Question:
I have a above ground pool and would like to make a solar pool heater for it.
Not sure how to go about it. I assume you would use black flex pipe. I may also
want to by-pass the heater sometimes. Any recommendations?
Answer:
Typical pool should have 3 or 4
of these mats. I worry about roof rot with these things (you don't
want it lying flat on the roof).
I've seen DIY designs for solar collectors which effectively consist
of a thin copper sheet with 1/4" or 3/8" copper tubing soldered to them
(like the molded-in fine tubing above in the rubber mats), 3/4" or so
copper manifolds. Spray paint the whole thing flat black (with a
moderately heat resistent paint), and install inside a flat insulated box
with a glass cover (thermopane if you can scrounge/afford it).
These are easy to make and quite inexpensive provided you can figure
out how to get cheap (or omit) fittings for the connections between
the manifolds and risers. The design I saw called for careful taper
cutting of the riser tubes and careful drilling of the manifolds so
you could butt-silver-solder them. Otherwise the 20+ Tees (unusual
that they need a center port of 1/4 or 3/8", so they're not in grab
bags from HD) you need make them more expensive than purchased units.
That said, copper is probably not a good idea for a chlorinated pool.
I think the collector design I saw was really only intended for
domestic water preheat.
