Solar pool heaters

Swimming pools can be heated in an environmentally friendly way by using either solar matting or solar panels (often called solar cells). Both systems are popular and both can be cheap, easy to install, and best of all have a running cost of zero.

How solar powered pool heaters works

The two types of solar pool heating technology work in similar ways, but there are some differences.

Solar panels

The original solar powered pool heating system used rigid and fixed solar panels that were large, heavy and difficult to install.

Today these panels are made of polypropylene and they have an extruded wafer section with header pipes that circulate the water during the heating process. The panels use a matt black surface to absorb the heat from the suns rays and this, in turn, transmits heat to the water in the pipes.

The system works very simply by passing the cold water from the pool through the heated panels and, once heated, back to the pool.

Solar matting

Although solar panels represented the first means of heating a swimming pool with the suns rays, they are now being superseded by the use of solar matting.

Solar matting uses a similar process to the panels or cells previously mentioned, but with one distinct difference. The solar collector is a flexible and lightweight “mat like” material that is easy to lift and transport and which can be simply rolled up and stored away when not in use.

This matting material is manufactured from EPDM and has a high resistance to the cold temperatures found in many locations over the winter months, or cooler summer nights. As such it does not become brittle or easily damaged.

The solar matting system uses fine pipes within the matting to circulate and heat the water and the dark color of the material ensures that it absorbs the suns rays enabling a direct transfer of the heat from the matting to the circulated pool water.

As a rough guide, the area of solar matting required to reach and maintain a reasonable bathing temperature is roughly equal to one half of the pool’s surface area.

How and where to fit solar panels and matting

Solar panels or matting can be positioned almost anywhere as long as the area of the “solar sink” is adequate for the pool size.

In locations where the sun is weak, or the daylight hours are short, this can be compensated for by increasing the area of matting and by adjusting the surface angle of the matting towards the sun.

Solar matting or panels can be placed (fitted) to a house, shed, or out-building roof. Alternatively, they can be laid out in an area adjacent to the swimming pool.

Advantages and disadvantages of solar pool heaters

Solar heating systems for swimming pools are usually economic to buy and comparatively simple to fit and install.

Once in place, a solar pool heating system costs nothing to run and utilizes free energy from the sun’s rays.

Additional sections of matting or cells can usually be added to the solar network to increase the potential water heating ability of the system.

Solar pool heaters have no burners, no moving parts and consequently no noise or discharge. The system is safe, silent and harmless to the environment.

Most solar pool heating systems will work with any pool, any filter and any pump making them one of the most versatile heating options available.

A solar pool heater is limited (or restricted) by the strength, intensity and daily duration of the sun’s rays. This means that in cooler climates, where the heater is needed the most, the raw energy of solar rays are often at their weakest.

A solar pool heater can take a long time to bring the swimming pool’s temperature up, and the maximum temperature attainable (and consistency of temperature maintenance) are lower than many other pool heater options.

A solar pool cover is an important way of retaining the heat energy of the pool.