First Ever Pool - Above ground bestway 4.2m slice of heaven

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Hi Bridgman... :) So you think I should split them up into four, instead of one continuous hose from one panel to the next?? I hadn't even thought of that, THAT'S GENIUS!!!! :) Thank you very much... :) So great to have input from you and casey and pwkstrk... :)
 
I've just been chatting to Hubby, he's about half an hour away from getting the pool... :) They got held up by HUGE accident on the way to Sydney this morning (Newcastle is the other side of Sydney) but he's been travelling for nearly 6 hours.... Talk about perseverance.......We must really want that pool....lol.... Hopefully it will be a nice easy drive home.... Australia is just so big, it takes hours to get anywhere.... I've driven all the way across Australia when I was about 10 years old... From the right side to the left, Canberra to Perth, it took us 2 and a half days of almost non stop driving... We were going to a wedding.... Needless to say we flew back.... LMAO.... :)
 
Just to confirm, solar heating works best at higher flow rates. You get more heat in the pool by heating a lot of water only a few degrees (at higher flow rates) than heating a little water many degrees (at low flow rates). Ideally you want the pipe to feel cool to the touch and only want the water temp to rise a few degrees through your solar system.

Certainly you will want to split all that up into multiple parallel paths, I am not sure that 4 is enough, but would certainly help over a single loop.

BTW, the house I bought had 2500 feet of 1" pipe in 8 different loops for my 18k pool. This was about 200 sqft of heating if it would have been laid out nicely. It was hardly adequate. I now have 500 sqft of true solar panels which works great. Solar heating is all about area of sun exposure and flow rate.
 
Looking at your plans, having 138 sqft of tube on a 4500 gallon pool may do ok.
But, I think running through 1/2" pipes for 250 meters is going to be very restrictive. I would think 100 meters at most.

Have you priced out actual solar panels? In the states they are generally cheaper and more efficient than trying to build a DIY one.
 
YAY WE HAVE THE POOL.... :) Feeling elated... :) Its so big and its going to be so much fun this summer...... And I'm loving the fact I got it for $580.00..... That's only $100 more than my last pool and this one is nearly twice as big... :) I can relax now and BUILD SOME STUFF...... :)
 
Hi jbizzle, solar panels are very expensive here... :-( Ridiculously so, considering we are the sunburnt country and we have heaps of sun, you'd think they'd be cheaper, but my little system will set me back about $350.00.... Solar panels will cost me about $1000.....:-(
 
Even the DIY solar panels we see on Ebay for $180 / 40 sqft?
Although looking at what you are considering doing would get you more sqft of heating than even those Ebay panels.

Just remember that the more parallel circuits you can make, the better the heating efficiency will be.
 
Mine are some of the more commercial panels. I have 10 panels that 4' x 12.5' which are split into 2 banks (6 and 4 panels) water enters the panels at the bottom flows up the hundreds of little tubes and returns to the pool out of the top header.

Actually this thread shows what I did: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/51547-Solar-Plumbing-Layout-s
Although my setup was around $1500 (normally $4-5000 if you buy from dealer and have them install them).

The panels on Ebay are usually 2' x 20' (more can be tied together) and the little tubes run horizontally and not vertically. They are not a good solution if you are going to put them on a very sloped roof.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
It would definitely work on my roof....:)


My Roof by tiffnoy, on Flickr

Its a little more technical than I'm used to, but I'll give it a go... Could you please post a link for the solar panels on ebay... Ebay Australia doesn't seem to have them.... :-( I hope they post to Australia, many don't......

This photo was taken just before sunset....
 
My country is on the other side of the planet, and at times it sux..... :-( Anything over 2 kilograms to post costs big dollars..... For now I'll probably stick with my cheapie little set up..... The good thing is, we do have ridiculously hot summers and pretty warm autumns and springs so even if it can extend my swimming season by 2 months either side of summer, I'll be happy.... :)

I'm very appreciative of all the help guys... ;-) I've learned a tonne more about solar power now, so I can take that away... :)
 
I only have to replace a couple of things, I haven't pulled the liner out yet as its right at the bottom of the box, but due to Australian regulations all portable pools are meant to have two intake valves to stop kids from being sucked into the wall of the pool.... It looks like there is only one, so I'll be re-inforcing the outside of the pool and cutting two holes, one for another intake valve, and the other for the thru the wall skimmer... :) Or maybe I'll just do the thru the wall skimmer.... I'll work that out in August... :)
 
Something isn't right here... I've only got two of those huge valves, and three intake and return thingys......


Something isn't right... by tiffnoy, on Flickr

And what is the T junction for??? I mean its handy to have, but it seems unnecessary for a one intake one outlet pool......I'm either missing a large valve or I have an extra intake cover.... And they're the old type of slide in intake cover :-( So I'll have to change those too.... Good news is I've found a place in Australia that is the official stockist for intex parts... :) And they're really cheap....

Laceygirl....
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply