Sizing Your Solar Pool Heater
The
size of the system that you'll need to heat your pool depends on many
factors, including the size of your pool, use of a pool cover, length of
the swimming season, average regional temperatures, your solar resource,
and collector orientation and angle, for example. Your system supplier
will be able to conduct a professional evaluation of your site to ensure
that your system is accurately sized for your needs.
As a rule of thumb, the surface area of your collector should be equal to at least 50 percent of the pool's surface area. In cooler and cloudier areas, you may need to increase the ratio between the collector area and the pool surface area. You will also need to increase the area if you don't have a pool cover. Because most collector panels come in prescribed sizes, you can simply add collector panels until an adequate square footage of solar collector area is achieved.
In addition to the collector, you'll want to be sure that your pump is properly sized. You may find that you need a pump larger than your present one, or a separate, smaller pump to move the pool's water to and through the collectors.