Solar Pool Heater Valves
Manual control using three valves.
Solar pool heater valves. Automatic diverter valves use sensors to detect temperature and automatically direct water to or away from your solar panels. Two valves control the flow to and from the solar collectors and one allows for. This gives the water in the solar heater time to heat up before it goes into the pool. To solve this i installed an outdoor timer to my pool pump.
Isolation valves in solar pool heating systems may be standard ball valves or high quality two way valves from pentair jandy hayward praher or others. The pump still runs several hours a day to filter the pool but from noon until about 6 00 pm the timer turns the pump on and off at 1 2 hour intervals. Winterizing pools in cold climate locations should set the valves to bypass when closing down the pool for the winter. Some people erroneously believe the relief valve in a solar pool heater is there to relieve excess pressure and heat.
The main solar pool heating page aleady showed a diagram of a manual system using a single control valve and a check valve. As the pump stops and the system wants to drain back the function of this valve is to open on negative pressure and allow air to enter the collectors so that the weight of the water pulling internally on system components does not internally crush. It automatically maximizes solar heat collection by actuating a 24v valve when there is solar heat available. Can be controlled with automatic diverter valves.
The auxiliary heater is completely optional with solar pool heaters but most people with a spa want a traditional heater to quickly heat a spa on demand. The following two diagrams illustrate how a manual system can be done using three identical manual valves. Solar pool heater must have a vacuum release valve 7 installed on or just off the roof. Hayward solar pool heating control system comes with 2 by 2 1 2 inch 3 way valve actuator and 2 pc sensors.
Not using the heater if the heater gets very little or no use then it should be bypassed. Solar pool heating 3 way valve solar bypassed your valve configuration may be different on the ground rather than the wall or may not contain all of the pictured valves. That is not the case. Shocking the pool if algae forms or the pool turns green chemicals added to clear the algae will create corrosive properties in the water.
These valves control where water is returned the the pool. Bypass the heater until the pool is clear. Because a solar pool heater is an open loop system expanding water and air due to heat easily escapes back to the pool and no pressure relief is necessary.