Even though the most widespread use of solar power is to generate electricity for use in our homes, the sun can also help with other high-energy activities like heating your pool. The technology for using the sun to help heat your pool has been used in commercial installations for years and as the price for this equipment has dropped it has moved into the residential pool market as well. The systems available today will do a great job of heating your pool by using nothing more than sunlight, and cost about as much as a gas heating system to purchase. The advantage to using a solar heater for your pool is that unlike a conventional gas heater, once it is installed it requires nothing more than sunlight to operate.

Even though most outdoor pools gain quite a bit of heat from the sun striking their surface naturally, there is another way to capture even more of the suns heat and let it help you heat your pool for free. The modern solar heating system for pools is very similar to a solar hot water heating system used on a home. It consists of a series of solar collecting panels that are mounted on a roof or trellis with adequate sun exposure. These solar panels have a webbing of very thin PVC tubing that allows water to be circulated though them. As the pool water is forced through this collection of tubes, it is heated by the sun and then returned to the pool. In a very short amount of time this process can warm the water of the pool significantly. Most systems also include a thermostat and bypass valve so that the temperature of the pool can be regulated.

Beside the obvious advantage of this type of solar heating solution not needing any additional energy to heat the pool’s water, it is also very easy to install. The panels can be easily mounted to a roof near the pool and are connected together as a system. They are then connected to the return lines from the pool and actually use the pump from the pool to circulate the water through them as it is being sent to the filter system. When the water reaches the appropriate temperature as set by the thermostat, the bypass valve then diverts the water around the solar collectors until they are needed again. Many of these systems can also be connected to a pools remote control system and will operate just like a standard gas or electric heater.

These solar heating systems are very effective at heating a pool’s water and are used all over the world with pools of all sizes. There are even larger installations that effectively heat several Olympic sized pools with this technology. A good rule of thumb when calculating how large a system your pool will require is that you’ll need enough an area of solar panels that is half of your pools surface to heat it correctly. These panels can either be mounted on a roof of a building or shed near the pool, or even located on the ground as long as they have good sun exposure.