Timer/Heater/pump question

[justawildchild]

Here is my situation. I have a pool pump separate from my pool filter pump. The second pump is to direct water from the pool to the solar panels on my house. (the pool filter is way at the back of the yard and too far from my house)

I have since purchased a pool heat pump and have tied it in line half way between the pump and the pool. I have always operated the solar heating manually.(I have the pump hooked into a switch in the house. The pool heat pump is wired separately on it's own circuit.

FOLLOWING SO FAR?....................

This is what I want to do. I want to rig my pump so it will turn on below a certain temperature, and off when that temperature has been reached. (remember, the heating of my pool is independent of the pool filter)
The pool heat pump has a flow detection so it will go on and off as the pool pump runs and stops.

What systems are out there, or something I can rig up to make my pool pump turn on when the temperature calls for it?

Does anyone have an idea?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

 

[turnerj42]

I presume your heat pump has nothing to do with this question then correct as it would be tied into your normal pump filter system? If that is the case then most solar controllers have the abilty to add a relay or come with a relay to control a valve and a booster pump. So in your case the realy would turn on the booster pump when there is a call for heat and there is solar heat avail. And the valve output wouldn't be connected to anything.

Now if you have your heat pump on the same water circuit as the solar it gets more complicated I guess. First of all you don't want the heated water of the pool going up to the panels on the roof if the heat pump is doing the heating since sending water up to the roof will just be chilling the water as the sun won't be out. (Taking a guess that this is when you would use the heat pump since if it was sunny you would just use your solar)

So I guess the easiest thing to do if it is this option would be to have a manual valve that bypasses your panels when you want to use the heat pump. And just manually turn on the heat pump and pump on when you want to heat the water. I live in the same region as you and have a gas heater and I just turn it on when I want it on and off. I don't set it to 80 and forget it as I like to have some control of my gas bill.

Hopefully what I said makes some sense and if not if you could provide a bit more detail of where the heatpump lies in the water piping is it on the solar piping or the filtering piping.

 

[justawildchild]

OK, some does make sense. Ultimately I am thinking that I need to control the power to my pump with some sort of thermostat. The only thing is, it would have to be hooked into some sort of sensor that could go in the pool, or better yet, in line with my supply lines from the pool.
I already have by-pass shut offs for the solar, so I am not worried about cooling my water at night.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

My heater has a warning that the heater must be shut off 20 minutes before the pump does, to allow the insides to cool down. If you shut the pump off while the heater is still hot I think it can melt pvc plumbing...

 

[turnerj42]

In regards to your T-stat Idea. Thats where you would want to buy a solar controller. They would do everything you want. But they are not cheap. I have seen some posts on people making their own as well using sprinker valves and furnace t-stats etc.