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15-06-2004, 10:47 PM
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#1
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Homemade solar pool heater?
I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for it.
Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may also
want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
Thanks
Dave
(To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address)
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16-06-2004, 12:16 AM
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#2
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
In addition to my reply on rec.woodworking, let me add some caveats: Use large
diameter pipe to and from the manifolds. Keep the supply/return runs as short
as possible. It'll also work as a "cooler" if you run the pump at night! HTH.
Tom
Work at your leisure!
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16-06-2004, 05:14 AM
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#3
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
"Brandystew" <brandystew@aol.comNOSPAM> wrote in message
news:20040615074728.23916.00000006@mb-m28.aol.com...
> I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for
it.
> Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may
also
> want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
>
> Thanks
> Dave
>
> (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address)
Good place to begin: BTW solar energy ain't cheap.
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer...ol_heating.html
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16-06-2004, 06:41 AM
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#4
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
According to Brandystew <brandystew@aol.comNOSPAM>:
> I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for it.
> Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may also
> want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
The traditional "super cheap" way to do it is to simply lay flex black
PVC tubing on the roof in a flat coil. Not very effective.
You really should be looking into purpose-built collectors.
Popular these days (and reasonably inexpensive) are mats integrated
with molded fine tubing that you run water thru - at the bottom and
top are larger manifold tubes for supply and feed respectively.
The mats are often made out of recycled car tires. Last I looked
a 2'x10' mat was around $200CDN. Typical pool should have 3 or 4
of these mats. I worry about roof rot with these things (you don't
want it lying flat on the roof).
I've seen DIY designs for solar collectors which effectively consist
of a thin copper sheet with 1/4" or 3/8" copper tubing soldered to them
(like the molded-in fine tubing above in the rubber mats), 3/4" or so
copper manifolds. Spray paint the whole thing flat black (with a
moderately heat resistent paint), and install inside a flat insulated box
with a glass cover (thermopane if you can scrounge/afford it).
These are easy to make and quite inexpensive provided you can figure
out how to get cheap (or omit) fittings for the connections between
the manifolds and risers. The design I saw called for careful taper
cutting of the riser tubes and careful drilling of the manifolds so
you could butt-silver-solder them. Otherwise the 20+ Tees (unusual
that they need a center port of 1/4 or 3/8", so they're not in grab
bags from HD) you need make them more expensive than purchased units.
That said, copper is probably not a good idea for a chlorinated pool.
I think the collector design I saw was really only intended for
domestic water preheat.
You can make them yourself with synthetic rubber tubing too.
WATCH OUT FOR OVERPRESSURE!
As they pointed out, the copper/glass solar collector I describe above is
capable of reaching > 400F if there's no flow. Can you say kaboom! ;-)
There's a few gotchas like that you need to design around...
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.
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16-06-2004, 08:41 AM
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#5
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
I looked into making my own and it doesn't pay. Just bite the bullet and
buy the panels. They run about 200.00 each. I have several on top of my
house and I can keep my pool at 86 for the entire season. I absolutely love
it.
"Brandystew" <brandystew@aol.comNOSPAM> wrote in message
news:20040615074728.23916.00000006@mb-m28.aol.com...
> I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for
it.
> Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may
also
> want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
>
> Thanks
> Dave
>
> (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address)
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16-06-2004, 08:50 AM
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#6
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
"Brandystew" <brandystew@aol.comNOSPAM> wrote in message
news:20040615074728.23916.00000006@mb-m28.aol.com...
> I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for
it.
> Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may
also
> want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
>
An old satellite dish, some reflective mylar film, and a small high volume
copper heat exchanger placed at the focal point.......turn directly into the
sun for maximum effect......
<G>
--
SVL
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16-06-2004, 09:52 AM
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#7
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
"Brandystew" <brandystew@aol.comNOSPAM> wrote in message
news:20040615074728.23916.00000006@mb-m28.aol.com...
> I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for
it.
> Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may
also
> want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
>
> Thanks
> Dave
>
> (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address)
http://www.heatwithsolar.com/parts.do
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21-06-2004, 06:28 PM
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#8
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
Brandystew wrote:
> I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for it.
> Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may also
> want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
Repair? No. This is better in Alt.Solar.thermal or similar.
Where people actually have done it.
Solar water heaters were first in WIDE use in the late 1800s
through the south. This isn't new technology.
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28-06-2004, 03:45 AM
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#9
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Re: Homemade solar pool heater?
Brandystew <brandystew@aol.comNOSPAM> wrote:
>I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for it.
>Not sure how to go about it... Any recommendations?
Greenhouse polyethylene film (5 cents/ft^2 in wide rolls with a 4 year
guarantee) has lots of longwave IR transmission (ie little "greenhouse
effect"), so it's unlikely to overheat a roof, altho it can become brittle
over time, if it's touching a dark surface, and it sags a lot when it's
warm and it's subject to wind fatigue, esp if it's installed in flat
vs curved sheets.
How can we support it over a dark asphalt roof to make a trickle collector,
with a pipe full of holes along the ridgeline and a gutter at the eave? It
might be pressurized with a small blower (as in a greenhouse) that turns on
when the water is running or it's very windy (>10 mph) outside or very hot
(>150 F) inside. Some web straps over the film might help prevent outward
ballooning. Harry Thomason noted that trickling water spread nicely into a
uniform film over asphalt roofs (which he used for evaporative cooling at
night), but the asphalt shingles overheated when he added glass...
Nick
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