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HOW DOES A SOLAR POOL HEATER WORK?

solar pool heater pool equipment plumbing diagram
solar pool heater diagram, how solar pool heating works

Operating a solar pool heater is quite simple and once installed it will hardly change the way you currently operate your existing pool equipment. A solar pool heater itself has no mechanical parts but it does however utilize your existing pool water pump to push the pool water through the solar pool panels and the Feed and Return PVC Plumbing lines.  

 

How a solar pool heater works:

 

1. First the pool water is pumped from your pool through your filtration equipment. 

2. The water is then delivered up to the solar pool heater panel array.  

3. As the cool pool water enters the solar pool panels from the bottom & flows upwards through the panels riser tubes to the top header pipes the stored heat in the solar pool panels is transferred to the pool water.  

4. The warm water is then retuned back into the swimming pool gently raising the temperature of your pool until the desired pool water temperature is reached.

 

Solar pool heater system includes:

 

Solar Pool Panels: Absorbs the sun's heat and transfers the heat to the pool water

Feed & Return PVC Plumbing Lines: Transport pool water to the solar array & back to the pool  

Pool Filter: Removes debris before water is pumped through the solar pool panels

Pool Pump: Circulates the pool water through the filter, solar pool panels and back to the pool

3-way Flow Control Valve: controls the directional flow of pool water; On or Off

2-way Flow Control Valves: controls the directional flow of the pool water through the solar pool heaters feed & return PVC plumbing lines

Solar Pool Heater Array Layout
solar pool heater bottom end plumbing diagram

The daily operation of a solar pool heater can be fully automated by including a solar pool auto control package (controller, sensors and a motorized controlled flow valve) with your Deluxe kit. On sunny days, the automatic controller diverts the pool water to the solar pool heater array.  The solar pool control box uses 2 thermal sensors.  The panel array sensor senses the solar radiant temperature near the solar pool heater array and the pool water sensor senses the current temperature of the pool water.  The auto controller uses this data to determine when to divert the pool water to the solar pool heater panels and when to bypass the solar pool heater panels.  

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