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Pool Solar Questions SteveB 07-17-2005
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Posted by SteveB on July 17, 2005, 11:50 am


I have a solar heater on the pool. We live in Las Vegas. It is hot here
now, between 115 and 120 the last week.

My pool water is 94, an uncomfortable temperature.

I know that if I run my system at night, it will circulate the water through
the collectors, and though night time temps are 90 right now, it should
bring the temp down. Plus, not running it during the day will keep the
circulation from going through the panels and picking up more heat.

My questions:

Does not having the water on and running through the panels in the day when
it is hot damage them? It seems like they would get awful hot. When I cut
down the flow to the panels, the water in there reaches 160 degrees. That
can't be good.

Should I just run it night and day? To keep the panels from getting too hot
during the day, and at night to help dissipate some heat?

We like the temp around 85, and that seems to be about 15-20 below ambient.
But right now, ambient is so high that it comes out at 94. Normal temps for
right now is 104.

Any suggestions or information by solar gurus would be appreciated.

Steve




AppliancePartsPros.com, Inc.
Posted by nobody on July 17, 2005, 12:19 pm


SteveB wrote:
> I have a solar heater on the pool. We live in Las Vegas. It is hot here
> now, between 115 and 120 the last week.
>
> My pool water is 94, an uncomfortable temperature.
>
> I know that if I run my system at night, it will circulate the water through
> the collectors, and though night time temps are 90 right now, it should
> bring the temp down. Plus, not running it during the day will keep the
> circulation from going through the panels and picking up more heat.
>
> My questions:
>
> Does not having the water on and running through the panels in the day when
> it is hot damage them? It seems like they would get awful hot. When I cut
> down the flow to the panels, the water in there reaches 160 degrees. That
> can't be good.
>
> Should I just run it night and day? To keep the panels from getting too hot
> during the day, and at night to help dissipate some heat?
>
> We like the temp around 85, and that seems to be about 15-20 below ambient.
> But right now, ambient is so high that it comes out at 94. Normal temps for
> right now is 104.
>
> Any suggestions or information by solar gurus would be appreciated.
>
> Steve
>
>
The solar systems I see all have a thermostat to set the
pool temperature. When the pool reaches the set point, the
panels are bypassed. AFAIK, the temp in the panel then
rises but does no harm. We have the system sold by United
Solar and the pool temp is set by our Aqualink controller
inside the house. For people without the Aqualink
integrated system, United Solar provides a separate box that
controls pool temps.

I was told that the United Solar panels are just fine
without circulating water when being bypassed.

Nobody

--


Posted by SteveB on July 17, 2005, 1:08 pm



> SteveB wrote:
>> I have a solar heater on the pool. We live in Las Vegas. It is hot here
>> now, between 115 and 120 the last week.
>>
>> My pool water is 94, an uncomfortable temperature.
>>
>> I know that if I run my system at night, it will circulate the water
>> through the collectors, and though night time temps are 90 right now, it
>> should bring the temp down. Plus, not running it during the day will
>> keep the circulation from going through the panels and picking up more
>> heat.
>>
>> My questions:
>>
>> Does not having the water on and running through the panels in the day
>> when it is hot damage them? It seems like they would get awful hot.
>> When I cut down the flow to the panels, the water in there reaches 160
>> degrees. That can't be good.
>>
>> Should I just run it night and day? To keep the panels from getting too
>> hot during the day, and at night to help dissipate some heat?
>>
>> We like the temp around 85, and that seems to be about 15-20 below
>> ambient. But right now, ambient is so high that it comes out at 94.
>> Normal temps for right now is 104.
>>
>> Any suggestions or information by solar gurus would be appreciated.
>>
>> Steve
> The solar systems I see all have a thermostat to set the pool temperature.
> When the pool reaches the set point, the panels are bypassed. AFAIK, the
> temp in the panel then rises but does no harm. We have the system sold by
> United Solar and the pool temp is set by our Aqualink controller inside
> the house. For people without the Aqualink integrated system, United
> Solar provides a separate box that controls pool temps.
>
> I was told that the United Solar panels are just fine without circulating
> water when being bypassed.
>
> Nobody
>
> --

We are really considering a thermostat, but now they have to come and cut
all the pipes to install one retro.

I am just looking for something to regulate it a bit before we have it
changed out. And I didn't want to hurt the system in the meantime by
running it dry.

Any idea how much a thermostat and installation cost?

Steve




Posted by Wes Stewart on July 17, 2005, 2:15 pm


On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 11:50:31 -0700, "SteveB"

>I have a solar heater on the pool. We live in Las Vegas. It is hot here
>now, between 115 and 120 the last week.
>
>My pool water is 94, an uncomfortable temperature.

Call it a hot tub and it will be too cool.[g] My spa temp is set to
hold 99 but the water is 102 here in Tucson.

>
>I know that if I run my system at night, it will circulate the water through
>the collectors, and though night time temps are 90 right now, it should
>bring the temp down. Plus, not running it during the day will keep the
>circulation from going through the panels and picking up more heat.

You can actually cool to below air temperature at night, just as you
can get water hotter than air temp in the sunlight. Trust me, I've
had two different houses with solar hot water heating (neither of
which I had installed, what a dumb idea) that I abandoned because of
winter freeze ups when the air temp was above freezing. The clear
night sky has a black body temperature very near absolute zero (0
Kelvin) so an Earthly black body collector at 0 deg C is 273 degrees
-hotter- than absolute zero. It radiates energy back into space and
cools off.

>
>My questions:
>
>Does not having the water on and running through the panels in the day when
>it is hot damage them? It seems like they would get awful hot. When I cut
>down the flow to the panels, the water in there reaches 160 degrees. That
>can't be good.

It depends on the construction but most panels -should be- designed to
run in a stalled condition.
>
>Should I just run it night and day? To keep the panels from getting too hot
>during the day, and at night to help dissipate some heat?

Run it at night.
>
>We like the temp around 85, and that seems to be about 15-20 below ambient.
>But right now, ambient is so high that it comes out at 94. Normal temps for
>right now is 104.

Tell me about it. We set a new -high- "low" temp the other night: 89
F.

>
>Any suggestions or information by solar gurus would be appreciated.

Not a guru, but did take a college course in solar heating and cooling
a long time ago.



Posted by SteveB on July 17, 2005, 4:03 pm




>
> Tell me about it. We set a new -high- "low" temp the other night: 89
> F.
>

A couple of nights ago, it was 101 at the 11:15 PM weathercast. I get up
early. Been doing some wrought iron welding. I start at 0430 and kick off
about 0900. At 0900, it was 100 degrees.

Every year I say I am going to get out of here next summer, but I never do.

Steve




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