November solar pool heating update

[phantom power]

Yes, it's nearly a month late.

I never quite kept to my plan for swimming on Nov 1. Mostly just because I got busy. I think my last swim date was Oct 26.

By Nov 1, the water temp was reaching an afternoon high of 78F. This is getting a bit chilly by Phoenix standards. I imagine for anybody living in northern states it's like bathwater. As a child, 78F was probably the warmest water I ever swam in.

Water temps continued to drop steadily after that. It was getting to 70F when I turned off the heater for the winter.

Others have pointed out that if I used some kind of pool cover, things would have definitely stayed warmer, longer.

At any rate, taking Nov 1 as the nominal end-of-season, I'd say it added close to 2 months to the swimming season. I expect it to let us start up equally early in the spring, we'll see how it goes.

[madokie]

1. Get a solar blanket to go with it

You could possibly still be swimming in your pool
They sure extend the swim days both in the spring and fall

[phantom power]

4. my thing with pool covers is... I don't like them

I don't like looking at them, and I'm passing lazy, so I also wouldn't like the idea of taking the thing off whenever I wanted to jump in the pool. I wouldn't like figuring out where to put them when they're not on the pool.

It's not rational. But I balk.

[madokie]

6. As long as you're honest (-:

Solar blankets aren't that much of a hassle like a cover is. With a solar blanket you just have to grab it and drag it off the pool and wad it up and throw it in the corner somewhere until you get out of the pool. Really not much effort when you consider the comfort it provides in warming the water. Since they float they are easy to put back over the pool too.

Anyways no big deal I don't use one either but my reason is a whole different one than yours is. With our pool we have too many big trees in our yard whose leaves fall in the pool so we cover it when the leaves start falling otherwise its a hassle.
No way am I cutting any more of our trees down.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Been wondering about that.

We stopped using our pool inTucson early in Sept. probably won't be back in till mid April. We are renting so installing solar is not gonna happen but I hope to buy a place before August and a place without a pool is not an option. I figured solar could extend the pool season by about three months. Sounds like I'm pretty close. Also thought I could re direct the solar to the water heater when I am not using it for the pool. Any thoughts?

[phantom power]

3. I'd guess with a pool cover you could add 3 months on each end...

I talked with the sales rep for a while about the relation between solar pool heating and solar water heating. In principle, you could use the panels for both. Practically, I'm not sure the panels are "rated" for potable water. Additionally, he said that the regulations around anything 'in contact' with potable water supply are extensive. As he put it, if this system was for hot water, I'd have been signing many more pieces of paper.

His personal take was, it's better to just get a highly insulated water tank, as bother to solar pre-heat. He said that as a guy who could try to sell me solar hot water, so I assume his opinion was sincere.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Good info, thanks. Will save me some brain cells not giving it anymore thought.