Equipment in direct sun increase water temperature?

[cjs]

I'm in Houston and have tried throughout the years to cool my pool with evaporative cooling fountains and such.. It's too humid here and just doesn't work... Doesn't matter time of day.

This past weekend, I decided to build a frame from PVC and use a tarp to shade my pool equipment. My equipment pad is on the west side of my house and gets about 4-6 hours of direct afternoon sun. My pool itself gets morning sun, but begins to be shaded about 11:00 am and is fully shaded by 4pm.

My thought is, just as the water passes through a heater, the sun works as a heater (albeit to a much lesser degree) as the water goes through the filter, pumps, and pipes. Immediately after putting the tarp on this weekend, the temperature reading (aqua logic system) dropped by 2-3 degrees within 10 minutes. This suggests that the water was heating that 2-3 degrees at the equipment and cycling back to the pool.. Just like with a heater... Thus gradually heating the pool throughout the afternoon.

The temperature sensor is mounted in the pipe, but I'm assuming that it isn't affected by elements outside the water pipe.

So, any opinions on if this will have the desired effect? 2-3 degrees can make wire a difference (92 vs 89 degrees).

 

[Richard320]

Question: was the pump on the whole time?

My pump and filter sit in full sun. I've noticed that on hot days, when the pump kicks on, the temperature display on the heater shows high. Then after a few minutes, as the thirty gallons (or whatever is in the filter) of solar-heated water mixes and exits the filter, the display shows cooler. You can see it drop over time. I don't think the equipment adds much heat overall to my pool, but that captive water sitting in the filter all day certainly heats up.

 

[cjs]

Yes, pump starts running about 11:00 am, which is before sun hits equipment. That's also when ambient temperature is still near or below water temp.. So that's not an issue for me.

 

[1Sammy]

I don't think it will change the temp of the water In The Pool enough to read.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I dunno about your temps but I'd love to see a pic of your PVC cover.

Maddie

 

[phonedave]

The impact of the sun on your filter as compared to your pool temp is minuscule.

Search for threads on DIY solar heaters. People have calculated the total temperature rise from homemade solar heaters consisting of 100's for feet of black tubing in direct sun with water circulating through them multiple hours per day. The results are basically no discernible temperature rise. The heat coming from your filter sitting in the sub is no different.

 

[guinness]

See the following thread about temp sensor accuracy.

Insulating Water Temperature Sensor

For the last two years I have had my pool, it has really frustrated me that the water temperature (that decides if the heater should run) was very inaccurate. If the sun is out, it could be 5-10F different then what either the sensor in the Heat Pump thinks the water is, the sensor in the salt...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[rphpool]

I have a shade sail over my equipment. I noticed everything was getting real hot. I would think over time sun might damage pvc pipe and other equipment. Plus it keeps my chlorine tank cool!