DIY Solar Pool Heater – 7 important things you absolutely must know

"Solar pool Heater" is a very good project to work on and until a few months back, I myself was very much involved in trying to build a do it yourself (DIY) solar pool heater. I finally succeeded in doing so and thought I would share some of the tips that I learnt along the way so that you could get install your own solar pool heater without any fuss. Also, if you are making use of all the various solar energy advantages, then you also probably know about other things such as installing your own solar panels or getting a solar heater that can generate heat for your house. Now, as the title promises, here is a list of 10 things that you must know before installing a DIY solar pool heater by looking up various guides online.

1. Outdoor swimming pools are better places to install solar heaters at – There is a very important reason why this is an important fact that you must consider for installing your own solar pool heaters. The heat generated by the sun warms the water that is directly exposed to it and helps a lot in generating extra heat that can save you a few valuable watts of energy that is otherwise being generated either by your solar pool heater or by traditional heating sources. However, indoor swimming pools can also be heated by solar pool heaters except that they need to be oriented towards the direction and need an outside generator to get the heat for you thus making it less efficient.
    
   
2. Use it along with traditional sources of heating – This is also important since there will be certain days in the year when either the sun will not be shining bright enough or the sun is just being a b&**% and hiding behind the clouds. On such days, your solar pool heater alone cannot generate all the heat needed and you will need your traditional heater to provide backup. But of course if you live in places such as a desert where there is no chance of this happening or other places where there is constant bright sunshine and no real need of traditional heaters, then it is even better since you are generating energy off of a free source, the sun. You, of course, are the best judge of this.
   
   
   
3. You are helping in creating a clean and healthy environment - This is indeed an important thing you must know since you need to be not only confident of opting for solar pool heaters but also proud of the fact that you are actually reducing the burning of tonnes of carbon dioxide every year and controlling all the pollution from affecting the various living beings of the earth such as trees and us human beings ourselves. You are also helping your own grandchildren and children grow up in a healthy pollution-free environment.
   
   
    
   
4. View it as a long term investment – Yes, when you first look at the initial amount of money that you have to put in to get your own solar pool heater,, it could be a little mind boggling (however, considering you are following a DIY guide online like the one found in the homepage of this blog, "Solar energy advantages" then you are actually saving a lot of money). But you need to cheer up and look at this as a long term investment just like you would when you make financial long term investments such as buying stocks and shares that pay off after a couple of years. You will easily recover your initial investment in a couple of years at the most.
   
    
   
5. How solar pool heaters work – These solar pool heaters work based on a very simple principle. There are solar panels that get the heat from sun which get preheated to about 10-15 degrees higher than air temperature. Here's a simple way to make you understand how a basic "solar pool heater" works. It uses a pipe which is coated with black colour that is long enough such that if you laid it out, it would cover half of the entire pool that you are planning to heat up. This pipe is laid out open to the sun and water is pumped through this. The water then gets heated due to exposure to the sun and due to the way that the black colour in the pipe attracts heat. The water from the pool gets recirculated back and in the process, again gets heated.
   
    
   
6. What you get if you get solar pool heating systems from companies instead of doing it yourself – Here's what the companies set up for you if you pay them for it. Instead of the set up that was described above, you will get a system wherein the same pipe is placed in a glass panel. This glass panel heats up the water inside the pipe and thus further heating up the water which can be used for your swimming pool. For this, you get charged $3000 although you get other things such as professional consulting to check if your swimming pool is actually good enough to set up solar pool heaters in.
   
    
   
7. Different types of collectors – This is another important thing that you will need to know if you are setting up your own solar pool heater. There are two types of collectors, "glazed" and "unglazed". The unglazed collectors are typically used for solar pool heaters and are the type of collectors that you will be using for do-it-yourself pool solar heating systems. The glazed collectors are typically used for smaller versions such as for hot tubs etc. 

So I hope that the above information helped you in making a decision on building your own solar pool heaters. Make sure that you have checked out the various websites online for do it yourself guides and other important tips such as the ones in this blog post.

For a greener future,

Andy.
"Solar pool heater"