How Does It Work

Imagine a garden hose that has been lying in the sun. When you turn on the faucet, out comes hot water. That's solar heating. The sun's energy has been absorbed by the hose and transmitted as heat to the water inside it. The hose acts as a solar collector.

Comfortable swimming water temperature is relatively low compared to other uses of hot water. This allows the use of simple, efficient solar collectors. These systems require no separate storage tank, since the pool itself serves as the storage tank.

In most cases, the pool's filtration pump is used to move the pool water through the solar panels.

When adequate sunshine is available, the filtered pool water is circulated through the solar collectors, where it is heated by solar radiation and then returned to the pool. In this operation, the water goes from pool to pump, from pump to filter, from filter to collectors, from collectors to fossil-fueled backup heater (if there is one), from fossil-fueled heater to automatic chlorinator (if there is one), then back to the pool.

Automatic controls direct the flow of filtered water to the collectors when solar heat is available. This may be accomplished manually by the use of a manual bypass valve. Normally solar systems are designed to drain down into the pool when the pump is turned off. This provides the collectors with freeze protection.

System Components

Typical Installation