Yikes, how involved will this all be?

[Notri4MeBikeSwim]

Darn, darn, darn.

After dropping water treatment service and following the advice here the water has stayed clear
and swimable for 2 months, and now...

-- it's not quite warm enough
@ 76, surface area is 800 SF, solar panels are 600SF. Run time has been about 3 hours/day.
Increased run time to 8 hrs/day and that has helped, but hard to tell as outside is toasty now.
She loves the 88F temps.

I'm guessing need to add about 200SF solar, sound about right? so it's a 1:1 ratio.


-- pool plaster and tile not looking nice
Tile had hard hard while deposits on them, I thought they were just calcium, but after switching
and only using shock, not tabs, it is slowly weakening, so guessing it was a water conditioner

Only recommendations have been:
glass blast the tile, or replace the tile

Pool plaster is starting to lift around the drains and has a horrible moddled and looking at a plaster redo
this fall. I presume we'ld be best advised to use one with small pebbles in it, but will that create more issues for a robot cleaner?


-- we need a handrail now for the stairs

Sounds deceptively simple. I would expect some plaster/concrete mounting issues.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Do you have a solar controller?
If not and you're just running the pump during the day you may actually be hurting yourself heat wise.

Do you have a solar cover that you keep on the pool when you're not swimming?
If not you need one.

 

[Isaac-1]

My first thought is also you either need a solar controller, or need to let it run in timer override mode so it will turn on when heat is available and you have not reached your goal temperature. It would also help if you told us where you live (include in your profile) so we could get an idea of the local weather patterns, sun exposure levels, etc. For example I live along the gulf coast (well about 100 miles inland) where we have frequent afternoon thermal thunderstorms this time of year, as a result if I were to run my solar heat just on a timer without a solar controller then I would often loose a lot of heat to the cold rain on the panels in the afternoons.

My second consideration is are your current panels hooked up right, are you getting enough water flow through them (when working right water from a solar heater should feel only very slightly warmer than the pool water, if return is warm or hot your flow level is too low, this can decrease BTU transfer by 50% or more)

Ike

 

[Notri4MeBikeSwim]

I don't know what key I'm hitting, but I get part way thru a response and boom the thread closes.

sacramento valley, so no rain from may to sept. cool temps are in 80's and highs of 105. light winds 7-25 mph. usually no cloud cover.

pump water coming in is just slightly warmer. I don't know if 3 way valves are set right, hopefully when the contractor comes tomorrow he will be able to advise.

i don't know what a solar controller is. Just been using an electric timer.

do not have a pool cover. if get one, would have to be automatic type as feel to old to mess with manual cover. will be getting estimate on that tomorrow as well.

thought it might be cheaper to just buy some wet suits, but for a few minutes of swimming, it hardly seems worth it.

I'll update tomorrow, when I have more info.

 

[Isaac-1]

A solar controller is like a heater thermostat for solar panels, it has a place to set the desired temperature, and a sensor that tells it the current temperature of your pool water and one that tells it the temperature of the solar panel. If the panel is warmer than the pool and you have not yet reached your goal temperature it directs water flow to the panel, if the panel is cooler than the pool it directs the water to recirculate and potentially sets the pump to low or off depending on how it is configured, this keeps the solar panels from radiating heat when there are clouds, rain, darkness, or even high winds.

Ike.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Ike summed it up pretty well, basically it keeps the panels from removing heat from your pool, which they will do if they are ran when the panel temp is cooler than the pool water. Just running the panels on a timer doesn't allow for rainy or overcast days.

As an added advantage, a controller can also be used to cool the pool at night if it gets too hot for you.

 

[Notri4MeBikeSwim]

ok, good to know, nice trek avatar