taking the chill off your above ground swimming pool with solar heating

Summer is almost here and we are all looking forward to making the most of the sunshine (especially in Scotland!) An above ground pool is a great way to enjoy summer, especially with the kids but jumping in a cold pool isn’t fun and heating a pool takes a lot of energy which can be expensive.

The good news is, solar energy is a great way to heat your pool. Its easy to install, effective, and will help make your pool more fun without breaking the bank. In this article, we’ll look at what you need to heat a typical above ground pool using a DIY solar heating solution.

Firstly, lets take a look at what makes up a solar pool heating system.

The Pool Heating System

There’s three main bits to a solar pool heating system:

1. Solar collectors

2. Solar heating pump

3. Piping and fittings for heating loop

For an above ground pool, the pool heating loop should ideally work in parallel to the filter loop to make sure the pool is always kept clean.

Let’s go over of each the bits making up the system.

Solar Collectors

The job of the solar collector is to convert sunlight into heat. Water from the pool is pumped through the solar collectors which are warm under sunny conditions. As the water circulates through it is heated and return back to the pool. There are different types of solar collectors out there including:

• Black matting

• Dome solar heaters

• Prismatic solar collectors

We’ll be writing a whole article dedicated to the different types of solar collectors soon.

Solar heating pump

A pump is needed to push the water from the pool through the solar collectors and back to the pool. This is needed no matter what solar collector design (black matting, dome, or prism shape) you choose. Without a pump, heat from the solar collectors won’t get to your swimming pool. You can think of the pump as the heart of the system, pumping heat from the solar collectors back to the pool.

There are three types of pumps typically used for a pool heating system:

1. Pool filter pump

2. AC pump

3. DC pump

Commonly, a pool pump with built in filter is used for above ground pools, but these pumps can struggle when pushing water through a solar collector. This can reduce the cleaning rate of your pool. More powerful AC pumps can be used, but these are more often used for in-ground swimming pools due to cost, size, and installation complexity. DC pumps offer a great option for above ground pool heating. They are small (see photo left), consume little power (~15W), and can achieve high flow rates.

Piping and Fittings

Piping and fittings are needed to move water from the pool through the solar collectors and back to the pool. A lot of different pipes and fittings are out there which can be used which can sometimes make the process a little daunting. If you can, purchase a kit which includes the piping and fittings to make life easier! These days there is great range of quick connect, ‘push-fit’ style components like the photo shown on the right. With these fittings, all you have to do is push the pipe into the fitting and presto, its sealed! As above ground swimming pools are low pressure, these are a great option and can make the assembly (and disassembly) quick and easy.

how does it work? putting it all together

How a solar heating system works is simple. Assuming the system has been installed correctly with the solar collectors placed somewhere sunny, here’s what happens:

1. Under sunny conditions, the solar collectors absorb sunlight and become warm/hot.

2. By switching on the solar heating pump, water starts circulating from the pool (cold) through the solar collectors. As it passes through the now warm/hot solar collectors, the water is heated and returned back to the pool.

3. The process repeats while the pump is switched on and it is sunny. At the end of the day, or when heating is no longer needed, simply switch the pump off to stop the flow of water.

Its really that simple! Anyone can really install a solar hot water system for their pool and by installing one, you can make your pool much more enjoyable without breaking the bank. It also makes using your pool much more sustainable and its a good opportunity to teach the kids about solar energy!

Does a pool heating system really work?

We set up a Bestway above ground swimming pool (2.2m x 1.5m) in Dundee Scotland at the start of May and connected it to our SP100 pool heating kit with three SolarisKit solar collectors.

To measure the pool temperature, we used a floating Inkbird type thermometer which took a reading every few minutes. Using our small 12VDC pump to circulate water through the solar collectors, we managed to heat the pool from a very chilly/uncomfortable 10 deg C to 23 degrees C in just a few hours (in Scotland!). Because of our 12VDC pump runs off 12W, the whole process consumed very little electricity.

the solariskit sp100 pool heating kit

SolarisKit’s SP100 kit lets anyone install their own solar pool heating system so you can start harnessing the energy from the sun to heat your swimming pool. With SolarisKit, no experience is needed to install your solar heating system. Just follow our simple instructions and start enjoying your solar heated pool!