Anyone have any experience with DIY solar pool heaters?

Biggie Smiles

I make libturds berry angry. I do!!!
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Yes friends, despite living in the best state in the union we too experience cold weather. Well, relatively cold that is. 55 degrees might as well be a fucking polar icecap as far as we're concerned.

And one cannot go swimming in the Olympic size swimming pool in cold weather now can one?

No, one cannot. and that's where a pool heater comes in

I Know what you're thinking to yourself. But you guys have near perfect weather down there in God's hand made paradise. We do have perfect weather, unless of course, you are some frail sissy bitch who withers up and dies under sunlight like a vampire or some tender petal. In that case, just move to that God foresaken cesspool also known as Oregon with the rest of the spineless weirdos and have access to a life time supply of free tampons courtesy of the boys bathrooms anywhere in the state.

But I digress. This thread isn't about how every male in Oregon is really a woman with an overly hairy pussy. It's about DIY solar heaters.


I'm building one. According to the specs outlined in this video.



And before any of the cretins start to blather. Of course I can afford to buy one. But I like to build things because I am smart, beautiful and manly and I simply revel in the idea of putting up on display, once again , my extreme gifts and talents for all my lessers to marvel at.

So here we go

Materials
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500ft Pex-A tubing 1/2 inch for the coil
4x8 sheet of PlexiGlass 1/4 inch
4x8 plywood 3/4 inch
6 2x4x8 pressure treated studs
roofing screws with washers
500 deck screws
6ft zip ties
black paint - black spray paint
all the fittings required to connect my 1 1/2 PVC pool piping to the 1/2 tubing
silicon

I have about 30,000 gallons of water in my Olympic size swimming pool and plan on allowing the pool pump to force the water into the coil as part of the normal pool cleaning process. It operates at about 20 pSI

What I'm wondering is -- will 500ft on the tube be enough? any one know a good way to calculate? I'm estimating that the sun will heat this contraption up to about 160 degrees between the hours of 10 and 4. I only need about 6 degrees higher temperature to make my Olympic size swimming pool all warm and cozy. Any warmer than that and I'll just opt to jump in my 8 person whirlpool spa in the all enclosed Gazebo

did I mention that thing has a TV inside?

Anyway, intelligent responses welcomed.
 

Oerdin

Factory Bastard
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The house I grew up in had a pool but it used a 1980's era solar pool heating system. There was a back up natural gas powered heater but my parents would only use it on special occasions because even then natural gas was relatively expensive. I recall the pool cover did do a good job of raising the pools temperature but it was rather a pain as you had to take it on and off manually.

Like boats pools turn out to be more trouble than they are worth. Which is 2hy at my current house I only have a hot tub instead of a full pool and hot tub.