Renron,
I have been doing some research and more "Testing" (my wife calls it tinkering...). Anyway, I have what appears to be older Gobi style panels, the house was built in the early 70's and I think they were installed then, as a "Added feature".
I have installed a few things, one is a temp operated valve on the inlet of the panels, with the thermocouple at the outlet of the top panel, along with a temp operated timer for the pump. The valve serves two purposes, 1. control the length of time the water stays in the panels, and 2. to prevent gravity fed drainback keeping the water in the panel.
With the thermocouple at the highest point, it reads the highest temp, and when it gets to 190 - 200 degrees, in opens the valve and starts the pump. The pump timer runs the pump for about 5 minutes, OR when the water temp drops to below 100 degrees at the thermocouple, then it shuts off, as well as closing the valve.
After doing this, I have been able to increase the overall water temp by almost 10 degrees a day, I haven't been monitoring the temp loss over night, but I figure it's about 6-8 degrees. Over the past week, the overall water temp has gone from 75 to just over 80. Not bad for a total investment of about $200 ( I just wish I had ONE MORE PANEL!)
And as far as the steam is concerned, I know that isn't the most effecient way to heat the pool, I just stated that as a matter of fact that the panels were getting enough sun, and are working (relatively) well.
Thanks for the input, I think I have a few more things to try . . . :idea:
KPenn
"Grumpy Old Man" :grrrr: