If you are using a small diameter pipe and there is a lot of it the friction between the water and the pipe may be enough to stop the water flowing just from gravity therefore you either need bigger pipe or a method of forcing the water through under pressure. e.g. a header tank or a pump
-- Edited by tezza on Thursday 15th of August 2013 08:58:42 AM
The pool filter pump can be used to send the water around the heating system, go to your pool supplies shop and they will probably be able to supply the fittings that you need, otherwise buy a small pool pump to pump the water around.
Solar pool heating is not much good until the nights are no longer cool as all the heat you put into the pool water during the day gets lost during the night.
The best you can hope for with a good solar system is about an extra month or two extension of you normal swimming season.
A friend put a roll of black poly pipe on his roof of his house hooked up to pool pump and would run the pump in the day time in winter to warm up the pool , And run the pump in the night time in summer to cool down the pool , But did not make a great difference in winter but did work when water got to hot in summer.
we have a pump for the pool but dont wantto do it that way we have done all the piping from the roof to the pool so would need a seperate pump as they say bugger b
Margraret,
Depending on if you have an Highset or lowset house depends on the pump size [H.P] You will need to ask yourself how many sunny daylight hours you get during the day? To run a pump 8 hrs to gain 3 - 4 deg in water temp to the cost of power to run that pump ? you may be lucky to get an extra 3 to 4 weeks extra swimming, is that worth the extra cost in power ? your pool pump can divert water to your solar blanket on the roof with a 3 way valve fitted & a None-return valve to stop the water draining back down to the pump, which could make the impeller spin of the shaft.
Forget the black poly pipe, rubbish, will never work to a decent temp to swim, a good solar blanket on the roof will cost around $5,000 [depending on pool size] life time before leaks start to appear 5 yrs, + the running costs of you pump. There are only two ways to heat a pool for swimming all year round:
Gas ! [ to expensive now a days,] Or a heat pump, a good [Australian] brand cost $7 to 8,000 again depends on pool size, ALL resorts here on the sunshine coast run heat pumps, simple to install.
As someone mentioned above, a pool blanket will save considerable heat lose, blankets come in different "Heat retention" types, but in general are a pain in the As** as you have to remove and replace every time you need to swim, but they will only hold the heat to whats in the pool at the time [cold pool, cold retention] warm pool [warm retention].
