Some recent Feedback
Here are a few testaments to my system from satisfied purchasers of my manual who then went on to install the system guided by my manual:-
Louis Kotze of South Africa (September 2009)
Hi Brad,
I have studied your pool heating document. I might say that you have done a
splendid job!!!
Carlo Robertson of South Africa (April 2009)
Tony Flamingo of South Africa (December 2008)
Hi Brad
Many thanks for your manual - good guidance and great advice
Johan Kruger of South Africa (May 2005)
Hello Brad,
Just a bit of feedback on my heating system. I have completed my system on 27
April 2005. On Thursday morning when my pump started, the water temp was 17 deg.
C. The pool water peaked at 19.6 deg. that afternoon. The water coming back from
the heating system peaked at 21.9 deg. 14:00 that afternoon. By Monday, the pool
water peaked at 21.9 deg. and the heating system at 24 deg. Since then the pool
water has stabelized at +-22 degrees.
The total system has cost me R2 164-56. That includes a timer switch at R150-00
as I haven't had one.
It took me in total 26 hours to build and install the system, the longest was to
cut the spagetti tubing in 5 meter lengths and then to mark off the headers and
install the nipples. The rest of the work went quite fast.
I was amazed when I switched on the pump after everything was completed that the
only leaks that occurred was at two elbows where I haven't tightened the clamps
enough. Not a single leak on any of the nipples!
Your manual helped me a lot and it was well worth the money. The only obstacle
was the supplier of the spaghetti tubing and nipples. I trust you have updated
your manual by now. SA Plasticor is definitely the cheapest on those items.
Regards,
Johan Krüger
Newcastle
Lukas Olivier of South Africa (January 2004)
Herman De Bruyn of South Africa (December 2003)
Brad,
Just to let you know…My system has been running for 2 weeks now and my average temp at sundown is up from 23 to 30 C – I’ve had one 31 C. My roof is corrugated with tiles on top.
· I made one big panel I assembled on my roof – I have a flat roof – the panel is +- 9 X 6 Metres. For a 45 kl pool.
· I kept to 50 mm class 3 all the way in the system – I still have plenty of pressure, my Barracuda is moving just like before.
· My total cost was about R 2500. The most expensive the 5 mm tubing which is now R70 per 100m cheapest at Turf Aq in midrand.
Lukas of South Africa (October to November 2003)
Brad,
Thanks for the great manual. I am busy
assembling my unit with 4 panels. I will definitely recommend the manual to
every DIY person with guts to try this plan.
Just to compare pricing per sqr meter.
My pools capacity 27 cubic meters. I build 2 panels of 2mx3,5m and one a bit
smaller 1.8x 3.5 giving me a total of 20 sqr meters. My entire north facing side
of my double garage is 700 meters of piping. Wall to wall from nock to
gutter. I will get digital photos as soon as I tidied the pipes and they are
more straightened by the sun.
The total cost for the panels, pipes and
valves plus digging labour R1836-00. I am just waiting for sunshine and
the end result will hopefully be fruitful. Just quickly the 5mm pipe =
50cent/pm. Adaptors for 5mm pipe to 40 mm pipe = 45 cents each, the tool R11-00.
40 mm pipe R4/pm
In the middle of October we had the cold front with all the rain. I had to face temperatures of 14 deg in my pool because of all the cold rain water when starting the system. I think the max temperature for JHB was 12 degrees those 2 days. Ever since the sun came out I monitored the rise in temperature and I am surprised. A colleague of mine stays about 10 km from me and does have a thermometer in his pool with no heating and the exact same size pool. The current difference in pool temperature is 5 degrees (his pool 24 and mine 29). This is more than I hoped for because of the equivalence in pool surface compared to solar piping I used.
Started on Friday afternoon at 16:30,
assembled the panels did all the piping up to the point where it must go down.
Saturday during the rain I did the filter, pump and heat panel connections.
Sunday I did the power and started the pump at 12:30. With the rain's on and off
states I managed to finish in a total of 9 hours.
Thanks again for the manual and the advise. It helped a lot to have some guidance and experience at hand. I will email some pics as soon as I get a chance.
Rich & Dianne Siegel of the States (May 2003)
THANK YOU .YOUR MANUAL IS A GREAT HELP WELL WORTH 25.BUCKS!!! RS
Marius Erasmus of South Africa (March 2003)
Thank you..........
I downloaded the document.
It looks very useful, and I'm sure that
whenever I'm going to have enough money to build my splash-pool, that I
will build my own solar heating system. I hope I can contact you if I need any
additional information. Hopefully before summer 2004....................
Keith Cotzee of South Africa (March 2003)
Just to let you know that I installed my panels over the weekend and did not have even one leak.
Pema Atool of South Africa (January 2003)
Hi Brad, compliments of the season to
you and I wish you a happy new year.
Some feed back, on the panel - Yesterday
the temperature of the water was at 36Deg C, yes that is correct and this is
with the solar blanket.
The panel is performing excellently on
an avg cloudy day the water temp is around 29 to 30 Deg C, all this with the
solar blanket, without the H2O temp is around 27-28, initial temp was 18-20.
So yes I am swimming very relaxingly and warm.
Some of my pics
Thanks