I have a above ground pool and I would like to make a solar pool heater. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I also would like to by-pass it at times. Has anyone done this?
Thanks Dave
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Dave wrote: >I have a above ground pool and I would like to make a solar pool heater. I
Sure have. I've got 6000 feet of black irrigation pipe lying on the southern slope of the property, and it's been heating my pool for nigh on 6 years. I plumbed a "Jandy" valve in just after the filter, one side leading to the solar, the other leading back to the pool. The heated water is returned through another PVC ball valve into the pipe leading back to the pool. Tom Work at your leisure!
I have approximately 300' of black pipe spread ot all over the south facing slope of my garage roof. I have found that it works much better if you can cover the pipe with a layer of poly to ward off the cooling effects of the wind. On a hot sunny day, the water comes out of the pipe so hot that I can only hold my hand under the running water for about 5 seconds. We had the pool tempuratyer up to 102 degrees f. last summer before I finally decided it was time to bypass the heater.
I simply used the filter pump that came with the pool. It does not have enough lift to push water to the roof of my garage, but I found that by filling the 300' of black hose with my garden hose prior to hooking up the pump, it works just fine.
This years plan is to mount all of the hose on to two sheets of plywood that I will paint black. After mounting the hose, I am planning to cover everything with black poly with hopes of extracting even more heat from the sun. I will be starting work on that this week.
Before becoming too greedy ;-) I'd suggest looking into the life of poly pipe vs. temperature. I little less temperature may be better.
RB
BiffNightly wrote:
There must be a site for this stuff, but it's sure fun to think about. It would be a lot better to use a layer of roof tin over the ply, preferably with a bit of air behinf it...maybe from some 1/4" slats every few inches. Also, use clear poly. You want the light to get in and heat the backing and pipe. Use a wood frame the thickness of the pipe to seal the edges and prevent convection..
I don't have any real numbers, which I'm sure are on some energy site, but I expect you could get 200-300 W/square yard in max sun. At that rate, 16-20 SY would equal a good electric heater. That would be six 4X8 sheets. Actually, some celotex siding board would be a good backer, if you made a support frame. It's insulation would help keep the exchange better.
Keep the flow rate high for max heat transfer. The colder the input water, the more energy it will pick up.
No experience, but a recent slashdot.org article on a large fresnel lense which can burn concrete and melt softer medals gave me the idea of a very effective solar heater for the day when I get a pool in the yard. You could defocus the fresnel a bit so it wasn't absolutely blasting the metal, but the water could even boil with that type of lense.
Alan
Tue, Jun 15, 2004, 7:20am (EDT-2) snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (BiffNightly) says: This years plan is to mount all of the hose on to two sheets of plywood that I will paint black.
Supposedly, elm green (whatever the Hell color that is), works best.
After mounting the hose, I am planning to cover everything with black poly
I believe clear works better. I can't remember where I got them from, so you might want to check. Something like a car, with clear windows, versus tinted windows.
JOAT Use your brain - it's the small things that count.
- Bazooka Joe
Is the pipe plastic or metallic?
You might want to check at news:alt.solar.thermal
Faustino Dina wrote:>Is the pipe plastic or metallic?
Plastic. Tom Work at your leisure!
Never tried this but my brother-in-law says that a big sheet of bubble wrap floating on the pool works pretty well.
Ours is currently 84 degrees (in-ground) without any help.
Lou
Fri, Jun 18, 2004, 7:56pm snipped-for-privacy@dot.net (loutent) claims: Never tried this but my brother-in-law says that a big sheet of bubble wrap floating on the pool works pretty well.
But then you'd have to screw around taking it up, every time you wanted to swim, then put it back.
Be a lot better to cut out the individual bubbles, and use them. That way you could just jump in. Let us know how it works out.
JOAT Use your brain - it's the small things that count.
- Bazooka Joe
On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:25:11 -0400, snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (J T) vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:
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Bringing all the debris with it, though? Double it up as a pool safety net, if made stronger?
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