Nocturnal Pool Temperature Cooling With Solar Panels
Much like you can use a heat pump to cool water, you can also use solar panels in a similar way.;
Heres how solar panels work to heat your pool:
A pump runs your pool water through the panels which are receiving sunlight. The sunlight heats the panels, which then transfer the heat into the water. Now, the same process works in reverse at night. Your roof is significantly colder than your pool area at night. So, if you run the water through the panels, this exposes it to the cold night air.;
Before you know it, you have colder pool water.;
However, you should note that this method wont cool the water to a temperature lower than the environment temperature. Sometimes, even the nights in Southern Florida dont get below 80 degrees. So, this strategy will only get you so far.;
The Benefits Of Solar Panels As Pool Water Heaters
You will be able to use a controller to create an automatic solar pool heater.; You can adjust your thermostat in the same way you would your water geyser.
Once you set your pool temperature, your controller will adjust the water flow into your panels so that you can get the water temperature you want.
Your automated pool heater will sense the water temperature.; As well as the air outside of your pool.; When the temperature is high enough to warm your pool water, it will open up the valves to heat up your pool.
If the weather is cold or chilly, and will cool down your pool water, your automated controller will close the valves.; This will prevent the panels from cooling down your pool water.
You should also be able to use your automated controller for other areas of pool care or maintenance.; By adding your pump or filtration system and your lights or vacuuming system, youll be able to make pool maintenance easier.
How To Heat A Pool Super Fast And Crazy Affordably
Looking for the best way to heat up your pool? Maybe you want to open up your pool early and start swimming ASAP. Or perhaps youd just like your water a little warmer throughout the swim season.
Three pool heaters can heat your pool: Solar, DIY options, and traditional pool heaters. So lets dive into the best ways to heat your pool quickly and efficiently.
Before we continue, if youre looking for help keeping your pool clean and clear throughout the season, check out our FREE Pool Care Cheat Sheet. Its a totally free, easy-to-use guide to help you keep track of taking care of your pool.
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Use Solar Blankets Or Rings
While both solar blankets and solar rings can effectively warm up a pool, think of them more as heating aids.
Why?
Because, by themselves, they simply wont provide the level of heat and performance you get from a pool heater.
But that doesnt mean you shouldnt use them in fact, it actually costs you more not to. Heres why:
While we buy pool heaters to keep our pools warm, we sometimes forget why we need them in the first place. Heat loss. If it werent for heat loss, the sun would be more than plenty for enjoying a good swim, and heaters would be obsolete. But in this world, that isnt the case.
So whats the best solution for reducing heat loss?
Covering your pool.
Using a solar cover reduces evaporation and water loss by up to 70%. And less water loss means fewer chemicals going to waste. All of which spells lots of savings for you.
But lets not forget that using a cover also helps lock in the heat in your pool. Much like putting a lid on a pot of boiling water.
Bottom line: Solar covers and rings improve heating efficiency.
Since solar covers and pool rings serve more or the less the same function, we grouped them together. Both products work by forming a barrier between your water and the sun.
But if youre going for efficiency, pick a solar cover. Theyre cheap, easy to apply, and simple to replace. Solar rings, while more aesthetically pleasing, tend to be a bit more expensive.
Cons of Solar Covers and Rings
Optimize Pool Mechanical Systems
A well planned pool pump and filtration system helps energy efficiency & saves money. Plan from the beginning for extra valves to be fitted in pipe runs so that additional pool heating systems like a heat pump or solar panels can be easily retrofitted or drained down for winterizing in the future. A little more thought at the planning and installation phase always saves money in the long-term and lets you fit the most efficient heating systems to your pool in the years ahead. Instead of the classic Army acronym 7P’s, perhaps we should remember Proper Planning Provides the Possibility of Peak Pool Performance?;;
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Using Dome Shaped Connectors To Heat Your Pool
Solar dome connectors work in a similar way to solar mats.; However, with a dome connector, the piping is rolled up into a dome shape.; Heating for pools takes place within this dome.
Solar dimes take up far less space than solar mats.; A 8 x 4 meter pool which is 1,5m deep will only need ten domes.; This because each dome heats up a large amount of water.
It is best to use solar domes for small pools.; This is because, like solar mats, domes are dependent on sunlight.; You will also use a lot of energy to push water into and through, the domes.
Domes are slightly cheaper to buy than solar mats.
Pool Location In The Yard:
Siting the pool needs careful thought for free heating!For passive solar heat gain it needs ideally to be located to get maximum sun – this is optimized “Insolation”, not to be confused with “Insulation!” At the same time its also ideal to have a pool in an area shielded from the wind, as wind on the surface of a pool creates ripples or small waves. Heat loss through evaporation is an interaction of water temperature, air temperature, humidity, and surface area of the pool. A flat, tranquil swimming pool will have a water surface area equal to the physical dimensions of the pool. Ripples and waves on the pool increase the surface area of the water exposing more of the surface to the colder air on all but the hottest days, but also accelerate the losses from evaporation. Locating a swimming pool in an area that gets both sun and which is shielded from the wind is a huge win/win and will be a great help in increasing solar gain while reducing heating requirements and the losses associated leading to higher energy use and costs.
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How To Heat Your Pool With Aquacomfort
Over 100,000 pool owners across America efficiently heat their pool with AquaComfort pool heat pumps. Whether you live in Florida, California or even up north, AquaComfort can deliver warmer water temperatures with no emissions and a significantly less operating cost than all other pool heating products. Not only are you saving money, youre;helping save the environment!
We also offer reliable and trustworthy service and support for our product owners. When problems do occur, were ready to help find solutions and make things right. If service is ever needed, simply fill out our Service Request Form and our representatives will reach out to you within 72 hours. You can also easily access owners manuals and AquaComfort FAQs on our website.
AquaComfort pumps are available at authorized pool dealers across the U.S. Installation is made easy and painless, without any disruption to the surrounding landscape thanks to AquaComforts pool heater design. We can help connect you to the nearest dealer and get you started on your journey to longer summers.
Ways To Warm Your Pool With Help From The Sun
Your pool is the best part of summer, and now you can use it sooner and longer each season. Here are three ways to use the sun to warm your pool water.
Solar pool heaters. ;Solar pool heaters are the most energy-efficient heating system for your pool. For many people, the environmental consideration alone makes solar heating desirable. The efficiency of the system is variable, however. You must have an area for your solar panels that has southern exposure for at least six hours per day. It must be unobstructed by trees or buildings.
The general rule of thumb is the surface area of your solar panels should equal 50-100% of the surface area of your pool. This can be less if you live in a warmer part of the country or if you purchase a high-efficiency system. Most people prefer to have the solar panels placed on a roof where they are safe from accidental damage, but they can be placed on the ground as long as exposure to the sun remains. Check with local building codes and covenants for any restrictions.
The reels come in the manual version or they can be plugged into a regular outlet and the cover is then rolled up with a push of a button. The thickness of the vinyl or plastic is also a consideration. The thicker the material, the stronger it will be and the more effective, but the cost will also increase. There are warranties for the covers also.
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Install A Pool Chiller Or Heat Pump
If youre not inclined to get overly creative, theres always the option to install a pool chiller. After all, if the tool exists, why not use it.;
Modern pool chillers use fans to cool water as it travels through its system. Its as simple as that. Pool chillers claim to be able to drop a pools temperature up to ten degrees overnight. And in a lot of cases, thats true. But, it will largely depend on the size of your pool. They can be installed in as little as a few hours and you can get to work immediately. Pool chillers will set you back a few thousand dollars, depending on the size of your pool.
Alternatively, you can install a heat pump. You read that right. Pool heat pumps have a reverse function used to cool water by extracting heat from it. However, a heat pump will see very little use in the Miami area. Chillers are significantly less expensive if you just need to cool the water in your pool. Moreover, chillers are much cheaper to run than a full heat pump used to cool your pool.;
Think Carefully About Where You Put Your Pool
How do you determine exactly where you will place your pool? Is it because there is enough space or just because the swimming pool has always been there? The location that you choose is important both for cleaning your swimming pool and for warming up your swimming pool.
For example, do not place your Intex pool under or near a large tree. Everything that falls from the tree will then end up in your swimming pool. In addition, your swimming pool is then in the shade of the tree. So, try to look carefully where your swimming pool has the most sun hours.
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Reducing Pool Evaporation Saves Energy & Money:
Evaporation is by far the largest source of energy loss from a pool. Evaporating water requires tremendous amounts of energy. It only takes 1 Btu to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree, but each pound of 80ºF water that evaporates takes a whopping 1,048 Btu of heat out of the pool. ;This diagram shows outdoor pool energy loss percentages:
In any backyard pool across the USA in a climate zone with 4 seasons, there’s a 70% energy loss from evaporation, 20% from radiation to sky, and 10% to ground and other. Heat loss of any pool, heated by any means, is primarily driven by evaporation from the surface of the pool. Upwards of 70% of heat loss is through evaporation. Controlling the evaporative loss is therefore a key factor in reducing heating cost and there are several methods of achieving these savings, some more Eco-friendly than others.
Many who have considered or used both of the above described blankets also consider them to be unsightly,;difficult and/or expensive to use – and as we said, surrounding ourselves with vinyl is not a great choice of material so polyethylene may be a better choice .;The last type of blanket available on the market is the Liquid blanket, so we should look at that.
What Are Liquid Solar Covers for Pools?
“an aliphatic alcohol component having from 12 to 24 carbon atoms per molecule combined with calcium hydroxide”
How to use liquid solar covers
Thats all there is to it, apparently;it couldnt be easier to use a liquid solar pool cover!
Drain & Refill Your Pool
If the temperature has gotten way too high or if youre due for a water change, starting from scratch with cooler and more refreshing pool water might be just the thing. Draining your pool is an expensive option but it might be necessary, depending on how hot your pool water is.
We dont recommend this option, outside of the most extreme cases, as it is only a short term solution to a season-long challenge. Without a secondary cooling solution, your newly refilled pool is just going to heat up again not to mention all of the new chemicals youll have to throw in to rebalance and sanitize the new water.
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Using An Electric Pool Heat Pump
Pool heat pumps draw in warm air from the atmosphere and use that air to heat the pool. Its a low-energy process that relies entirely on your outside temperature.
So, as long as the weather is warm enough , pool heat pumps can be a good option.
The installation cost is between $500 to $1500. DIYers could potentially save you hundreds or thousands. And running it will cost around $100 $200 a month.
Heat Pump Pool Heaters
Homeowners looking to extend their pool seasons, while staying cost-efficient and environmentally conscious, are turning to heat pump pool heaters to solve their heating needs. What exactly is a heat pump pool heater, and how does it work?
A heat pump pool heater is an advanced-technology pool-heating solution that maintains efficiency even after years of use. Essentially, the only cost is the compressor and fan motor operation, allowing you to then consume the free heat from the air!
The basic heat pump pool-heater cycle works like this:
In simpler terms, heat pump pool heaters transfer heat from the ambient air to the pool water and run on electricity, functioning similarly to a home air conditioner.
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Solar Pool Heater Panels: What You Need To Warm Up Your Water
Solar Pool Heater Panels: What You Need to Warm Up your Water. Yes that’s it. Don’t shake anymore when your bill arrives. There is another way to warm up your pool while not warming up the planet too! The most you use this to warm up your pool the cooler the planet gets. Come on and see, this is our summer plan.
Coil A Black Garden Hose
Coil a 100- to 150-foot black garden hose like this one from Giraffe , near the pool so that it receives lots of direct sunlight. It will then absorb the suns heat. Connect one end of the hose to a pump set up to pull water from the pool , and place the other end in the pool. As the pump pulls water out of the pool and pushes it through the hose, the hot hose heats the water before recirculating it back into the pool.
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How Long Does It Take To Heat A Pool Without A Heater
If you dont have a heater, the best option to heat a pool without a heater is the sunlight. A solar cover is perfect if you want to minimize the evaporation and do the healing process fast without a heater.
As previously discussed, If you want to increase or warm up the pool temperature around 2-3 degrees Celsius, normally it will take 7-10 hours.
Before Warming Up Take Into Account The Size Of The Pool
The easiest and cheapest way to heat up your Intex pool is with solar energy. This is especially true for small swimming pools, which contain a relatively small layer of water, so the sun has sufficient power to heat up the water. If you have a larger swimming pool, inground or inflatable pool, then its a different story. The sun simply does not have enough power to heat up your swimming water, so you will have to look at other solutions.
So the deeper the pool and the larger its size, the more energy is needed to keep the water at a pleasant temperature.
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