Thermax/OKU Solar Pool Heating Panels

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ScoopDogy

ScoopDogy

Member
Mar 27, 2024
7
Guntersville, Alabama
Pool Size
24
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Aqua Rite (T-3)
Has anyone tried the Thermax Solar Pool Heating Panels? They're also under the name OKU Solar Pool Panels. Made in Germany but I can't seem to find a US dealer for these. Honestly, they appear to be the most durable panels out there. I've seen videos of people hitting them with a hammer, run over by a car...so I'm intrigued. I'd love to hear from someone who already has them about what they like or don't like about them and if they're aware of a US distributor. The only one I can find is in Canada. I'll leave the link so you can see what they look like. Looking forward to reading the replies!

Unglazed Solar Pool Panels | Northern Lights Solar Solutions
 
A search finds only your mention of Thermax.

Have you contacted Northern Lights in Calgary? It sounds like they are the North America distributor. Their website says:

We have over 50 years of combined solar design experience and have been involved in some of the largest solar thermal projects in Canada, USA and Caribbean.
 
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Yes. Turns out they are the only distributor in North America. Have gotten literally no responses on how well they work but rave reviews for the OKU panels (same German company and technology used) from people using them in Australia. Guess I'll be the guinea pig....I just got my shipment from them two days ago. Hope to have the system running mid-March. Wish me well.
 
Bluman56 said:
@ScoopDogy
Did you end up installing them? I am extremely interested in purchasing some but it seems they are out of stock now on the Northern Lights website...
Click to expand...
I did...
Ok...so tell me how I'm doing. I posted I was getting Thermax Solar Pool panels a month or two ago despite many people not knowing about them. Instead of going through a hundred little tubes the water flows in a narrow space through the whole panel They're made in Germany and only sold at Northern Lights Solar Solutions in Canada. I went with them because there's only a seam on the outside of the panel so they're MUCH less prone to leaking compared to your typical panel. I got ten panels for a total of just 215 square feet of surface area although my pool is 452 square feet. I've got about 4-thousand in it, 3k were just the panels...the rest was piping and a Pentair Solartouch automation system to cut it on and off when the conditions are ideal to warm your pool. After a week of either clouds or rain, Sunday was my first real day to test it out. Highs in the upper 70's to 80 and lows in the low to mid 60's. I did not use a solar cover. The pool temp started out Sunday afternoon at a typical 74 degrees and I had a nice swim by late in the day when the pool temperature had risen to 81. Today, Monday, I took more detailed info. This morning the pool temp had dropped overnight by 4 degrees to 77 but still 3 degrees higher than the day before. Starting at 10 am here's the results:

Outside Temp Return Jet Temp from solar Pool Temperature
10 am 72 80 78

11 am 74 82 79

12 noon 77 86 80

1 pm 79 86 81

2 pm 79 88 83

3 pm 80 88 83

4 pm 80 87 84

5 pm 79 84 84

By 6 pm the system had reached it's peak of an 84 degree pool for the day and there wasn't enough solar to heat the pool so the system stopped sending water to the roof through the solar panels and just returned it to the pool. Once posted the temps may not line up with the wording so just realize the first number is the outside temperature, second is the temperature at the return jet from the solar panels, and the last number is the actual temperature of the pool.
Tuesday should be another nice day so it will be nice to see how much more it will do but....this pool would only be 74 or 75 degrees this time of year and it is SO much more enjoyable using a pool in the mid 80's than 74. I'm looking forward to seeing how the system does under different scenarios. So if you have a solar pool system...what do you think?
 

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