Solar Heater Set up

[gervais27]

Hi Guys!

I have no where else to turn since my local pool guy basically screwed up with the installation of my DIY solar heater set up. I hope you guys can help me figure out how to fix my current set up.

I installed a hayward solar controller last year and the pool guy ran 600' of black hose which came in 50' lengths. But it didn't work. After doing a bunch of research and reading a ton of threads on here I figured out why. He ran the 600' of hose in serial basically in one long coil.

So I'm now figuring out that I need to made two headers/manifolds to distribute the hose in 6 coils?

Can you guys look at my set up diagram and let me know the most efficient way to get this to work. Basically how many coils?

Hose came in 50' lengths and is 5/8" in diameter. found here Premium 5/8 in. Dia x 50 ft. Commercial Grade Rubber Black Water Hose-20258074 - The Home Depot

I have everything in place other than the headers so let me know your thoughts on if this set up will work. Headers will be using 1.5" PVC pipes.

Thanks so much!

 

[danpik]

Do a search on this forum for DIY solar and you will find a ton of info. Most of what you will find is that DIY is not the way to go as the factory made systems are better designed, more efficient and ultimately cheaper.

As for flow, The faster the water moves thru the system the more heat it will absorb and carry back to the pool

 

[mas985]

600' of 5/8" is only the equivalent of 30 sq-ft of solar panel which won't provide much in the way of heat so it is no wonder it didn't really work. That is only a little over 10% of your pool surface area and minimum should be about 25%. Putting them in parallel helps a little bit but unless you up the surface area, you probably won't improve things much.

Also, if you look at the cost per sq-ft, you will probably find that manufacture panels are actually cheaper.

 

[gervais27]

Thanks guys. I guess its time to invest in manufactured panels.