Feature Story - Solar Heat for the Pool

When we fill up the pool with water from the Rippey water tower, it's 60 degrees F. Yep, that's pretty chilly. Last year, it took the entire summer to warm it up to a still very cool 70 degrees. Kids don't seem to mind, but we decided to heat it up a bit using solar energy.

Kevin installed a very thin plastic (and relatively inexpensive) solar panel that connects to the pool's electrically powered filter. The thin panel is mounted to a wooden base that is angled towards the sun. The water runs from the pool to the filter, through the filter to the solar panel, through the channels in the solar panel, then back into the pool. As the water runs through the solar panel channels, it's heated by the sun. So, the water not only returns to the pool filtered, but also a bit warmer. We've been able to raise the temperature of the pool to a comfortable 80 degrees F on warm sunny days.

We still need to make some adjustments to retain the heat in the pool overnight. But, it's one small step towards harnessing the energy available to all of us via the sun.