Solar Questions and Answers

Answers to some of the questions you may have about  SOLAR POOL HEATING.
 

Why Heat My Pool?

You bought your pool for enjoyment, entertaining and possibly for health reasons. But you probably find that on many days when you would like to use your pool it is just too cold for comfort. Whether for recreation or relaxation, a comfortable pool is a great gathering place for family and friends.

Not only will the right solar heater make your pool warmer and more comfortable, it will add months to your swimming season.  That means you can spend more time in your pool.  More relaxation, more exercise and more fun!  As a bonus, greater value from the investment you have in your pool!

Why solar?

Millions worldwide have been enjoying solar heated swimming pools for over three decades. Heating swimming pools is today the largest use of solar energy in the world and there are good reasons for this.

• Savings: You have spent a small fortune to build your pool, yet are able to enjoy it only a few short weeks of Summer. To extend the pleasure of swimming, with ever increasing energy costs, you have to spend a considerable sum each month to warm your pool to a desired temperature. By installing a solar system which will cost no more than a few months fuel cost, you will have endless free energy to warm your pool for many years. Most systems have ten or more years of warranty on the solar collectors.
  
• Reliability and safety: Solar heating systems have no heat exchangers that failfrom corrosion, no fan motors or compressors to break down.  Your investment in a Hi-Deluxe solar heating system is protected by a lifetime limited warranty.  No other heating system offers that protection.   Solar systems have no flames or fans, they just keep heating your pool quietly, safely and reliably, year after year.
  
• Protect the environment: You can enjoy the comfort of your solar heated pool,knowing that you are using an environmentally friendly energy source, while you conserve our natural resources.

Is there enough sun where I live?

There is ample solar energy anywhere in the U.S. and Canada to heat your pool, if the solar heater is correctly selected and properly installed. The U.S. Weather Bureau’s records show that even northern states such as Maine and Minnesota receive more solar energy from April through October than Miami Florida does during its October through April heating season. They swim with solar heat year-round in Miami.

According to the United States Department of Energy, solar collectors for heating swimming pools represented 93 percent of all solar collectors, for all purposes, shipped in the U.S.A. during 1997.   The study also shows that they went to all climates of the continental U.S. plus Hawaii.

How does it work?

You have a choice of two control systems. A manual control, or a fully automatic electronic control system.

The manual system works with the pool pump timer, which can be set to operate only during the hours the sun is out. And you manually turn the system on or off by turning the handle on a three-port control valve.

With the automatic system you simply set the desired temperature on your control panel (1) and the system does the rest.

When the solar sensor (2) finds that there is enough solar energy to heat your pool and your pool is colder than you desire, water is automatically sent to your solar collectors (4) by the valve (3). Bright sunshine is not needed to heat your pool. The solar sensor will turn on your solar system even on a hazy or cloudy day when it finds the right amount of solar energy.

Your pool pump (5) sends pool water to the solar collectors. As the water flows through the many tubes in each solar collector the sun’s energy heats it. The solar-heated water then flows back to your pool. This simple cycle continues until your pool reaches your desired temperature.

You can cool an overheated pool in warmer months by simply running the pool pump at night. Your control system will automatically switch to cooling your pool.

With a manual control the operation is the same except that you have to turn the handle on the valve to shut off the solar system in bad weather when your pump is running.

How efficiently will my solar heater heat my pool?

If you follow our recommended solar heater sizes and installation instructions your pool should be six to twenty degrees warmer than it was before you heated it, under the same weather conditions.  Evaporation of water from the surface of the pool causes most of the cooling of the water.  The larger the solar collector area, the more of the sun’s energy it will collect and send to the pool.  Therefore, the larger the solar collector area is in relation to the surface area of the pool, the warmer the pool water will be.   If in the future you decide you want an even warmer pool or would like a longer pool season, you can add solar collectors to your system.

How about maintenance?

No special periodic maintenance is needed. If you close your pool at the end of the season the solar system will automatically drain down if the installer has followed the installation instructions.

What about a "solar" pool cover?

A solar cover is made from thin plastic formed with air pockets so it can float on the surface. A solar cover cannot heat a pool. It is not totally transparent to sunlight so it blocks out much of the sun’s energy that would otherwise heat the pool. However, it effectively prevents evaporation from the water surface, slowing down cooling of the water at night and in bad weather. We recommend use of a cover at night on above ground pools with a solar heater. The solar heater heats the water and the cover helps keep it warm. If you have a larger solar heater on an in-ground pool you can use a cover at night near the beginning and end of the season when the nights are long and cool. CAUTION:Never let anyone swim in your pool unless you have completely removed the cover. A number of people have drowned when they swam under covers. The cover adheres to the water and you cannot come up for air under it.

Unlike a solar cover (or "solar blanket") a solar pool heater is a true pool heater. It is different from other types of heaters because it uses no gas or electricity, only the greatest and most efficient energy source of all, the sun.

What About a Heat Pump?

A heat pump for an in-ground pool will cost about the same as a solar system and heat the pool about as well.   With the heat pump you will still have the monthly electric bill.   With the solar system the sun's energy is free!

Our solar collectors are more efficient

When solar collectors are rated for efficiency they are tested with a wind speed of less than five miles per hour with the sun directly above the solar collector surface.   In the real world the wind often blows at more than five miles per hour and the sun is directly above the collector surface for only an instant each day at solar noon.   For the rest of the day the sun is at various angles to the surface.   Therefore, the rating does not always predict the amount of the sun’s energy the solar collector will actually absorb while it is heating your pool.   Our products will send more heat to your pool at any hour of the day because they are designed to make better use of the available solar energy.

Tube-on Fin Solar Collector

Hi-Deluxe, Hi-Temp and Techno-Solis solar collectors use the proven tube-on-fin solar collector that works all day to absorb more of the available solar energy and send more heat to your pool.

The curved tube surface exposed to the sun’s energy presents a more constant surface area to the sun during the day as the sun’s angle to the solar collector surface changes than does a flat or nearly flat surface.

The space between the tubes forms a heat trap. Some of the solar energy falling on the fins and tubes re-radiates to the sides of the tubes and forms a high temperature area that is protected from the wind passing over the surface. This increases the amount of solar energy absorbed by the tubes, sending more heat into the pool water. That gives us a great advantage over solar collectors with separate exposed tubes where the wind passing between them wipes the warm air from their surfaces, cooling them.

Better Water Flow

The more water that passes through each square foot of solar collector each day , the more solar energy it will collect and the better it will heat your pool.When a laboratory is testing a solar collector to determine its heating performance rating it forces a predetermined amount of water through each square foot of collector surface.

Some solar collectors have built in restrictions to water flow that prevent the amount of water that they are rated under from flowing though them when they are connected to a pool filter system.   That means that they will not heat your pool as well as their rating.

All our Solar Collectors have wide-open straight-though flow passages that let more water flow through them.   That sends more heat to your pool each day.