Argosy Pools Ltd.
Argosy Pools Ltd.
A few years ago we solar heated the City of Lytton's municipal pool.
For the Canadian cold extremes its really important to use a solar collector type that can handle freezing with water in it. That's not to say you don't have to winterize systems here. When water freezes, it expands and will burst a conventional rigid solar panel. That'll happen even if it frosts lightly for a few minutes at night. Powerstrip is made right here in Canada and it's flexible so you don't have to worry about running it into the time of year that you might encounter a freak occasional freeze and you don't have to tilt it at a minmumum of 3 in 12 to ensure the water fully drains out. You do with a conventional rigid panel. Take a look at the manufacturer's web site and click on the links to the Powerstrip solar pool heater. Note how this system also allows us to fill available spaces in ways that aren't possible with conventional 4x12, 4x10 and 4x8 grids. We do have the best polypropylene grid style 4x8, 4x10 and 4x12 panels available in situations where they make the most sense.
Through extensive collaboration with universities and gov't we've learned to simulate the performance of a solar pool heater with remarkable accuracy. We've verified these curves repeatedly with real systems and found excellent correlation. In the simulation summary above our example pool is 16x32 and its 25% shaded. We've used Vancouver airport weather data so its probably conservative for your microclimate. With thousands of real solar systems in operation that we've monitored over the years we know this is conservative. When the sun shines and it feels summerlike in April our pools hit 80 degrees if sized like this.
Please feel free to give us a call about any or all your pool needs. Our direct line is 604-596-7778 E-mail is argosypools@hotmail.com