We have had a very cool summer with few days reaching over 80 F. So the swimming pool has been a bit chilly--hovering between 60-70 F and a bit more on the warmest days. Brrr.
So my Freakishly Strong Husband (tm)----you can read about him here--has been working on a pool warming system.
His system is comprised of a lot of black tubing and two "solar heaters" he bought at "Canadian Tire"--a famous hardware supply store that has everything we could possibly need for keeping husbands entertained.
This system works by circulating the pool water through one solar heater, through the hose, through the second solar heater, and then back into the pool. The solar heaters work on the same principle. They are filled with black tubing that absorbs heat from the sun.
Does it work? I think so, but I fear it is not working as well as it could. In my opinion, the water is flowing too quickly through the solar heaters and the hose to heat as much as it could. When I feel the hose, it remains cool to the touch.
I have noticed that the garden hose will get so hot that I need to drain the scalding hot water out before I put it on my plants. It is so hot that it can burn the dog if he tries to drink from the hose.
So in theory this system should work. Actually, we know that systems like this do work because we had one before in another house with a similar pool. That was in Ontario, however, which is considerably warmer than Saskatchewan. In that case, it worked a little too well and we had to turn the system off in July and August. Imagine a swimming pool as hot as a hot tub!
So what do you think? How would you improve on this design? Do you have experience heating a pool like this? Let me know.
