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Solar Panels

M

Meister

Well-known member
Apr 17, 2003
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My question came in a round-about way. I was thinking of a solar pool heater, you know the kind with the black PVC tubes running water through it. To get the best southern exposure I would have to install it on the roof which is furthest away from the pool. That means a big pump. I heard there might be problems with pipes cracking in the winter also.

Then, somebody told me there are solar roof panels that generate electricity which can be used to power a heater on the ground. Water does not need to be pumped on the roof.

Then, there was the thought to use that electricity to feed the house also.

Does anybody have any experience in that? Thanks for your help.
 
Solar voltaic cells are expensive and heating water with electricity is inefficient, so that route is expensive and does not perform well. It's like paying for a sugar-daddy girl who only gives the occasional hand job. A better solution is to get a small photovoltaic panel that runs the pump that pumps the water to the solar water heating panels. Southern exposure would be ideal if you were heating the pool in the winter but your pool is most likely retired for the winter. A better choice would be western exposure because the afternoon sun is more intense than the morning..

As for winter freezing, you will drain the water out of the panels by the time the freezing weather arrives. Another solution is to use anti-freeze in the solar collectors which then transfers it's heat to the water in a heat exchanger. Or you can bring the solar collectors inside the building envelope, basically behind a skylight. That's if you really must run your solar system through the winter months.

So here's my advice: get a small photovoltaic cell that runs a very efficient pump that pumps the water from the pool up to western facing solar water panels. Drain the system for the winter and you will be happy in your freely heated pool!
 
Thanks for the advice. The reason I am mentioning pipe cracking in the winter is due to the difficulty of draining all the water out of the pipe loops (so I was told).
 
We are too far North to mess around with solar energy, IMO. Southern Ohio, yes I would check it out, up here, no. By mid August the sun has lost its strong rays. It work good for about 10 weeks.

We have a swimming pool here, best thing is a solar cover. Not so much to heat it during the daytime but to keep the heat in at nighttime. I have nobody to help me remove it everyday so we quit using it years ago but it did help out. If you don't remove it everyday thou, the water will get cloudy and look dirty.
 
I have set up a solar heater on my roof.....and I am lucky that my roof is close to the pool and only 12 feet above ground so my pump can easily handle the lift.....
I have it set up so the water can be directed to the roof or pool or mixed...then it goes through the filter and into the pool.....

On days like today the water is comming out about 5 to 8 degrees warmer than it goes into the heating system. It all depends on the speed of the flow.

now my system I made out like a manifold system. a 1 1/2" pipe feeds 4 coils of 100' each of 1"........ which in turn are fed back to the ground through another 1 1/2" pipe.

to drain I just open the valves and it drains out and I leave it open all winter.

very similar to this
http://www.enersol.com/content/view/13/28/

but I used coils of pipe instead of the flat panels
 
S.C. Joe said:
We are too far North to mess around with solar energy, IMO. Southern Ohio, yes I would check it out, up here, no. By mid August the sun has lost its strong rays. It work good for about 10 weeks.
QUOTE]

Just so you know - that's a load of bullshit. I've got solar panels that generate enough electricity at my cottage to take me completely off the grid. And it's southern exposure you want not western - that way you get sunlight for most of the day...

Timbit
Click to expand...
 
Timbit said:
S.C. Joe said:
We are too far North to mess around with solar energy, IMO. Southern Ohio, yes I would check it out, up here, no. By mid August the sun has lost its strong rays. It work good for about 10 weeks.
QUOTE]

Just so you know - that's a load of bullshit. I've got solar panels that generate enough electricity at my cottage to take me completely off the grid. And it's southern exposure you want not western - that way you get sunlight for most of the day...

Timbit
Click to expand...

Can we get some details? what is your set up? how many watts or amps? cost? please...

b d
Click to expand...
 
Hey, you want go for it but theres good reason more people don't have solar power up here. You go down south and you see many more, just like swimming pools.

I am going to wait until others get them and are happy with them. They seem too ugly and cost too much, IMO

Solar power has been talked about for 30+ years yet the power plants all still burn coal or use water flow, hmm.

If the governments come out with grants to lower the cost, that be a big help. Right now thou, I am not spending $$$ for any solar planes up here.

Now the solar company stocks, that might be where to put some money in for right now :cool:
 
Timbit said:
S.C. Joe said:
We are too far North to mess around with solar energy, IMO. Southern Ohio, yes I would check it out, up here, no. By mid August the sun has lost its strong rays. It work good for about 10 weeks.
QUOTE]

Just so you know - that's a load of bullshit. I've got solar panels that generate enough electricity at my cottage to take me completely off the grid. And it's southern exposure you want not western - that way you get sunlight for most of the day...

Timbit
Click to expand...

It's not that solar power won't work up here, it's that the payback time is too long.

And for what it's worth, the best way would be to have the solar panels track the sun so that they get as much as possible suntime.
Click to expand...
 
you can augment with the solar pipes. You need to have the ability to drain and dry with air for the winter. You leave the pipe open so any fluid left in can expand.
 
We installed a home made set of 1/2" black PVC collectors at my mothers place some 20 years ago and they worked great with a 3/4 hp pump. She lived in Northern Ontario and her pool was in use from mid May to the end of Sept. I'm putting in a pool at my place (Sountern Ontario) next month and have included the solar panels as a must have with the installation. Especially with the 20% increase announced this week for natural gas.

The suggestions already made about southern exposure are dead on. It is the only way to ensure you have constant exposure to the suns rays all day. Even when their are clouds you will see a temp increase from the panels.
 
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