Operating Your Swimming Pool Solar Heater
So you just installed a solar heater on your pool. Now what? First thing first, lets turn it on and see if it works. You can go ahead and set your controller to feed the solar panels, either manually or via automatic controller, depending on which way you decided to go. Now turn the pool filter on and lets check it out.
When the pool filtration system first comes on you wont see much activity for a couple seconds. Remember we had to cut lines in order to put this thing together. The whole system must now fill with water before anything will come out the returns. Now would be a good time to add a little extra water to the pool as well since you have added much more area to your plumbing. Don’t go crazy with it though, the difference in water level will be negligible. The panels don’t hold a tone of water at any given point, it is constantly filtering.
The first sign of action you should see is bubbles. Lots and lots of air bubbles coming from your returns. This is a good thing. It is the air being purged from the panels and your plumbing. Its a good sign and it means that warm water will follow.After the major portion of bubbles subsides and the hot water begins to flow, you will continue to see smaller amounts of air for several minutes. This is normal, but it should stop completely at some point, otherwise it means you may have a leak.
If everythings good, the air bubbles came and went, its time to check on the panels and make sure all is dry. You can usually just eyeball the area and if there’s a leak you will see some moisture somewhere. I like to examine ever panel individually and closely inspect for any small leaks. Once you have determined that the panels hold water, you should trace the entire route of your plumbing, once again watching closely for any moisture in the area that may indicate a small leak.
Of course we did such a wonderful job, and everything is leak free, so its time to test the waters. If your using the automatic solar controller, I guess you can just set the temperature you want and let the magic happen. However if you are using a manual controller, you will probably be interested in reading the section on optimizing your swimming pool solar heating sytem to maximum performance. Either way youve got a little while to wait before your pool is all warm and toasty. It usually takes a day or two of sun to get up to temperature. You can always stand in front of the return jets though if you like, and enjoy the heated water pouring forth. Now lets talk about optimizing your solar system for the most heat possible.