do you think this really heats the pool up at all? I have never run the pump without it, so I am not sure. Debating skipping it all together and just going with a solar blanket.
 
Those things are a scam, unless you use like 20 them in a row. You should use a solar blanket either way. The thing with those heaters are that the compact size just does not have enough surface area to make a significant difference.
 

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not sure if this helps but after looking at solar heating i plan to divert the pool.water after the filter and before the swg and then return the hot water after the swg. that way the water going into the solar is filtered water only and the hot water coming out is not going into the swg. since i just completed our pool build so i and new to this but based on reading this make sense.

any thoughts from other.
 
That unit certainly won't generate scalding water, I have 160 square feet on my garage roof and if the water sits idle in those things too long on a hot day it can come out extremely hot, of course that's only until the idle water is cleared and then it runs at a much lower temp. The premise of solar panels is to move ALOT of water that is just a bit warmer instead of moving a little bit of hot water.
Solar heating is about square footage, and you have hardly any. My recommendation, since you indicated it dosn't heat your pool, is loose that one since it's not worth the headache of putting inline and get a larger solar heater system (fafco, etc).

This is my first year with solar panels and they do work.

PS, you'll want an air valve in your system so the water drains when the pump is off and you don't have those scalding scenarios.
 
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