Do you have a swimming pool at home? There are inexpensive solar panels that heat water in your pool. You can even build your own. The cost is less than $100 for the materials and the time to spend installing them is approximately one to two days.
There are things to consider when availing the solar panel for your pool. It should have enough sunlight during the day. They are known to be simple passive collectors. They are made of plastic coils that contain water. Also, they are in between sheets of shatter-resistant glass. When water gathers in the coils, it acquires heat by the sun then pumped into the pool.
If your house is covered with trees, there’s no sunlight that passes by and solar panel may not be possible, but clear rooftop facing south or west is a perfect place for solar panel to get more exposure to the sun during day time.
The difference between the outside air and the temperature you want your pool should be considered. For instance, you are heating an outside pool at about 80 degrees in below zero winter; you may need pool covers and heavy duty gas heating system. On the other hand, heating an outdoor pool with 80 degrees in a 50-degree winter is ideal.
Solar cover is used when the air outside pool is colder that the temperature of your pool. This is detected once you see steam rises from your pool. Use the pool cover to let the heat stay in water.
Extra precaution is needed when installing your solar panel system. You should not use pool’s solar heater for hot water in your house. It can save you money, but not advisable. The water in your pool has mixture of chlorine and muriatic acid. I presume you might not want them to add on your drinking water system.