shoehorny's Full Review: Smartpool Sunheater - Above Ground Pool - 2ft X 20...
Review of SmartPool Sunheater System (January 25, 2008)
This is really a “smart pool” item to have, if you own a pool in one of the northern states where you only have a couple of months of really hot days, but you love to swim in the pool. The technology is very simple: The pump on your pool takes the cooler water from your pool and pumps it through the Sunheater array of tubes. While the water is circulating, the sun is beating down on the black surface and heat is absorbed through the surface to the water. The water carries the heat back to the pool and gets re-circulated.
Depending on the size of your pool and how much sunshine you get, you can raise the temperature by over 10 degrees – or more! I helped some friends install one of these on their built-in swimming pool. Prior to the install, they were paying several hundred dollars each summer to heat the pool using an electric pool heater. It got to be too expensive for them. When I told them about the Sunheater system, they ordered it, and we installed it in about 20 minutes. We measured the water temperature in the morning, then again a day later. Sure enough, the water was 10 degrees warmer the following day!
The Sunheater is lightweight and easy to carry. It can be installed on the ground near a pool (this is the way we set it up), or on a roof top, or on a fence. Even when filled with water, the system only weighs a few pounds so weight is usually should not be an issue. The Sunheater came with all the supplies we needed to install it, except for a screwdriver. I removed it from the box, rolled it out (it comes rolled up like a roll of material). There are two equal size black plastic pieces, each about 20 feet long. I let it set in the sun until it was perfectly flat (about a half hour). Then I connected them together as directed in the instructions. I then connected the return line from the pool filter system to one end and I added another hose from the other end back to the port on the pool. (For this part you need to work fast if the pool is full of water, or else you might get wet!) All connections are made with hose clamps that were provided. You just need to fit them on to the ends of the hoses and tighten them with a screwdriver.
Then, turn on the pool pump. The water will flow through the filter and through the Sunheater and back into the pool. According to the instructions, you need to order the correct size Sunheater based on the number of gallons of water contained within your pool. But I would think the bigger the system, the hotter the water. I would imagine you could even add additional Sunheaters to get even hotter water, although I have not tried this.
The unit is made of tough plastic material. At the end of the season, you can simply drain the Sunheater by removing the end caps and letting the water pour out. Then roll it up and store it away! I would not recommend leaving the unit out all year long because it may freeze and crack the plastic in areas where it gets very cold during the winter.
One possible downside is that when it gets very hot outside, the sun may already warm the pool water to the point where it is too hot. In this case, the Sunheater will make the water even warmer. If this is the case, you may need to disconnect the Sunheater and run the pool water direct from the pump to the pool. If I were to install a new Sunheater, I would certainly add a bypass system with valves to turn it off when hotter water is not desired.
The unit is available via mail order (the way we purchased one) or from several pool supplies stores. I have not seen them in Lowes or Walmart when I was shopping for one. They cost about $140 a year ago, but I believe the price has come down now. Sunheater is a product of SmartPool. They have a website that provides more information: http://www.smartpool.com/website/sunheater/index.htm
A couple of things you will need to consider before installing one of these: 1) Do you have a sunny area where you can lay the Sunheater down without it being trampled on? A roof would work great, although we installed it on the ground. 2) If you do install one on the roof, the instructions recommend using rigid schedule 40 piping, available from any building supply store. 3) You probably do not want to install the Sunheater in area where you will need to walk a lot, or children will throw pool toys on it.
If you can meet the above conditions, I would highly recommend the Sunheater. Just don’t forget to invite me to come for a swim when you get it setup! Thanks for reading my review and best wishes for a nice day!
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