Well I'm of the opinion that pool water flowing through 3/4 inch black pipe on the black shingles on my roof should do a good job of heating the water as it flows through. Anyone had success doing this?
Solar heater
- Thread starter Cobo351
- Start date
Certainly you will gains some heat that way, but it won't be especially efficient. The commercial panels are inexpensive and more efficient than anything remotely simple to make.
It is all about square footage ... it takes a LOT of 3/4" pipe to get a lot of square footage. Typical recommendations are 50-100% of the surface area of the pool. For the same area, some of the pre-fab square panels seem to be about the same price.
I just removed 2500 ft of 1" tubes from my roof (~210 sqft) and planning to put up 500 sqft of panels ... and I am in AZ
Also note that it is VERY difficult to get all the water out of the irrigation pipe. This makes the plastic VERY soft if non-moving water is in it and the sun is out. And also results in freeze damage if you leave them out in the winter. I had this problem where we BARELY get below freezing. I was always fighting leaks.
I just removed 2500 ft of 1" tubes from my roof (~210 sqft) and planning to put up 500 sqft of panels ... and I am in AZ
Also note that it is VERY difficult to get all the water out of the irrigation pipe. This makes the plastic VERY soft if non-moving water is in it and the sun is out. And also results in freeze damage if you leave them out in the winter. I had this problem where we BARELY get below freezing. I was always fighting leaks.
