Posted: 6/11/2008 3:13:19 PM EDT
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I have a medium sized pool on the south side of our house, there is zero shade on the pool for 8+ a day in the summer. We live inland in SouKal. I use gas heat now, and am getting raped to the tune of about $300 per month. I am considering a solar unit, I have a solid patio cover near the pool, about 12X 25 feet, and of course there is the roof which is huge, but 2 stories up. What's involved, what does it cost, what questions should I be Asking? Thanks |
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Second hand info: They really work, really, they do. Even the ones that just float on the surface work well. A solar hot water system (panels remotely mounted on the roof) work very, very well. Either will significantly reduce energy consumption for heating your pool, the panels might just eliminate external energyusage. |
Yeah, it BLOWS when I'm sitting with my feet in the water in October, smoking a stogie, sipping a single malt, cleaning my HK SR9TC, Bushy, Benelli, FAL, and M1A.  It mainly sucks here for the newcomers, for longtime afficiaonados, we have all the toys we could carry out of the funshop. |
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I live in Upland with a pool that get pretty much sunlight all day. I have one with solar panels on the roof. They are really thin panels almost looking like mesh. Water circulates through them when the pump is on. There is an electric valve that switches flow to the panels. So at least with my system I am only heating the water with solar when the pump is on. 6 hours a day during the summer will heat the pool up into the mid 90's. Problems: Don't use pump as much during winter, water doesn't get as warm. Loose heat quickly at night unless you add a solar blanket which becomes a pain in the ass. Condensation. Even without the pump running I seem to get condensation in the night which leads to small drips of water coming off my roof throughout the night. Not sure about the reason. My panels are about 10 feet by 25 on the roof I guess. My pool is almost 11 feet at the drain and over 5 feet for most of the pool which is well over 30,000 gallons. I think the solar would work ok if the pool was a lot smaller and not as deep. If I had to do it over again I probably would have not bought it. I think the whole system cost me about $3,000 back in 1997. |
Thanks. I figure $300 per month is a pretty big monkey on my back, I'd hit $3K in three years of use. My pool is large, but a lot shallower than yours, under 3 at the shallow end to 9 at the centor of the deep end. Does it extend your swim cycle any? I can swim 365 if I want to pay the bill. How's your winter temp? |
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Greenwise solutions I dont have one...yet. My wife and I are talking about one. I want to see one in action first. |
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During the winter if I keep the solar cover on the water will stay around the mid 70's at best. Which is not too bad. When it gets really cold and the cover is off, forget it. Water is like Lake Michigan. The cold nights seem to be the biggest negative factor with a cover being real beneficial for this in my opinion. Both of my daughters swim with a team at a club about 5 minutes from our house. The pool is an eight lane 50 meter by 25 yard setup. I find it easier to just go there as opposed to lugging the cover on and off. A motorized cover would be the ticket but my pool is kind of weird shaped. |
That looks pretty nice. My attic gets hotter than hell |