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albertmccarthy23

long island solar pools solarattic pool heater

albertmccarthy23
15 years ago

From reading a bit on this forum there seems to be a huge number people who are very well educated when it comes to swimming pools. I just purchased a solarattic solar swimming pool heater from www.longislandsolarpools.com and I was wondering if anyone else here had any experience with these units. Mine just arrived yesterday and me and my neighbor are planning on doing the installation this weekend. I can't wait to see what this thing can do! I spoke with the owner of the company for a good half-hour and after our conversation going this route over a regular solar collector setup seemed like a no brainer. Between the hidden installation (which was a big deal for me) and the cooling benefits on the house I was sold. He claimed that the cooling benefits on the house are 400% higher than an attic vent, an attic fan, and a ridge vent combined. He claimed the solarattic will stabilize my attic temperatures, which are normally at least 125 degrees in mid summer at 85-95 degrees and will keep my pool in the mid/high 80s - low 90s the whole season, and thats w/o my solar cover.

Do any of you guys have these units on your pools? Or know anyone who does? Thanks

Comments (12)

  • goodtimesnoodlesalad
    15 years ago

    Hmmmmm........ Sales pitch? Lol

  • albertmccarthy23
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    lol nope just an excited guinea pig I guess. I'll post up a few pics once we get this thing installed and if I remember I'll post a follow up on the performance once the season gets going.

  • poolguynj
    15 years ago

    How about a web link. It sounds like a heat pump or snake oil or a lot of both.

    Scott

  • albertmccarthy23
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Its a heat exchanger located inside the attic, not a heat pump-there is no compressor, so it only uses as much electricity as a fan.

    Here is a link that might be useful: long island solar pools

  • poolguynj
    15 years ago

    $5000? If it works, it will take a LONG time to recover the costs. I can't see how making the pool pump working harder and the fan on unit will save more in home cooling costs. I hoe it works as advertised. I don't see it being able to heat a pool greater than 10000 gallons if at best performance, it could inject 60000 BTUs of attic heat. I suspect the fan for the unit is doing more to help cool the attic than the heat exchanger. Attic ventilators are a lot less money and cool my attic to about 90 on the hottest days.

    Sorry if I seem doubtful, but I am.

    Thank you for posting the link.

    Scott

  • albertmccarthy23
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    You've lost me. If you compare this unit with the costs of purchasing a propane heater and heating with propane for one season you have about the same number. That is a one year payback. Its also the same with a heat pump because the initial investment is higher. I'll post a link below where you can calculate the costs of heating a pool using oil or propane or a heat punp and you can do the math yourself. The calculations start on page 27. Its the same with any solar pool heating system except with the standard solar heaters you do not get the same cooling benefits.

    I'll post my results in a few months, once I have some hard data

    Here is a link that might be useful: Guide to pool heating

  • albertmccarthy23
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    So this is what we have installed so far. It was a fairly forward install but took a little longer than I expected. So far we have put in 12 hours on the install and that is with 2 of us and we probably have another 2 hours to finish. I guess that is better than paying someone else to do it though. Plus I had fun.

    Here is a link that might be useful: my solarattic pool heater installation

  • albertmccarthy23
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Here is the outside plumbing by my pool filter. This was probably the hardest part to figure out because my pool equipment was not setup exactly the same as the equipment on the diagrams. But we figured it out after scratiching our heads for an hour.

    Here is a link that might be useful: pool equipment setup for solar

  • albertmccarthy23
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    So far my results are quite good considering its been raining a lot and its still very early in the season. The pool is at 71 this morning. My next door neighbor's pool is still at 58 degrees and he gets a similar amount of sun on his pool. I have been thinking about using one of those solar fish to try to keep some of this heat in the pool at night time. Does anyone on here use them with any success?

    I don't have any temperatures from my attic but it basically does not get hot anymore, even on the very sunny days. I am planning on installing a themometer up there so I can actually get some real data.

  • tresw
    15 years ago

    Nice job on the installation! I was looking into one of these last year, but after searching high and low I couldn't find any feedback other than what was on the manufacturer's web site. Please keep us posted on how it works out for you.

    My attic isn't very warm this time of year, so I'm not sure how effective this would be. Another problem I have is during the middle of the summer I have no need to heat the pool and therefore would not run the exchanger, so there would be no attic cooling benefit at the time I need it the most (from a house-cooling point of view). But the "hidden" aspect of it is a big selling point for sure.

  • tresw
    15 years ago

    I forgot to answer your other question regarding the solar fish. I've read numerous reports on them and not one was favorable. You might consider a solar cover instead. Yeah, they're a pain, but they are extremely effective at keeping the heat in.

  • brentr_gw
    14 years ago

    Just curious as to how is the solar attic heater working out for you. Please give back details.

    Thanks