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Heat exchanger can't handle solar panel water temperature

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  • #16
    J P M and Ampster, thanks for everything

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    • #17
      Originally posted by bernie4253 View Post
      J P M and Ampster, thanks for everything
      For anything I wrote that you found helpful, you're most welcome. Respectfully, more self education will point the way forward for you better and before any forum or other social media.

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      • #18
        A lot of words... If the solar panel fluid is isolated from the pool water, did someone point out that "water" may not be the best choice? Think about shutdown modes.. Freezing... Overheating when the pumps aren't running while the sun is still shining. I looked at a "Duda Solar" dudadiesel system a month ago. Has a good installation manual freely available, might help you gain more knowledge. Forget that it is for home water, i think you are seeking the knowledge there.

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        • #19
          Originally posted by QuantumSlice View Post
          A lot of words... If the solar panel fluid is isolated from the pool water, did someone point out that "water" may not be the best choice? Think about shutdown modes.. Freezing... Overheating when the pumps aren't running while the sun is still shining. I looked at a "Duda Solar" dudadiesel system a month ago. Has a good installation manual freely available, might help you gain more knowledge. Forget that it is for home water, i think you are seeking the knowledge there.
          Yea, folks with short attention spans sometimes think that. Sometimes things need more than one sentence. Life's a bitch, but sometimes that's the price of completeness. Nice feature: Folks get to ignore what you don't think you need.

          To your point about water perhaps not being the ideal fluid for the collector loop, I didn't bring it up because, for the most part, it's not part of the conversation. If the OP has a collector system that hasn't frozen, and plans on using the same system but adding another component to it (a heat exchanger), looks like if freezing hasn't been a problem so far, it won't become one with what he is looking into.

          Appropriate solar pool water heating systems are available and have evolved that can be cost effective and also SOMEWHAT freeze tolerant. See Fafco and others for more info.

          Solar pool water heating is very low tech. It does not need to be complicated. Information only or something else, that system/site you reference is peddling a product that's way overboard in terms of complexity and price, and anyone who knows anything about the subject sees it for the ripoff it is. I'm calling B.S. on it.

          Bernie or anyone else that's curious about the basics: A much better reference and a primer of sorts for pool heating can be found at the Florida Solar Energy Center web site under pool heating. Probably less useful for the U.K. etc., but still informative.

          Also see the "Build It Solar" website. lots of info there, but it may need a bit of caution/interpretation.
          Last edited by J.P.M.; 04-01-2019, 11:29 AM.

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          • #20
            Originally posted by bernie4253 View Post
            Before we all get too heated (sorry about the pun), here is what I now propose having read all the responses and looked at other options.

            I have 2 Bosch Worcester (as they are branded in the UK) solar panels FKC-1S, and all the associated gear so wish to make the best use of it. My current thinking is this.

            Using a dual-coil indirect tank (one purpose designed as a heat store), probably 500 litres, I can heat the water in the tank using standard closed loop circuit from the panels, via the tank and back to the panels. I'll put a heat dump on the closed loop. This means the tank water heats up when the panels get the most direct light and the heat is stored for the night time when the pool pump runs, the electricity is cheaper, and the pool heat loss is greatest.

            Using the second coil in the tank I will set up a closed loop from that coil to the pool heat exchanger. As its a pool heat exchanger, its designed to deal with chlorinated water. As before, the pool water never mixes with anything other than pool water and taking J P M's advice about efficiency, I can keep the heating water to the heat exchanger, at an optimal temperature.

            Any excess in the heat store, I will use to feed my electrically heated domestic hot water tank.

            Will this work, am I crazy, or can you suggest better use of these panels (which I already own, long since paid for) which I hope to benefit from?
            I'll give you a short answer- save your money on the heat exchanger and just use your panels for domestic HW. Those 2 panels won't raise the temperature of your pool water, they don't produce sufficient BTU's. You can calculate the BTU's stored by your indirect tank, and the BTU's produced by the solar panels. I don't know how many liters of water are in your pool, do the math and you will see your wasting your time and money.
            I have installed HX's on pools, they are usually rated at 250K BTU's "PER HOUR" or above depending on the size of a pool and that rating is with boiler supply temps of 85 C.
            Two panels will be lucky to produce 120K BTU'S "PER DAY" in optimum conditions.
            Last edited by LucMan; 04-09-2019, 08:53 PM.

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