Hey everyone,
I have a 10,000-gallon in-ground pool with a Pentair VSP here in Phoenix, AZ. The pool also has a dark-colored pebble finish, which makes it heat up pretty quickly during the summer months. It’s great for winter, but during the summer, it becomes too warm to enjoy. I’m hoping to find a solution that works for both heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.
I’m already planning to add some roofing to cover my newly constructed patio and pool equipment areas, so I’m thinking about whether I can tackle multiple problems at once with a single project. Here’s what I’m considering:
The Setup:
• Building an 8’ x 12’ roof using six DIY 4’x4’ PEX (landscape tubing) coil panels arranged in parallel.
• In the winter, the panels would serve as a heater to warm the pool.
• In the summer, I’d install a cover made of rigid foam insulation with a reflective coating to block the sun and some of the heat. I’d run the pump at night to circulate the water when temperatures are cooler, hoping this could help reduce the pool temperature.
• For the roof, I’m thinking about using a lightweight material like corrugated or twin-wall polycarbonate to make the setup water-resistant. Water-proofing doesn’t have to be perfect, but enough to protect the panels.
• The plumbing is already in place for a pool heater, so everything could run on a closed-loop system with the VSP, which should have no problem handling the 10K-gallon pool.
Additional Consideration:
One bonus of this setup would be protecting the landscape tubing from the brutal Phoenix summer sun, potentially extending its lifespan.
What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone tried something similar for both heating and cooling? Would the chilling produce anything beyond what I could obtain from some sort of DIY evaporative cooling...or other benefits (since evaporative has some downsides).
I’d love to hear if this sounds feasible or if there are potential pitfalls I might be missing.
Thanks in advance for your input!
I have a 10,000-gallon in-ground pool with a Pentair VSP here in Phoenix, AZ. The pool also has a dark-colored pebble finish, which makes it heat up pretty quickly during the summer months. It’s great for winter, but during the summer, it becomes too warm to enjoy. I’m hoping to find a solution that works for both heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.
I’m already planning to add some roofing to cover my newly constructed patio and pool equipment areas, so I’m thinking about whether I can tackle multiple problems at once with a single project. Here’s what I’m considering:
The Setup:
• Building an 8’ x 12’ roof using six DIY 4’x4’ PEX (landscape tubing) coil panels arranged in parallel.
• In the winter, the panels would serve as a heater to warm the pool.
• In the summer, I’d install a cover made of rigid foam insulation with a reflective coating to block the sun and some of the heat. I’d run the pump at night to circulate the water when temperatures are cooler, hoping this could help reduce the pool temperature.
• For the roof, I’m thinking about using a lightweight material like corrugated or twin-wall polycarbonate to make the setup water-resistant. Water-proofing doesn’t have to be perfect, but enough to protect the panels.
• The plumbing is already in place for a pool heater, so everything could run on a closed-loop system with the VSP, which should have no problem handling the 10K-gallon pool.
Additional Consideration:
One bonus of this setup would be protecting the landscape tubing from the brutal Phoenix summer sun, potentially extending its lifespan.
What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone tried something similar for both heating and cooling? Would the chilling produce anything beyond what I could obtain from some sort of DIY evaporative cooling...or other benefits (since evaporative has some downsides).
I’d love to hear if this sounds feasible or if there are potential pitfalls I might be missing.
Thanks in advance for your input!
