Diy solar advice

[Lasvegaspebble]

This is my first year as a pool owner. I have a 12-16' x 32' inground. I bought a set of two solar heating mats (each 2' x 20'). I set them up on the ground behind the pool to see if it made a difference and the answer was yes. Even with that area being partially shaded at times the pool gained about 8 degrees over the course of the week in early August. I ran this off a solar powered 15w pond pump, which worked great as there was no elevation change. If you have a good spot for a ground level system I would recommend this.

However, the mats aren't really in a good spot (partial shade, awkwardly obscuring the deck, unattractive). But now I know it works I'm going to move it to the roof. I'd like to use a separate pump because the available roof is on the opposite end of the pool from the main pump, also I don't want to void the warranty on my pump by messing with it.

My question is, would a 1/10 hp pump be enough power to lift the water 10'? I found one at harbor freight which has 320 gph with 3/4" in and out garden hose style connectors. It states i think 32' lift, and the solar mats are to be used wirh no more than 1/2 hp. Obviously I would use a heat tolerant hose for the outlet. The solar mats have 1 1/2" headers so I would need to use an adapter at the start of the system.

Any thoughts on my idea? Surely someone has rigged something like this before. Thank you!

 

[an1vrsy]

the pool gained about 8 degrees over the course of the week in early August.

Is your pool shaded? You are trying to heat your pool up? Last month, I had to use my Glacier chiller to keep our pool water around 85* - 87* Without the chiller, out water would have been 92+ degrees.

 

[Lasvegaspebble]

A chiller, wow. It only has shade for about two hours before sunset. I live in Las Vegas so I have a lot of wind, evaporation, and a generous temperature drop at night. The highest pool temp was 92, which I thought was great. In reality I'm trying to extend my swimming season. Right now the pool peaks at 82, as the Temps have dropped a bit plus we got a ton of rain recently. The more weeks I can keep it above 75 the better.

 

[Lasvegaspebble]

I'm not really trying to get it hotter in August, that's just when I tried it.

 

[an1vrsy]

I can understand the temperature swings from the hot days here, to now, the cool nights.

We have an autocover so we don’t have evaporative cooling dropping the water temp. It was 86* when we went swimming earlier this afternoon and it will probably be 82* in the morning. Leaving the cover closed till about noon, the water will be up to 85 - 86 degrees about then.