Is solar a good idea in Dallas?

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aiannar974

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May 2, 2013
88
Dallas area
Hello I live a little north east of Dallas by about 40 miles. I have a pool only with a surface area of about 650 ft sq. It is about 13,000 gallons. I would like to extend my swim season on both ends. I am considering a gas fired heater or a solar system. I think most of this extension will be weekend use. I found on website that said 8-9 months out of the pool with 11 4x12 panels for about $4k. That sound like a lot of area. not sure if i can house all that on the roof. Anyone using solar in dfw? how are the results from a temp and season extension?

Thank you,

Anthony
 
Yes, solar works great in Dallas. Our pool only gets full sun for about an hour and partial sun for maybe 6 or 7 hours. We had to add solar to get the temp up, we like it 85 min and 87-88 is better. Even in mid-summer solar runs sometimes, mostly after rain. Nothing makes a pool cold faster than rain. We added the Solartouch early last summer and that made a big difference over turning on solar before work because it seems like it is warm enough and having rain or clouds cool the pool as much as the sun warmed it. This is our first spring with the controller and we consistently add 3-4 degrees over 24 hours if it doesn't rain and have consistently stayed at the daily high temp rather than the avg temp. We were at 78 degrees last week before it rained every day for a while. We are at 76 right now, even after that gully washer last night. Solar temp says it is 91 by the panels, air temp is 78. On sunny days we can add about 8 degrees. We do not use a cover either due to lots of trees and laziness. :)

As for the how long does it extend the season question there is no answer to that because every day, week, season is different. But, I can say for sure that we can swim more with solar than we could without it. And we only have 5 panels because that is all that fits on the hut by the pool.
 
I do expect to be swimming in early-mid May thru mid-late Oct. If your pool is full sun you could get more, especially with 10 or 11 panels and a controller. Even more with a cover at night.
 
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