Solar water heater in OKC - Hail Storm Question

[caliskier]

So I have looked a little into Solar water heaters. I understand that they are good for letting you swim a few extra months out of the year if you use a solar cover on your pool. in OKC that would be April and Oct. Also thinking of using it as a supplement for my hottub in the winter. I have a roof that fases south.

Question is this. How durrable are these to 1" hail stones? we replace roofs here in OKC about every 15 years or so due to heavy hail. Anyone have any experience with these and midwest style golfball sized hail? Would consider getting one but not to replace it every 10 years.

 

[pooldv]

Our panels have been installed for 5 seasons and are doing fine. We had a couple of big hail storms last spring that got us a new roof and the panels are fine.

 

[caliskier]

Our panels have been installed for 5 seasons and are doing fine. We had a couple of big hail storms last spring that got us a new roof and the panels are fine.

Great testamony, thx. Do you think the panels are worth getting, how well do you think they work in near freezing temps?

 

[pooldv]

Our solar panels have given us many swim days that we would have otherwise not been able to swim because the water was too cold due to rain, cool fronts and cloudy days. We only have room for 240sf of panels and about 700sf of pool. It is more typical to have 50%-100% solar panel coverage vs pool size.

Most pools will stay around the midpoint of the high and low temps. ie 70 low and 90 high will give an 80 degree pool. Our panels are able to keep the pool closer to the high temp, 88-89. Adding a solar cover can add another 5-8 degrees to the water temp. So, when it is 60 at night and 80 during the day we are able to keep our pool at 85 or so with solar panels and a cover.

You can get more heat with more panels.

But, solar panels and covers will be less effective in winter with shorter days and lower sun.

We have Vortex panels from Solar Direct. Vortex is a private label of Techno-Solis panels.

 

[caliskier]

Our solar panels have given us many swim days that we would have otherwise not been able to swim because the water was too cold due to rain, cool fronts and cloudy days. We only have room for 240sf of panels and about 700sf of pool. It is more typical to have 50%-100% solar panel coverage vs pool size.

Most pools will stay around the midpoint of the high and low temps. ie 70 low and 90 high will give an 80 degree pool. Our panels are able to keep the pool closer to the high temp, 88-89. Adding a solar cover can add another 5-8 degrees to the water temp. So, when it is 60 at night and 80 during the day we are able to keep our pool at 85 or so with solar panels and a cover.

You can get more heat with more panels.

But, solar panels and covers will be less effective in winter with shorter days and lower sun.

We have Vortex panels from Solar Direct. Vortex is a private label of Techno-Solis panels.

Man this is awesome data, thankyou so much.