How Solar Pool Heating Works

Do you have a swimming pool on your property? If so, you must be wondering how solar pool heating works because traditional electric heaters can truly cost a lot of money! Many people love swimming in their backyard pool so much they are willing to spend some good money to be able to use it longer during the year. This includes heating a swimming pool to extend the pool season. This is great but the costs can really add up here when using gas or electric pool heating equipment. 

A lot of people have turned to solar pool heating as a good way to lower their pool heating expenses. Here is an overview of the way solar pool heaters are installed and how they work.

How Solar Pool Heating Works in a Nutshell

Solar pool heating systems work using the sun’s powerful rays to heat up the water in the swimming pool. It all starts with special solar panels or mats that are placed on a homeowner’s roof. These mats have spaghetti-like tubing attached to them that the swimming pool water runs through. The solar mats are also black in color so they get very warm sitting upon a rooftop during a hot day.

These mats have plumbing going to them from the swimming pool and after the water runs through them it goes back into the swimming pool. So it’s basically just one big closed-loop system. The whole system works based on the principles of heat transference. The swimming pool water circulates very slow through the tubing in the solar mats. As this happens, the swimming pool water picks up the heat the solar mats give off and then deposits much warmer pool water back into the swimming pool.

One big misconception with solar heating systems is they cannot be used when it’s cold outside. This simply is not true. As long as there is sunshine, a well-designed solar pool heating system will still work. The only thing is it will work a little less efficiently than when the air temperature is warmer.

Solar Panel Location is Key

One of the most important tasks when installing any solar pool heating systems is locating the solar panels properly. This has everything to do with how efficient the system works. The solar heating mats must face in a direction where they get the most sun during the day. Failure to do this will result in a very poor working solar pool heater. It must be noted that you do not have to have an abundance of flat roof space in order to have a solar pool heating system. That’s because they can be mounted on specially made panels at ground level. Once again, the key is facing these ground-mounted panels in the direction they get the most sun during the day. 

How Does the Water in the Swimming Pool Gets to the Roof to be Heated?

You may be wondering how the water gets from the swimming pool up to the roof and then back down to the pool again. This is done by hooking up the plumbing to the existing swimming pool pump. If the roof is extremely high this may necessitate a change to a bigger pool pump for a little extra pushing power. Other than the plumbing parts and a few valves, there really is nothing else required to move the water through a solar pool heating system.

Solar Heating Systems Can Be as Simple or Sophisticated as a Homeowner Desires

One nice thing about solar pool heating systems is the can made to be simple to operate or have more sophisticated operate equipment built into them. Basic solar pool heating systems simply need to have a couple of valves to be rotated to turn the system on and off. Fancier solar pool heating systems have electrical control systems. On these automated solar pool heaters, users can do such things as set the temperature and the working hours of the system. Once this has been done, the automated system will open and close the valves that turn the solar pool heat on or off. So how solar pool heating works is really very simple whether its an automated system or not.

Supplemental Heat

Solar swimming pool heating systems are best when supplemented by gas heaters or electric heat pumps. That’s because not every day of the year produces abundant sunshine and there are some days where sunshine is simply non-existent. Obviously, on these kinds of days, you are not going to get much benefit from your solar pool heater. That’s why pool professionals usually recommend the hookup of supplemental heating systems. These do not have to be used a majority of the time but it’s nice to have them available in order to avoid a big temperature drop in your swimming pool during a stretch of cloudy days.

Most solar pool heater owners will also benefit greatly by having a solar blanket available to put on their swimming pool when they are not using it. Think of this as putting a blanket over yourself and how much warmer you are. These inexpensive blankets can really cut down on heat loss at night too when a solar heater is not being run. 

Solar Pool Heating Works Best in Warmer Climates

Solar heaters not only work, they work well when there is available sunshine but one thing they are not is a rapid type of swimming pool heating system. Wondering how effective is solar pool heating? Solar pool heating systems are designed to increase a swimming pool’s temperature about 4 degrees per day and maintain that temperature once the customer is happy where it’s at. This is the reason why they work best in more southern types of climates in the USA. For those that live up north where it gets very cold in the fall and spring, a gas heater or electric heat pump will raise a swimming pool’s temperature much faster than a solar pool heater can. This does not mean that solar pool heaters can’t be used in colder climates, you will just need to supplement them a much more of the time.

Solar Pool Heating Systems in Jacksonville, FL

Now that you understand how solar pool heating works, you may already want to switch to solar for your pool! Solar comes from a clean and renewable energy source, therefore, aside from great savings on power costs, you are also using an environmentally friendly way to heat your pool. Call Wayne’s Solar today to learn more about our solar pool heating systems. We service Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Port Orange, Palm Coast, and many other service areas across Florida. You may reach us at 386-673-9720 to get a free quote.