Solar Swimming Pool Heaters

The cost inherent in heating a backyard swimming pool is turning many homeowners on to solar powered pool heaters. Hopefully, you started thinking about a solar heater during the swimming pool planning stage. The best way to make sure you can get enough heat for the water is to situate the pool so that it receives a lot of sun by itself. Depending on where you live, a pool with a southern or southwestern exposure (if not shaded excessively), may receive enough sun to stay warm of its own accord. This can eliminate the need for heaters entirely. You can of course help things along with solar panels.

Installing solar collectors can be tricky (and mistakes can be costly), so you'll want to find a good contractor. Look for someone who has experience working with solar heating. Your contractor will install some solar collectors in your yard (solar collectors can be placed anywhere on your property, popular locations are on top of the roof or in a southern facing open area of the yard that is not shaded from the sun).

Solar collectors are basically black metal plates with tubes running through them. Swimming pool water flows through the tubes and is warmed as the metal plates absorb the sun's heat and transfer it to the tubes. The water in the tubes than flows back into the swimming pool.


Wondering how many solar panels you'll have to buy to heat your swimming pool? According to Swimming Pools And Spas, "the surface area of solar collectors must add up to at least 75% of the surface area of the pool." The book goes on to offer the example of a swimming pool with a 400 square foot surface area. It would need solar collectors totaling a surface area of 300 square feet.

Unfortunately, solar pool heaters can't necessarily replace traditional pool heaters in every climate. The exposure has to be just right, and you have to have room for the needed amount of solar collectors. However, you can get combination systems that will still reduce your total heating bill. They use solar power as it is available, then subsidize that with conventional heat.