The most economical method to heat your pool is with a solar pool heating system. The solar pool heaters supplied by SunTap Technologies are designed to effectively replace a standard pool heater fuelled by natural gas, propane, electricity, or other fuels that emit greenhouse gasses and cost hundreds of dollars in utility bills. Add two months to your pool season with free heat from the sun.
Be a responsible pool owner: never drain your pool into storm sewers. Click one of the links below to read a brochure from the City of London on how to properly drain your pool:
Solar panels are installed on the roof to collect solar energy | ||
Piping runs from your existing pool pump to the solar panels | ||
Cold pool water is pumped to the collectors to absorb solar energy | ||
The cold pool water is heated by the solar panels | ||
Warm, solar-heated pool water returns to the pool for an enjoyable, extended swimming season |
Cost comparison of solar to natural gas and electricity
Fuel type | Natural gas* | Electricity* | Solar |
Approximate fuel cost, including taxes and additional charges (¢/kWh) | 45 to 55 ¢/m³ (roughly 4.5 to 5.5 ¢/kWh) |
10 to 13 ¢/kWh | 0 ¢/kWh |
Approximate total cost, including cost of fuel and equipment over 25 years (¢ or $/kWh) |
$1.79/m³ (roughly 18 ¢/kWh) |
23 ¢/kWh | 1.5 to 2.3 ¢/kWh |
Estimated lifetime of pool heater | 5 to 10 years | 5 to 15 years | 25 years |
* does not include cost of running of gas line or electricity to heater
Solar energy delivered based on tilt angle and orientation angle
The chart below shows the average amount of solar energy (in MWhth) delivered over the course of the swimming season for a 16’x32′ inground pool, at varying tilt and orientation angles. As you can see, an optimal angle is due south between 15° to 30° tilt, but moving to south-east or south-west results in only a 1-2% loss of annual energy and moving to east or west results in only a 4-6% loss; tilting up to 45° facing south results in only 3% loss of annual energy.
orientation of solar collectors | |||||
tilt angle | West | South-West | South | South-East | East |
0° | 24.4 | 24.4 | 24.4 | 24.4 | 24.4 |
15° | 24.2 | 24.9 | 25.1 | 24.9 | 24.2 |
30° | 23.5 | 24.7 | 25.1 | 24.7 | 23.5 |
45° | 22.4 | 24.0 | 24.4 | 24.0 | 22.4 |
60° | 21.0 | 22.7 | 22.6 | 22.7 | 21.0 |
75° | 17.7 | 19.5 | 18.8 | 19.5 | 17.7 |
90° | 12.9 | 14.2 | 12.3 | 14.2 | 12.9 |
solar energy numbers are displayed in MWhth | |||||
Assumptions:
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