Solar Pool Heaters
You can reduce your swimming pool's heating costs by utilizing
a solar pool heater. Although the initial cost may be competitive
with gas pool heaters, solar pool heaters have a much lower annual
operating cost and are actually the most cost effective means of
maintaining the temperature of your swimming pool regardless of
where you live in the world.
For solar pool heaters to be effective they must have a solar collector
in which to allow the pool's water to be cycled through in order
to collect the heat of the sun. Solar pool heaters must also have
a filter so that they will not be clogged by debris in the pool
which would make them useless. Since the water will not circulate
itself you will also need a pump to move the water through the solar
pool heater as well as a flow control valve to either automatically
or manually divert the water.
In solar pool heaters, water gets pumped through the filtering
unit and then into the solar collector where the water is heated
before it returns into the pool. As a double function, in hotter
climates, the collector can be utilized in order to cool the pool
during the hot summer months in which the water is circulated through
the solar collector at night time instead of during the day allowing
the heat to be dissipated.
When the pool water is pumped into the solar collector, the heat
from the sun's light is absorbed by the black coating on the solar
collector which causes the plastic or metal to heat up and in exchange
that heat is then transferred to the water that is flowing through
the channels or tubing.
A basic solar pool heater will use a black plastic sheet that has
channels built inside for the pumped water to flow through and warm
in the heat. The more advanced systems will feature a box-like structure
with one side covered in glass or clear plastic. Inside this insulated
box will be an absorption plate that is coated in black and also
have a series of copper tubing attached to the back side of this
plate.
The sun's light enters the insulated box through the window and
gets trapped where it is absorbed into the metal plate and tube
then transferred to the pool water. The latter form however is not
a good choice if you intend to utilize it in the summer months to
cool your pool at night.
Keeping your pool warm is important as no one enjoys that first
plunge into a cold pool. But while your neighbors are paying an
arm and a leg to the utility companies for their electric pool heater,
you can grill up another couple of veggie burgers that you paid
for with the savings you made by deciding to go with a solar pool
heater instead of a traditional system.
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