Finally up and warming enough to enjoy

[xanadu]

Here is pics of our new 16' Ultra, along with the roll cover, and solar panel set up. The sun has finally come out and warmed things up enough to swim. The new 4'x20' solar panel puts out quite a bit of hot water on a sunny day. well worth the $180.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Yay for y'all! Many a day I've wished for warmer water... glad this works for you.

 

[Casey]

Do you like that reel? If so, what kind is it?

 

[woodyp]

Take care of that duck problem and you're good to go!

 

[xanadu]

Do you like that reel? If so, what kind is it?

The reel works great, I got it for $40 used (minus the cover) Rocky's Eazy Roller http://www.rockysrollers.com/res.html

 

[DigbyAllen]

Nice! I have a solar panel but haven't hooked it up yet. I'm not sure how I want to do it. I can't decide if I should run it off the existing pump (I have the same one as you) or put it on its own smaller dedicated pump. How do you have your solar panel connected? Are those garden hoses? Can you post some close up photos of your connections? Thanks.

 

[xanadu]

Nice! I have a solar panel but haven't hooked it up yet. I'm not sure how I want to do it. I can't decide if I should run it off the existing pump (I have the same one as you) or put it on its own smaller dedicated pump. How do you have your solar panel connected? Are those garden hoses? Can you post some close up photos of your connections? Thanks.

If you look at the last photo you will see I put a y-tee inline and a ball valve to adjust pressure flow rate to the solar panel. I decided not to use the second hookup as the "inlet" for the hot water from the solar panel, so just left it for now, closed of course. I decided that I would rather have the hose hanging into the pool so I can monitor the output.

Yes, just rubber 5/8" garden hose. From the tee I put a hose to the inlet of the sola panel, then on the outlet of the solar I put another hose going directly into the pool. This way I still have lots of circulation from the pool outlet, plus have water going through the panel for heating.

 

[DigbyAllen]

OK I see how you did it. I'd like to do something similar. I don't want all my filtered water to run through the solar panel, so a splitter and ball valve makes sense. I like the idea of using garden hose. I'll have to look for connectors that will connect garden hose to my solar panel, or make my own.

 

[xanadu]

I ended up fabing one with misc parts from Home Depot. I need a 1-1/2 male pipe thread down to accept a 1/2" male pipe thread barb fitting for the hose. The only parts I could find at the time was a 90 degree elbow, and then a reducer.