Protect Your Pool Over the Cold Winter Season
WILLISTON — Labor Day weekend might be known as the end of the summer, but it at least one family in Williston was ignoring that conventional wisdom.
At about noon Monday, Matt Wood and his two children stepped in their swimming pool — though cautiously — and enjoyed the water for a while. The air temperature was in the upper 60s or low 70s.
“It’s definitely warmer than it would have been,” Wood said from the pool, wiping the water off his face.
Wood was referring to his solar pool heater, an inexpensive system he built himself that requires no other energy input than what the sun provides. Thanks to his solar-powered heater — in combination with a bubble-wrap-like solar pool cover that traps heat — Wood got the water temperature up to 80 degrees back in July and is able to swim well into September.
“We are extending the swimming season on both ends with this device,” he said. “We are able to heat the pool up to an acceptable temperature earlier in the season and keep it a warmer temperature later into the fall.”
Wood is not an engineer or a contractor; he works for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture but is “very handy,” said Wood’s wife, Deborah Miuccio. As his system was not difficult to build, Wood said he hopes his experience will encourage others to engage in do-it-yourself solar projects.
Wood’s solar pool heater consists of two main pieces: a pump powered by an eight-watt photovoltaic panel that does not require any external power source, and a water collector made of black corrugated-metal roofing that absorbs heat.
And the system functions simply: Water is pumped from the pool to the top of the collector, water runs downs through the collector’s roofing and picks up heat, and heated water at the bottom of the collector is channeled back to the pool.
Wood put together the heater in April, and the entire project took about eight hours to build, he said — but he’d been planning and researching for about a year. He came across a website — BuildItSolar.com — with ideas, got a first inspiration and went from there.
One recommendation for his type of system was using the pool filter to pump water to the top of the collector, but Wood thought it would require using the filter for more hours every day, thus consuming more electricity. He wanted a system that did not require external energy and was as efficient as possible. That’s how he thought of the photovoltaic panel to pump out the water.
Wood looked for solar panels at local hardware stores and checked with local installers but couldn’t find any as small as he wanted. Finally, he found online a combo consisting of a submersible water pump, the solar panel to power it and other pieces to build a fountain (which he didn’t end up using).
“It cost about $100,” he said.
Wood next bought four pieces of corrugated roofing, an oil-based black paint, some PVC pipes and clear vinyl tubing, wood board for the collector’s frame and a number of screws, caps, elbows and pipe brackets. The project’s final price tag? $260, he said.
A feature that makes it attractive — beyond affordability, efficiency and simplicity — is the system is fully automatic and functions only when the sun is out to power it.
After installing his heater, Wood exchanged information with BuildItSolar.com, and now his project is featured on the site. Three people have contacted him about it, he said.
Wood is unsure what’s next on his solar do-it-yourself project list.
“It would be nice to be able to supplement the hot water for the house, but that may be beyond a DIY project,” he said.
Miuccio said she would love her husband to build a solar heater for the house water.
“We could have that as our next goal to research now that we know that solar is a possibility for us,” she said. “I wouldn’t feel guilty about my long showers.”
By Mariana Lamaison Sears • For the Free Press
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