Solar Pool Water

[diggles]

Hello,

Does anyone have solar pool equipment? Here is a quote in AZ... What do you think?


Hello Jason,


Thanks for your interest in our February sale offer. I'd like to offer you an opportunity to take advantage of our lowest prices in years for the Hybrid solar/heat pump heating system. Pricing would be as such:


800ft2 16-panel Heliocol solar system.... $8,775
SunWave Super Quiet Heat Pump........... $6,457
Hybrid solar system price......................... $15,232
February Sale discount (ends 2/28)..........-<$1,100>

Total Sale price:........ $14,132

Note: When choosing a variable speed filter pump, I recommend using the Pentair 2VST Intelliflow VS pump.
The Pentair model 2VST has a communications cable to electronically communicate with the Pentair Solar Touch control. The communication between the pump and solar control is a benefit concerning freeze protection for the solar panels as well as energy savings. The Pentair 2VST is sale priced at $1,295 (after SRP rebate) and has a 3yr warranty and is sales tax exempt when installed with the solar system.

 

[kimkats]

As with everything else it depends (don't you hate when someone says that ). The best thing you can do is got at least two more quotes from your area. That will tell you if it is inline with your area.

Kim

 

[slickraft]

Here in Gilbert, I never felt it was worth all the complication to get a little extra swim time from the sun and I hate thermal pool covers to help conserve the heat at night. With the very low humidity here in the desert the heat is quickly lost at night. I also had prior bad experience with solar hot water for the home so that was also weighing in on the decision process.

At my new home, I figured if I spent similar funds on grid-tie solar panels instead, I would save much more over the life of that system in the next 20-25 years to help pay for a natural gas pool heater later. I got the PV solar up on the roof 3 years ago ($11,000) and might add a pool heater when I retire. I only pay SRP $20 a month for their connection fee so it's working out well so far.

Besides, I need a pool cooler more than a pool heater anyway.

 

[gwegan]

Prices vary a great deal around the country so it's difficult to comment. For Sacramento cal that would be on the high side.
But you really need three bids.

Why the heat pump why not gas?

 

[pooldv]

How much heat and extra swimtime are you looking for? Solar has given us many extra swim days in the swim season, recovering from rain or cool fronts. We also use our solar panels to cool the pool by running them at night in July and August. We added a small (45k btu) heat pump (1500 bucks, self install) to extend the season. I noticed there were lots of days in April, May and October where about 5 more degrees would let us swim. The heat pump let us swim the entire month of October last year when we would not have been able to with the solar and cover alone. We do not like cold water, our min swim temps vary from 80-85 depending on air temps, preferred is 87-92.

My solar is undersized due to space constraints. More solar panels would give me a lot more heat. We have 240sf of panels and 700 sf pool surface. Usually it is recommended to install 50-100% of the pool surface. A solar bubble cover is important to slow evaporation heat loss overnight. The solar cover alone gave us about a month last spring.

100% agree with using a VS pump. Our Intelliflo pump runs at 1100 rpm for solar standby, skimming and making chlorine with the SWG. It uses 150 watts and costs 12 bucks per month to run 24x7. The solar controller kicks the speed up when solar heat is available and back down when solar shuts off.

There are pics and discussions about pool heating in my pool thread, link in sig.

 

[censored]

First, how big is your pool? 800sqft is A LOT of solar. Second, I don't think you need solar AND a heat pump. Just solar and a controller should be enough to get you by unless you want to be swimming year round, and if that is the case you need to add a cover too. To give you an Idea, my pool is 19x34 and I paid $5K for 55% coverage Heliocol and the controller installed.

 

[ping]

I would say the quote is not out of line for the amount of panels and equipment, but I'm questioning why the heat pump and so many panels?

List your pool specs such as size of the pool and what you are expecting out of the heating system.