Solar heating of outdoor pools

As a general rule, the owners of swimming pools want to use their pool as much as possible but many are limited by finances. It is very expensive to warm up the pool to a reasonable temperature with traditional energy sources.

A 32 m² pool can easily cost around € 800 – € 1,100 to heat – just for one season. High heating costs mean that many pool owners have trouble keeping the pool at a temperature that is suitable for swimming when they need it without worrying too much about money.

SolarVenti Ltd.’s solution to this problem is a cheap, simple and reliable system. It is a solar heating system specially designed for swimming pools. There are absolutely no operating costs. The cost of the system lies between about € 700 to € 2,000.

SolarVenti Ltd. (previously "Aidt Ltd.) is highly experienced in this type of pool heating. Once it has been purchased, the system will supply large amounts of energy to the pool every summer – year after year and free of charge – exactly when you need it.

The system is a do-it-yourself kit. After only a few hours of work it will be trans-formed into a 10 – 30 m² power station. There is no glass cover which could get broken. Even the solar collectors themselves consist of a multitude of closely set rows of plastic ribbed pipe.

The material used is copolymerized polypropylene with extra tough fibers and stabilized to withstand the UV rays of the sun. The plastic material used is poly-propylene and of a very high quality. It is designed to last – usually more than 15 years.

The solar collector tubing can be placed on a flat roof or in the troughs of corrugated roof plates, 2 tubes in each trough. The connection to the filter system is still part of the total package which also includes an electronic control.

The area of the solar collector ought to correspond to at least two thirds of the pool’s surface in order to achieve the desired effect.

If the distance between the piping is large, e.g. if you lay the piping in the troughs in an asbestos cement roof, the area of the solar collector system ought to be the same as the surface of the pool. The larger the area, the higher the temperature of the water in the pool. If you are able to place the solar heating components in long, narrow rows, the system will be cheaper and the effect the same.

In practice, the existing filter pump circulates the water from the pool through the solar system. The water is warmed up 4 to 5 degrees centigrade, depending on the amount of solar radiation.

In general, the system will generate more heat more on sunny days when you would be more likely to want to swim. On these days, the temperature of the water could easily rise to 26 - 29 degrees centigrade.

Output lies at about 250 kWh/m² per absorber per season when the piping lies flat.

Repairs are easy and quick to carry out. As a general rule, they can be dealt with using a knife and little soapy water.