Solar Heating for Pool – seeking product and contractor recommendations

[bibsoconner]

We are seriously thinking of getting solar heating for the pool. Using a gas heater to heat the pool is prohibitively expensive. We do heat the Jacuzzi. The kids can jump in the unheated pool, but not me. My wife is even more of a wimp; she considers 80 cold. She’s from the Caribbean. I think if we are going to have a pool, we should use it. I’m told that given you need to pump the pool daily anyhow (6-8 hrs in summer), it’s not a whole lot more to pump the water onto the roof for heating. Thus, most of the cost is the upfront panels and installation.

Any product recommendations and contractor recommendations? We’ve had one bid from SunX which uses Heliocol panels. I was also going to look at Naylor Solar which uses Solar Industries brand. Other ideas?

Thanks,

Dave

P.S. I posted before about the cost of the pool in general and solar pumps. Based on the answers I got, I purchased an electric variable speed pump. I’m very happy. It will pretty much pay for itself in 1 year. I didn’t get a solar DC pump. I couldn’t find enough literature/data to reassure me that the technology is tried and true.

[FlyerInHi]

No recommendation on contractor, but remember that a heated people will also need more maintenance and chemicals because, well, warm water is a better environment for algae.

And you’re right, if you own a pool, you should use it.

[Doofrat]

Again, no recommendation, but have you tried pool covers, they heat the pool pretty well during the summer and stop the loss of water and chlorine and also help control algae.
You can buy a cheap one for about $120. The more expensive ones last longer and work better in colder climes, but are much much heavier.

[bibsoconner]

Thanks doofrat, but we have a pool cover. Supposedly, it’s a pretty good one that retains heat in the pool. It’s automatic. I’m sure it helps a bit, but the pool is still too cold for our liking.

[Doofrat]

Well I just got a house with solar already set up (so I don’t have a lot of experience with it) but yesterday, the solar heated it from 74 degrees in the morning (it cooled down during the cold spell, and I also turned off the solar for a couple of days as a test) to 82 degrees in one day. This is a 5 ft deep around 15,000 gallon pool. Before I turned it off, it had gotten to 88 degrees on May 1st and was evaporating water like crazy and was starting to grow some serious algae. I’d guess it’ll be near 86-88 tonight with a day like today.
In the townhouse complex we used to live in, the solar didn’t have a regulator, so it’d hit the 90s by July and stay there until September.

[treehugger]

we installed pool solar last year and love it. My contractor was Jason with Custom Solar his contact number is (951) 259-9837.

The cost for pool solar was about $3,300. I don’t remember all the details except I interviewed a bunch of folks and really liked Jason. If I remember correctly he could offer anything the big folks do, but it is his own business and his overhead and therefore costs seemed to be significantly less. Plus his accent just cracked me up and he did a great job.

I am a big wimp, hubby and kids/dogs will get in the pool year round, I would prefer it closer to 90!

Good luck!

[spdrun]

Water that warm can be dangerous unless you add a lot of chlorine. If you want to be terrified, read about naegleria fowleri — it’s an ameoba that lives in warm, stagnant water and causes an incurable meningitis.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]Water that warm can be dangerous unless you add a lot of chlorine. If you want to be terrified, read about naegleria fowleri — it’s an ameoba that lives in warm, stagnant water and causes an incurable meningitis.[/quote]That can be solved with a salt water system and a good filtration system. Your pool shouldn’t be sitting stagnant.

[mike92104]

[quote=doofrat]Well I just got a house with solar already set up (so I don’t have a lot of experience with it) but yesterday, the solar heated it from 74 degrees in the morning (it cooled down during the cold spell, and I also turned off the solar for a couple of days as a test) to 82 degrees in one day. This is a 5 ft deep around 15,000 gallon pool. Before I turned it off, it had gotten to 88 degrees on May 1st and was evaporating water like crazy and was starting to grow some serious algae. I’d guess it’ll be near 86-88 tonight with a day like today.
In the townhouse complex we used to live in, the solar didn’t have a regulator, so it’d hit the 90s by July and stay there until September.[/quote]

You might look into a thermostat controlled bypass valve. Hopefully that would be a set it and forget it option.

[Doofrat]

It actually has a bypass valve with a thermostat on it, but the temperature on it is reading way off (I think it says the pool is 54 degrees), so I need to find the time to change out the thermostat so I can set it and forget it.

[bibsoconner]

Thanks for the comments everyone. My brother brought up a good point (he’s much smarter than myself!). If San Diego goes to “Time of Day” for electrical usage, that might greatly increase the cost of solar heating of the pool. Right now, I can pump anytime of the day I choose. If electricity cost more during daylight, I could pump and filter pool at 3 in the morning. With solar heating, you need to pump when the suns up and during the hottest parts of the day.

Anyone thought about this?
Anyone know how close we are to “Time of Day” pricing?

Dave

[bibsoconner]

Thanks for the comments everyone. My brother brought up a good point (he’s much smarter than myself!). If San Diego goes to “Time of Day” for electrical usage, that might greatly increase the cost of solar heating of the pool. Right now, I can pump anytime of the day I choose. If electricity cost more during daylight, I could pump and filter pool at 3 in the morning. With solar heating, you need to pump when the suns up and during the hottest parts of the day.

Anyone thought about this?
Anyone know how close we are to “Time of Day” pricing?

Dave

[ocrenter]

[quote=bibsoconner]Thanks for the comments everyone. My brother brought up a good point (he’s much smarter than myself!). If San Diego goes to “Time of Day” for electrical usage, that might greatly increase the cost of solar heating of the pool. Right now, I can pump anytime of the day I choose. If electricity cost more during daylight, I could pump and filter pool at 3 in the morning. With solar heating, you need to pump when the suns up and during the hottest parts of the day.

Anyone thought about this?
Anyone know how close we are to “Time of Day” pricing?

Dave[/quote]

I have been reaping the benefit of TOU pricing for a while due to my EV and solar set up. I also have an automated pool cover set up as well. I’m staying with TOU for the following reason:

–the automated pool cover will bring pool temp to 90 as long as the filter runs at high speed for couple of hours midday. The TOU peak rate starts at 12 noon to 6 pm at is at $.48 per kWh. The TOU rate for off peak is $.21 from 5 am to 12 noon and 6 pm to 12 midnight. Therefore, plenty of opportunity to run the filter on high during off peak hours prior to 12 noon.
–being grandfathered in with regard to net-metering means I’ll still be credited with solar production from 12 noon to 6 pm at $.48/kWh. Even if I do end up finding I’ll need the filter on high for an hour during the peak hours, I’m still coming out way ahead due to TOU.
–meanwhile, the pool filter and the EV are using/charging during super off peak at $.17 per kWh.

TOU is awesome if you have solar and can be grandfathered into the net-metering agreement by the end of the year. Something to think about if you do not yet have solar.

[bibsoconner]

Thanks for the reply ocrenter, I appreciate it.

I can see how the calculations are different for you, as you also have solar panels feeding electricity back into the grid. I had not really considered solar for the house as our current electric bill is only about $100/month. So we would just have solar for the pool. Like I said, I filter (with a multi speed, newer pump) for 6-8 hrs a day. But right now, I could easily change the time of that pumping to midnight to 6 am if TOU came to be. But you can’t do that if you need to pump water to the roof of your house during the hottest part of the day.
I mentioned this to one contractor and he (politely) scoffed at my concern. He said that either (i) this TOU will not happen or (ii), the utility (SDG&E) would be forced to give customers that are heating their pools the reduced rated during the hottest part of the day. I’m currently checking claim (ii) out. Off-hand, I wouldn’t think SDG&E would have to do anything they don’t want to – unless there are gov’t regulations saying otherwise.

Enjoy your pool!
Dave

[ocrenter]

[quote=bibsoconner]Thanks for the reply ocrenter, I appreciate it.

I can see how the calculations are different for you, as you also have solar panels feeding electricity back into the grid. I had not really considered solar for the house as our current electric bill is only about $100/month. So we would just have solar for the pool. Like I said, I filter (with a multi speed, newer pump) for 6-8 hrs a day. But right now, I could easily change the time of that pumping to midnight to 6 am if TOU came to be. But you can’t do that if you need to pump water to the roof of your house during the hottest part of the day.
I mentioned this to one contractor and he (politely) scoffed at my concern. He said that either (i) this TOU will not happen or (ii), the utility (SDG&E) would be forced to give customers that are heating their pools the reduced rated during the hottest part of the day. I’m currently checking claim (ii) out. Off-hand, I wouldn’t think SDG&E would have to do anything they don’t want to – unless there are gov’t regulations saying otherwise.

Enjoy your pool!
Dave[/quote]

I doubt SDGE will be switching over to TOU for the general public anytime soon. Therefore would not look at looming TOU as a major factor here.

Solar is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds, yet a lot of solar owners are not on TOU tariff rate. Can you imagine the financial hit SDGE will be faced with when all these solar owners can suddenly charge SDGE at peak rate during peak generating hours?

By going from a 4 tier system to a 2 tier system, SDGE is trying to discourage solar installations. A cross-the-board TOU system will significantly encourage solar installs.

As for your contractor’s claim that SDGE will have to charge pool heating costumers a lower rate. that’s complete bull, probably because he had nothing else to say on the subject and didn’t want to lose the business.

[Author]

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