Being an avowed DIYer and cheapskate, I've had visions of a homemade solar array dancing in my head for over a year and hope to tackle it this fall. I was gonna' wait on the discussion 'til then but since Meatloaf brought it up....let's talk.
My situation is a 43k pool that, to be effective, would surely require more panels than I can afford. I have a garage roof (my pump and filter are in the garage) that the back half will be 16 x 43 and I could dedicate that entire side to a home-built system.
I envision a 2" return going up to the bottom of the array which will be made from 2" PVC manifolds running horizontally that reduce to 1/2". The manifolds would allow 1/2" black poly pipe attached every 1.5 " to then run vertically to the top of the roof where they are joined back together with 2" manifolds again. That 2" pipe then returns to the pool.
Essentially, it would look like a picket fence laying flat on the roof with the 2" pipes being the top and bottom rail and the 1/2 pipe being the pickets. Aside from the STUNNING amount of connections that it would require, I think this idea has merit. I haven't done any real calculations yet but, up front, it looks like $500 bucks in materials and a LOT of labor.
It is possible Ed McMahon will stop by with that check today and I can forego all this nonsense but, while I'm waiting for him, I thought I'd have a back-up plan.