So I am thinking of getting some solar panels for our above ground pool. Current pool is an intex 16x32 ultra frame. What I a curious about is how much will they help if I keep the solar blanket on and we have days when it is 70 and sunny and nights in the 50s. This appears to be the normal summer at least the last two summers. Will the solar panels be able to heat the pool up and at what point will they reach a limit? Any help would be great Thanks
solar panels for above ground pool
- Thread starter csk158
- Start date
I have a 16' round Intex, with a solar coil and a solar panel set totalling about 70% of my surface area. Ours temps here go down to 50's at night here too and it makes it hard to keep decent temp. Works great if you have nice sunny days, but useless when heavy cloud. Next year I am going to add another panel or go to an electric heater. Electricity is fairly cheap here, so no worries. And I keep my solar blanket on as much as possible to help keep heat in as well.
On nice days, the pool will get up to the mid to high 80's, but a cold night will drop it right back down to 75 or lower. One spell a couple of weeks ago, it was down to 65...........bbbrrrrr.
The biggest problem with panels is lack of sun.
On nice days, the pool will get up to the mid to high 80's, but a cold night will drop it right back down to 75 or lower. One spell a couple of weeks ago, it was down to 65...........bbbrrrrr.
The biggest problem with panels is lack of sun.
I have one Ecosaver panel purchased from Amazon. It is just lying on the ground and I unroll it on sunny days and roll it up when not in use. In full sun it adds about 2 degrees F to the water running through it. I have it connected to a separate pump which is running about 600 gph so I figure I have to run it for 5 hours to add 2 deg. F to the pool. I wish I had a better setup so I could put panels on my roof, but that is not possible.
We have one fafco bear 4'x 20' solar panel. Yet, we have had many cloudy days in Michigan so no sun equals no heat. Have not been able to swim for over a week now. Outside temps have been too cool.
If you read my post "Keeping Heat In" near the top of the forum, you will see some experiments I am doing. Right now, it seems my 2" foam board is helping to keep heat in. I'll keep everyone updated as the experiments go. I found my solar panels and wood heat came out really, really warm but my tests are showing that they were not helping much at all. The output flow was just too weak it seems.