Solar Pool Heating. Using Existing Technology

Q: I am curious. As a solar professional for 18 years (motivated by environmental concerns) I am perplexed by the lack of acknowledgment of commercially available solar pool heating products. Judging from some of the posts you would think we were living 30 -40 years in the past - before dedicated solar pool heaters were invented. Why the need to re-invent the horse? Does doing it "low-tech" earn one points, even if the low-tech result if very inferior in durablitiy and performance when compared to most of the solar pool heating panels on the market? Am I missing something here? Please reply to the newsgroup.

A: Perhaps you have had a run in with some bad solar people in your time but I don't understand your hostility. I have always recommended conservation before insolation (insulation before sunshine) with any solar product, but in the real world, people with swimming pools tend to prefer easy solutions (they tend to have the money to be able to afford the convienence). As you acknowledge, you do not have a swimming pool, and, from the sounds of it have never built a real solar pool heating system, I would suggest that you are ignorant of the practicallities of operating a pool and a solar pool heating system. You should be aware that even if you use a solar cover all the time, you are still going to have to heat the pool - ideally with a solar system. Solar systems have to be large because pools require a large amount of heat - that is just a matter of physics. Solar pool heating is not new, commercial products have been around for at least 25 years, and they work well and last a long time (15+ years) if desighned and installed properly - with little or no maintenance!!!!!!! Try that with loose plastic sheeting on a roof!!!!!! The status quo works, and has been arrived at from trial and error in the solar industry. I'm all for inovation, but not just for inovations sake. Prove to me it works and lasts as long or longer, has less impact on the environment and I'll go with it. Still perplexed? Pool heaters aren't that bad, just too expensive, but pool insulation sucks. Perhaps you have not noticed this. So here's a clue :-) Heating a swimming pool with existing technology is like bailing a boat with no bottom. You "solar pool heating professionals" need to get your heads out of the sand and act more sensibly and responsibly on behalf of your clients, and look at this as more of a system. Energy in, and energy out, with a lot more emphasis needed on the out part, at the moment. It is irresponsible to sell people heaters, when what they need is insulation. It is irresponsible to use lots of fuel to heat a pool, when one could use use far less fuel and pollute the atmosphere far less with a little more imagination and insulation. So why aren't more people doing it? Could it have something to do with money? Or poorly engineered products? Like blue-colored "solar pool blankets"? :-) Or piss-poor insulating pool covers? Would you insulate your house with swimming pool cover material? No way... Just how gullible do you think people are, Andy, when you imply these are "well-engineered products"? They are expensive kludges, that hardly seem engineered at all to me. If that's all you have to sell, too bad. But existing pool covers are no good, and saying they are won't make them so. That is a lie. Do you ever get angry when people lie to you? Should professionals lie? Should they know the basic science of their profession, or just sell things? I've just noticed that your e-mail address origionates from an .edu location. I must conclude from this and your attitude that you are an "Ivory tower idiot" - long on the theoretical and ignorant of the practical. You seem to be blaming the solar industry for the sins of the pool-building industry. The two are not related. If you care to take a close look, you'll find that pool campanies usually don't sell solar systems - solar companies do. Pool companies - from what I've seen- don't give two hoots what it costs a pool owner to operate their pools. They just want to sell the pool and the chemicals that go with it. (The chemicals are another environmental horror story) Solar is a nuisance to them -they'd rather you bought a gas heater (from them) and run it on "high" all the time. (that way you'll need more pool chemicals) Any reputable solar company, and there are many, will insist that before you use a solar system, you use a solar blanket. The only solar blankets available are really just evapouration retarders, not insulation blankets.(And the best ones are transparent/translucent to let the sun into the pool) There is a very simple reason for this. No one has figured out a way to cover an 800 Sq. ft. kidney shaped pool with an insulating blanket that can be removed and replaced in 2 minutes (that doesn't cost over $300) These are parameters that are set by the end user. As I have already mentioned, even the existing easy-to-use, not unsightly, cheap, solar bubble blankets are difficult to sell (and get the customers to use) (this is true even when you point out they will need a solar system twice as large if they don't use a blanket!!)

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