Starting up the 2nd season of my pool - and finally looked long enough at the plumbing matrix of valves, holes, cut pvc, etc....and I think that the previous owner had some roof solar panels...and wanted to see if it might be worth setting some back up!
Here are some pictures to show what I'm talking about:
Wide Angle:
View attachment 60606
Close Up:
View attachment 60607
The top Jandy Valve you see comes off the return line, has a cut PVC pipe going into a hole in the wall (!) and the other port goes to a line in the ground and out to the water slide. Bottom Jandy Valve comes off the booster pump, has another cut off PVC pipe cut going out, then a T that has been capped just after that, that returns to the polaris return pipe in the pool...but after the t back out to the pool is a weird ball valve/hose connector...so there's that
The pool shed/adjacent roof is south/south west facing so it's almost perfect fit.
My pool shed doesn't have a lot of rooftop space (maybe slightly larger then 8x10)...but it has an upside of being not very high up (probably 8ft at the lowest side, 4-5ft pitch up)...there is another roof next to it that I supposed I could add solar to, but that would probably add quite a bit of resistance/head pressure to it.
I have a new (last season) Pentair Superflow VS which isn't the most powerful motor, but it's plenty for big for my current setup (without solar)...about 28k pool, approximately 18ft x 36ft. I know there is a surface footage to solar panel suggested ratio...but I don't think my one roof would support that many! So I'm guessing I'm looking at $300-$400 in panels, but do I need a controller?
I have a beastly old Jandy Lite2 propane heater that LOOOOVES to guzzle propane...I "heated" the pool a half dozen times last year to warm it up on the weekends for swimming...so if I could just bump the temp by 5-8 degrees by just solar it might just be worth it (I pay about $400/year for propane with the pool taking up 90% of that bill).
Just didn't know what people thought about solar efficiency/worthwhile if it's only a few hundred or so to get it going given my current plumbing....and my swimming season. Thanks for any help you all can offer - TFP has been an awesome resource for me - close/opened my pool last year by myself and pool opened up almost clear (minus some dirt/worms/frogs) and cleaned up in 2 days after a short slam cycle!
Here are some pictures to show what I'm talking about:
Wide Angle:
View attachment 60606
Close Up:
View attachment 60607
The top Jandy Valve you see comes off the return line, has a cut PVC pipe going into a hole in the wall (!) and the other port goes to a line in the ground and out to the water slide. Bottom Jandy Valve comes off the booster pump, has another cut off PVC pipe cut going out, then a T that has been capped just after that, that returns to the polaris return pipe in the pool...but after the t back out to the pool is a weird ball valve/hose connector...so there's that
The pool shed/adjacent roof is south/south west facing so it's almost perfect fit.
My pool shed doesn't have a lot of rooftop space (maybe slightly larger then 8x10)...but it has an upside of being not very high up (probably 8ft at the lowest side, 4-5ft pitch up)...there is another roof next to it that I supposed I could add solar to, but that would probably add quite a bit of resistance/head pressure to it.
I have a new (last season) Pentair Superflow VS which isn't the most powerful motor, but it's plenty for big for my current setup (without solar)...about 28k pool, approximately 18ft x 36ft. I know there is a surface footage to solar panel suggested ratio...but I don't think my one roof would support that many! So I'm guessing I'm looking at $300-$400 in panels, but do I need a controller?
I have a beastly old Jandy Lite2 propane heater that LOOOOVES to guzzle propane...I "heated" the pool a half dozen times last year to warm it up on the weekends for swimming...so if I could just bump the temp by 5-8 degrees by just solar it might just be worth it (I pay about $400/year for propane with the pool taking up 90% of that bill).
Just didn't know what people thought about solar efficiency/worthwhile if it's only a few hundred or so to get it going given my current plumbing....and my swimming season. Thanks for any help you all can offer - TFP has been an awesome resource for me - close/opened my pool last year by myself and pool opened up almost clear (minus some dirt/worms/frogs) and cleaned up in 2 days after a short slam cycle!
