Solar Pool Products
Our Products
- Enersol Solar Swimming Pool Heater (for outdoor pools)
What services do we offer?
- We offer complete design and installation of Enersol Solar Pool Heaters.
- We repair Enersol brand Solar Pool Heaters and charge $100 / hour for our labour.
- We sell complete installation kits for Enersol Solar Pool Heaters for DIY installation.
- We will remove and re-install unglazed solar pool heaters when a house requires re-roofing.
- We offer fall draining of Enersol Solar Pool Heaters.
If you want to install a solar pool heater yourself
As mentioned above we can supply a kit of parts to install a solar pool heater. In addition to facilitate this type of project we also offer an optional site assessment and quotation for a new Enersol solar pool heating system kit for do it yourself installation. This will include a suitability analysis due to slope and shading and roof size and shape. Then we determine how much collector surface area is required for your pool. We calculate pipe size, if splitting into parallel arrays is required, and compatibility with the pool pump. Then we generate a layout sketch and a detailed parts list for the project. We will give you a quote on supplying the calculated kit of parts and supplies for a DIY installation. All this activity normally takes at least 3 hours of labour, and so we charge $270 + HST for this service. If unfortunately we find the house is unsuitable, then we charge a minimum of 1 hour's labour for coming to your site, $100 + HST. An unusually complicated house, such as when the collectors are distributed on two or more roof surfaces will require more time, and will be charged more than the standard rate.
If you buy a DIY kit from us, and you have difficulties, then you can engage our paid consulting services to help you solve your problem. We charge $100 / hour for our time.
Solar Pool Heating
Solar pool heaters can extend the swimming season with no additional operating costs after they are installed. When properly sized they can raise a pool's temperature 10 to 15 degrees F. The system that we offer has an expected lifetime of at least 20 years. The product is a flexible EPDM rubber mat material with small tubes formed inside it, and is extremely durable, and can be easily repaired if perforated by rodents, etc. It is designed to be installed on a roof, or similar sloped surface and uses the existing pool pump to circulate pool water to be heated through the solar collector. All of the parts used in the system are replaceable. The top and bottom collector pipes are made from black PVC, the most durable plastic for long term exposure to the sun. This is an unglazed collector system, and is suitable for outdoor pool heating, and must be drained for the winter. Glazed collectors similar to those used for Solar DHW are used for indoor pools.
This product has been made in North America since 1979, and is a modular design permitting additional panels can be added later if required, and there is additional room on the roof. The system has an expected lifetime of at least 20 years, and the parts come with a pro-rated warranty of 18 years. It is friendly to the roof, and tends to increase the lifetime of asphalt shingles underneath the pool heater's collectors.
For an outdoor pool the size of the recommended collector area should be 50 to 75% of the surface area of the pool to be heated.
Nearly all solar pool heaters are installed on a roof. This is an exception. This is mounted on a purpose built sloped surface instead of on a roof. The panels are modular, and are 1' wide and are available in lengths from 6' to 20' long. The long direction runs down the slope of the roof. Panels can be assembled into assemblies as wide as required.
When you order through us, you get the benefit of our experience of calculating the amount of pipe and fittings required. Also we select the diameter of the pipes, and layout of the collector panels.
Why Enersol?
The proven long lifetime of the top quality materials exposed to the sun, EPDM rubber and black PVC headers, together with black PVC pipe and fittings preserve your investment in a pool heating solution. The black PVC pipe is more UV resistant than the white or gray pipe used by other competing systems and provides a little more solar gain, as compared to white or gray PVC pipe. The Enersol system is 100% repairable, and is repaired to preserve 100% of the original heating capacity. Many other systems are repaired by replacing entire panels, or plugging some of the water channels and so reducing the amount of operational collector area. We use black PVC pipe and fittings, which is a superior product, and can't be purchased locally. We don't use any ABS parts in a new installation. The complete reparability is a major advantage over some of the rigid panel products on the market.
Why do we install a check valve?
A check valve is part of Enersol's recommended installation. It provides several useful features. These are:
If the diverter set to direct water to go directly to the pool it is still possible for water pressure to cause water to flow backwards up onto the roof. Therefore without a check valve you may not be able to turn over the water in the pool if there is a leak on the roof. This is most often encountered in the spring if winter ice and snow have damaged some part of the solar system, and then because of a leak in the solar position you can't begin to turn over the water in the pool until the solar portion has been fixed.
In the summer there may be times when you do not wish to collect any more heat and set the diverter to bypass the solar system. Without a check valve you can't drain the water from the solar collectors and so hot stagnant water is trapped in the collectors which can cause bacteria to build up. With a check valve the water can be drained from the solar system, the diverter set to pass water directly to the pool and the collector can remain empty of water.
Also in the spring while opening the pool the check valve prevents dirty water flowing into the solar system and debris to be trapped in the small passages of the collectors reducing system efficiency.
Automatic Diverter
All solar pool heaters require a diverter valve to direct the water from the pump to either go onto the roof and through the solar panels and then to the pool. This is done when the sun is shining and you wish to capture the sun's heat.
At night if you continued to circulate pool water through the solar panels the panels would radiate heat to the night sky and conduct some heat to the nighttime air. Both of these mechanisms cool the pool. Therefore at night the diverter valve directs the water from the pump to go directly to the pool.
This valve can be operated manually or it can be a motorized valve that works automatically. The automatic operation results in a little more heat being captured as the valve operates at the ideal time. This provides an improved convenience but the automatic motorized valve adds about $1000 to the cost of a new solar system.
Removal and re-installation services
We will remove and re-install an unglazed solar swimming pool system when a house is re-roofed. We will do this for our own brand, and for Techno-Solis, Fafco, and for Helicol. We choose to limit ourselves to these brands as we can obtain replacement parts from the original manufacturers, such as seals to re-install them properly.
Why Choose us?
We have had factory training on the installation of the Enersol Solar Pool Heating system, and the experience of servicing many existing installations. This permits us to design a layout that avoids problems that could occur in the future. Our engineering background permits us to properly size and plan each installation.