That implies it is a topic many Google searchers are interested in. Sometimes it will autofill something poignant, and other times we will have to scroll down to the “people also asked” section to get ideas. Other times, something mind-blowing happens and we have to share our joy, rage, consternation, or plea for help. This post is not one of those. This one comes from the Google people also asked section.
We’ve been pretty solar electric heavy in our posts lately and didn’t want to make the solar hot water and solar pool people feel left out. So, I searched for those terms and scrolled down to the people also asked section and the question above came up. We checked it out just to see where we stood.
Without getting into exact numbers, because some of you will hold us to them ten years from now, we seem to be about twenty percent less on our prices than what the market is paying. If you have a pool and would like it to be warmer, for longer, maybe we should talk.
Here’s what we are talking about. Instead of using electricity or gas, which costs money and is a forever payment, heat your pool water with sunlight. Now, for cold or cloudy days, keep the electric heater as a back-up source of heat when you need it, but most of our customers rarely need it.
What a solar pool heater (SPH) does is pump your pool water up onto the roof and through long tubes in black thermal solar panels. These panels absorb the sun’s heat and transfer it to the water as it passes through. By doing this over and over again, it can raise the temperature of your pool between six and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit above ambient temperature. It typically can be expected to extend your swim season by a month on each end. This is enough for most pool owners.
The sizing, or number of panels required, is done by measuring the pool’s length and width. If you have a kidney shaped, or another other than rectangle shaped, pool then measure at the longest and widest points. The volume of the pool, or depth, is irrelevant to sizing for SPH. What needs to happen is the square footage of the surface of the pool needs to be reproduced in panel square footage on the roof.
Panels typically come in 4×8, 4X10, and 4X12 foot sizes to accommodate a variety of roof planes. If your pool is 15X25 feet, that is 375 square feet. 375 is 8 4X12 thermal panels, 10 4X10’s, or 12 4X8’s on your roof. See what we did there? A 4X12 is 48 square feet. 48 goes into 375, 7.81 times. That’s 8 4X12 panels. 4X10’s are 40 square feet. 4X8’s are – you get it.
It is simple, effective, and economical technology that has not needed improvement for a very long time. There are manufacturers that try from time to time, and they will blare about their efforts from the rooftops as the next best thing. It’s revolutionary! It’s not. At least not yet. No matter how fancy they get … six to fifteen degrees and one month on either end.
So, as we have promised in previous blogs, we will always try to tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly of anything we represent so you can make an informed decision. The good is that we have them for about 20% less than our competitors. The bad is that we may be raising prices soon based on this information. The ugly gets its own paragraph.
The ugly is that you have plastic polymer panels being fed chlorinated water through black PVC plumbing. All this plastic lives its lifetime heating then cooling then heating up again. From the inside and outside. Inside as cooler pool water is brought up and heated water is pushed back down to the pool. Outside from the sun being up all day and down all night. The reason this is ugly is because this will cause these parts to wear.
Eventually, a panel or two may need to be replaced. Once the plumbing is cut, the pipes may be warped and may be more cost effective to replace rather than force back together. That we know of, they do not make one that will not suffer these issues eventually. So, like anything, they will require some service and maintenance from time to time.
Unlike solar electric, or photovoltaic panels, it is unlikely that a SPH system will last for thirty years. Components, or the entire system, may have to be replaced after one or two decades.
Going back to good, many manufacturers put pretty strong warranties on the panels. Some are lifetime, where in twenty years, should a panel spring a leak or otherwise need replacement, all you have to pay is the labor to swap it out. Most panels are also pluggable. Also, let’s say you had to buy a new solar pool heat system every five years, you won’t, but if you did, it would still cost you less than paying to heat your pool with electricity for those same years.
At the end of the day, pools are holes in the ground we pour money into. For most of us, it is a worthwhile investment, but saving where you can always makes sense. Whether you use yours for fitness, recreation, or for entertaining the temperature of the water can deter use. If you’d like your pool to be more inviting, it turns out that, according to Google, our pricing is about 20% less than our competitors’. Now might be the time to call.
