Having a new 16×28 ingound put in soon, and im thinking about adding solar heat. My roof which is 2 stories high gets full sun 80% of the day. Im curious if im being too optimistic thinking I could gain atleast a month before and after a non heated pool? E/l is ridiculously expensive here, so I wont go near a heatpump, and gas is not an option. Thoughts? Anyone here in notheast with this setup? Thanks
solar in northeast???
- Thread starter suzook
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The time you gain on the end is going to depend on your personal preference and the weather at the ends of the pool season. It definitely helps, but one thing I never considered was the air temperature. Even though I can keep my pool in the mid-80s with my solar panels and blanket, eventually the air gets cool enough that people just don't want to swim. If you are swimming laps, it is great.
I usually gain a couple of weeks on the front of the season by running the panels. I've swam on October 5th before, but I've also had seasons where nobody got in the pool much after labor day.
I love having the panels for what they do during the season, and the extra swimming time is just a bonus that varies from year to year.
I usually gain a couple of weeks on the front of the season by running the panels. I've swam on October 5th before, but I've also had seasons where nobody got in the pool much after labor day.
I love having the panels for what they do during the season, and the extra swimming time is just a bonus that varies from year to year.
Great point! I didnt think about the obvious which is air temp! So maybe im only looking at 1month extra pool time, which in reality is not bad, along with the added benefit of a warmer pool the entire season.
Even here in Louisiana I have found that solar heat does a fair amount to extend the comfortable swim season, but not as much to extend the absolute swim season. By that I mean that while there is a significant increase in the overall season length, that without solar heat in the spring and fall pool temperatures seem to slowly creep up until it reaches some magic warm enough to swim point, then in the fall it tends to creep down dropping a little every week until it is too cold to swim. With solar it seems to me the start and end of the acceptable season is much more dramatic. Even this year with the crazy winter weather that would never end, my pool went from 53 to 73 degrees in less than 2 weeks (It then took another 3 weeks to get above 80 due to a number of setbacks, mostly due to the multiple hits of late season freezing weather and the automatic freeze protection recirculation), last winter was much the same, comfortably warm one day, and a couple of weeks later WAY too cold to think about swimming. My setup is not typical though since it is an indoor pool in an insulated building, so it gets buffered from those early and late season brief cold fronts surrounded by warm days. Having said that I find in my climate with about 2/3 solar panel to pool surface ratio that I can comfortably swim from the time of the last freeze of the year until the first freeze of the winter (maybe a week to longer on either side, not counting those few rare extremely out of season cold fronts.
