Solar Heated Swimming pools

Solar Heating - what, why? Solar heating is something that many people think happens anyway in swimming pool. The water being heated by the sun. It does, but it can take a fair amount of time for the pool to acheive a worthwhile temperature.

Solar heating is perfect for swimming pools as it uses a free energy source (the sun), but utilises it in a more efficient way. The advantages of solar heating are plain:

> The energy is FREE, so with the panels working all the hours of daylight, you can recoup the cost very quickly.
> As an entirely green energy, there is no use of fossil fuels, no pollution and no damage to the environment.
> The panels are built for optimum efficiency and collect far more of the sun's energy than the pool could itself, even on cloudy days.
> The solar panels are silent.
> Using ready assembled components, the system can be installed in in a single day.
> It requires no on-going maintenance.

Solar Heating -
If you relied entirely on the sun to heat a swimming pool without proper solar heating panels the water would rarely exceed 21°C (70°F) in the UK. But by going with solar heating, you can expect the temperature to reach the 26°C to 30°C or even more. Of course, the actual temperature will vary depending on the conditions.

Do We Have Enough Sunshine in the UK?
Yes. Throughout the summer you will find that your pool will be warm enough just with the solar heating panels providing the warmth. Even on overcast, very cloudy days the solar panels will provide more warnth than an exposed pool would acheive on its own.

If you use your pool all year round, you would require a secondary heat source during the winter, especially for outdoor pools.

How Many Panels Do I Need?
The number of panels that you would need varies. It really does depend on the location of your home (and therefore your pool), the size of the pool and whether there is a convenient, south facing, unobstructed area to site the panels.

As a general rules of thumb, for an indoor pool you need solar panels measuring half the size of the pool's surface area. For outdoor pools this goes up to between two-thirds and three quarters.

When your pool isn't in use, it is always best to cover it, even for indoor pools. One of the excellent bubble-covers that Sundance produce, and available from Waymill pools, would be ideal as these help retain the heat in the water.

How Does Solar Heating Work?
As explained in the diagram (above right), water is pumped from the pool into the solar panels. These panels are comprised of a series of tubes which are heated by the sun’s rays. The heat is absorbed by the water which then returns to the pool.

A simple control determines whether diverting the water through the panels is worthwhile.