I am about to have a KStar 5k watt electric heater installed to top up my solar heating system. I have a two speed 1 HP Hayward Powerflo Matrix. At high speeds it claims around 80GPM of flow rate and half that at half speed. That means around 40 GPM at low speed. I ran my solar system most of the summer at low speed and it worked great, almost as well as at high speed.
The KStar has a maximum flow rate of 8 GPM. Even if you run a bypass around it how will the 40 or 80 GPM drop to below 8? Are there variable bypasses which dictate the percentage of water going to each piece? That is, the water splits into two paths and somehow more goes into the heater path. Perhaps the GPM for pumps, heaters and solar panels refer to different things?
The electric heater is only going to be used to top up what the solar doesn't do. I basically want 70F minimum in May and October in Toronto.
Would it perhaps be better to place the electric heater closer to where the pipes start climbing to the solar panels (25' away from the pump) as opposed to closer to the pump?
I realize that gas or perhaps a heat pump would be better but the extra cost and noise of a heat pump seems overkill for such a small pool while the installation of a gas heater is not feasible in this case.
Thanks,
Philip
The KStar has a maximum flow rate of 8 GPM. Even if you run a bypass around it how will the 40 or 80 GPM drop to below 8? Are there variable bypasses which dictate the percentage of water going to each piece? That is, the water splits into two paths and somehow more goes into the heater path. Perhaps the GPM for pumps, heaters and solar panels refer to different things?
The electric heater is only going to be used to top up what the solar doesn't do. I basically want 70F minimum in May and October in Toronto.
Would it perhaps be better to place the electric heater closer to where the pipes start climbing to the solar panels (25' away from the pump) as opposed to closer to the pump?
I realize that gas or perhaps a heat pump would be better but the extra cost and noise of a heat pump seems overkill for such a small pool while the installation of a gas heater is not feasible in this case.
Thanks,
Philip