solar coverage

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gacosta

solar coverage

Postby gacosta » Thu 01 Apr, 2010 21:26

I live in SoCal (Riverside) and am having a solar system installed as I type. My question is how much coverage do I REALLY need? I have read on the web that I will need 80%, and anywhere from 50-80%. The panels will be between south to southeast facing and the pool is 503 sqft...right now im getting 71.5% (7 panels at 4x12 and 1 panel that is 2x12). I can add more panels but then the additional panels will not be self draining and I will have to winterize, which I dont mind. Any help would be appreciated!

Also, I will be using a solar blanket.

Thanks


chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

solar coverage

Postby chem geek » Fri 02 Apr, 2010 00:20

The answer really depends on how warm you will keep your pool. If you are only shooting for 84F or so, then you should have no problem with something closer to 50% panel area. If you are shooting for 88F (more like a therapy pool) and want an extended swimming system, then 80% might be better though you get more sun and have warmer temperatures than where I live. You should talk to competent solar installers in your area as they should know roughly what to expect. My hunch is that something closer to 50% will work for you.

I'm in Northern California just north of San Francisco and you can see my heating data here where my solar panels are almost 80% of my pool's surface area, though 2 of the panels don't get that much sun (they are somewhat shaded by a Sycamore tree).
gacosta

solar coverage

Postby gacosta » Fri 02 Apr, 2010 08:14

Thanks for the info! I found this website last night, their calculations say I'm good to go too.

http://www.solardirect.com/pool_heaters ... ulator.htm
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

solar coverage

Postby chem geek » Fri 02 Apr, 2010 16:40

That's a great link! However, when I put in my situation, it comes up with a panel area of 60% and I can tell you that this would not be enough during the extended season (it would be fine during peak summer months) and I suspect that's due to our unusually high water temp requirement of 88ºF since the pool is used as a therapy pool. There is also the factor of our cover being a thinner less insulating automatic safety cover rather than a more insulating bubble-type cover.

In fact, if I were to start over, I would have used glazed panels instead as this would have heated better during the spring and fall to the higher desired temp and avoided some of our use of a gas heater. Such panels are around 3 times as expensive, however.

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