In many cases, the most economical way to heat your pool is with solar energy. Your pool has a lot of surface area for the sun to shine on so it only makes sense to trap that energy and use it to heat your water. Solar heaters for pools can be very simple and inexpensive to build.
Chances are, your pool water does not even absorb most of the sun’s energy that hits it. Since water is clear, the energy passes right through it, the same as it does through the air. Most pool liners are light colors, which reflect the energy back out through the water without absorbing the heat. A dark colored liner would be able to absorb much of the energy and transfer the heat to the water. Or if the water was dirty and had suspended particles that were dark colored, it would absorb more heat. But most people prefer clear water and probably would prefer not to have a black liner.
A solar heater for pools is designed to capture the heat from the sun and transfer it to the water, instead of just passing through the water. This could be as simple as a cover for the pool that help absorb energy or even black mats placed on the bottom of the pool. Or it could be solar water heating panels that the pool’s pump circulates the water through or a combination.
One of the most simple ways to build a solar heater for pools is to simply pump the water through black pipe laid out in the sun. You can buy a few hundred feet of black plastic pipe for little money, and lay it out on our roof or some other sunny location. By directing some of the water from your existing pool pump through the pipe, you can add a lot of heat to your pool. The amount of flow directed to the pipe can be regulated with a valve. You just have to make sure you turn the flow off when the sun is not shining and the air temperature drops to a lower temperature than your pool water. Otherwise your water heater becomes a water cooler.
There are also ways to make this process more efficient and absorb more heat, and many other simple ways to make a water heater to heat your pool or your home. Learn how to build a low cost solar water heater.
