Solar Sizing Guide


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Site modified: Friday, July 04, 2003

Simplified Sizing Guide for Solar Pool Heaters

A. Determine the pool surface area in Square Feet:
Measure the overall length and width of the pool. Refer to Table 1 below for Shape Multipliers.

Overall Length _____Ft X Overall Width _____Ft X Shape Multiplier _____ =
(Alternate method: Pool Gallons / 7.48 / Average Depth = Pool SqFt)

(A). _____ SqFt

Shape

Mult.

Rectangle

1.00

Kidney/Freeform

0.85

Oval

0.90

Round

0.79

Table 1

Orientation

Mult.

South Facing

1.00

East or West Facing

1.25

Flat

1.10

Table 2

B. Where will the panels be installed?
Check the orientation of the roof area with a compass, refer to Table 2 above and select an Orientation Multiplier. Solar panels can face up to 30° East or West of True South for optimum efficiency. Panels can not face in a northerly direction, unless supported by a rack to elevate the system towards south. See the Solar Pool Heater Installation Manual for precautions on installing on a flat roof.

(B). _______

C. Is the pool shaded?
Determine the percentage of shade on the entire pool during the Solar Day (9 am - 5 pm), refer to Table 3 below and select a Shade Multiplier. If only a portion of the pool is shaded for part of the solar day, then a Shade Multiplier should be extrapolated from the table (i.e. 50% of the pool shaded for 50% (4 hours) of the solar day equals 25% or a multiplier of 1.10). Indoor pools should use 100% shade multiplier.

(C). _______

Orientation

Mult.

No Shade from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

1.00

25% Shade

1.10

50% Shade

1.25

75% Shade

1.50

100% Shade

1.75

Table 3

D. Does the pool have a screen enclosure?
If the pool has a screen enclosure, use a Screen Multiplier of 1.25
If the pool does not have a screen enclosure, use a Screen Multiplier of 1.0

E. Determine the Sizing Factor for your Region and Pool Season desired, from the Table below. For areas other than Florida, refer to the Solar Insolation Map for the correct Sizing Factor.

Season Multiplier

Region

9 - 10 Month

11 - 12 Month

North Florida

0.64

0.80

Central Florida

0.56

0.68

South Florida

0.48

0.56

(D). _______

(E). _______

F. Multiply (A) X (B) X (C) X (D) X (E) to get the required square footage of solar panels.
Measure the area where the panels will be installed to determine which size panel will fit. Determine the number of panels required below (round to nearest whole number):

(F). _______

Sq. footage (F) from above: _______

or
or

div. by 32 = ___ 4Ft X 8Ft Panels
div. by 40 = ___ 4Ft X 10Ft Panels
div. by 48 = ___ 4Ft X 12Ft Panels

Some roof configurations may require combining several sizes of panels to achieve the total square footage. See the Solar Pool Heater Installation Manual for details

Sizing guidelines assume use of a pool cover when night time temperatures are below 60 degrees. If a cover is not used during these conditions, the system must be over-sized by 75 to 100%.

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