First Day of operations

The plumbing was allowed to sit overnight to ensure that the adhesives used had cured properly. The following morning the pump was switched on with the tap in the open position. The the tap was slowly moved toward the closed position until we could hear water moving through the pipes. Lots of air was shot into the pool as the solar collector filled with water. Then the tap was moved into the closed position.

Two of the drip-loc fittings produced bubbles, from the detergent lubrication, as air was forced out of the system. I was concerned that some might leak but not even a drip from one of the fittings. Fantastic.

So I left the system on for about 4 hours from midday to 4:00pm. The original pool temperature was 14 degrees celcius and by 4:00pm had climbed to 16 degrees. According to the Elders weather site the day's maximum was 23 degrees. I also compared the temperature of the pool water with that coming out of the solar collector. The solar collector was adding almost 2 degrees to the temperature of the water.

While all of that was happening I covered over the pipe and straightened up the poly tubing as best I could.

I did not need to purchase further components. I had 1.5 lengths of PVC pipe left over.

PROJECT: Solar pool heater.