Heating Your Swimming Pool with Solar Energy (2002)
This document was prepared by the North Carolina Solar Center (NCSC) and explains the rationale and basic benefits and components of solar pool heating systems.
Installing a solar heating system can extend your swimming season up to three months is most US climates and reduce heating cost by taking advantage of the strong sun during the summer months. Solar pool heaters also take full advantage of the fact that solar collectors are most efficient when working at low temperatures. Domestic hot water systems only raise a small amount of water to a very high temperature at an efficiency of 30 - 50%, pool heaters raise the temperature of several thousand gallons of water only a few degrees, to around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but operate at an efficiency of 70 - 80%.
The basic components of a solar pool heating system are shown in figure 1 of the document; (pump, filter, collectors and heater). The document also notes that the size of the solar collector should be equal to at least one half the size of the pools surface area. Collectors can be mounted on roofs or in any location near the pool that provides proper exposure and orientation toward the sun.
