I bought 4 of these for a much smaller pool (3000 Litres) + a solar cover. I run the solar matts in series with a 330 gallon an hour pump on either side so ... [ punp , solar matt, solar matt, solar matt, solar matt, pump ]... And it works a treat it feel like a hottub on warm days and raises the temps about 2c-4c depending on cloud cover. Just one square metre of land can absorb about 1300 watts of energy from the sun. So having 4 of these solar matts is almost like having two 1800w kettles on all day long to heat the water and they really do work a treat in direct sunlight. If you forget to put the pump on in the morning the water can be almost scalding hot for a few minutes when it starts up at lunch time. Incredible how how it can get actually. We have only had ours for a few months and they seem pretty durable but I would expect a big 800 gallon an hour pump could pop these if you put too many in series. However if the pump pressure is low you could string these up in series no problem up to 6 in a row I would imagine. I would also pump the hot water back into the bottom of the pool for maximum efficiency.
I use one of these with my sand filter on my 12'x30" pool. Can't say it works great but, over a couple days of running it when the sun is directly on the mat, my pool is warm. This alone won't work very well. I also have a solar bubble cover and a vinyl stretch over cover. With the combination of all 3, my pool has been about 90° in 90° air temps. I highly recommend the 2-cover method as well.
Another tip I found with my set up is put the pump on one of those cheep plug in dial timers and have it click the pump on and off in 15min intervils over the hottest part of the day. It gives the solar cover on your pool time to heat the top layer of the water up and also the water in the mat gets crazy hot before it clicks back on and mixes it all up. I increased my temp by an extra 5 to 10 degrees C by doing this
This is actually a bad idea. There are 2 principles that show this: 1) The amount of heat added to your pool is the inflow to outflow temperature difference (the number you are raising) multiplied by the outflow rate (the number you are lowering). 2) Heat transfer works best when the temperature differential is large. The sun can only apply so much heat so the hotter the water you are trying to heat is the slower the temperature will rise. Without the second rule adding a timer would have no effect, you would be raising the temperature of less water causing the same amount of heat to be added but with the second rule you are reducing the heat added by reducing the difference between the current water temp (in heater) compared to the heat source (radiant heat from the sun). The best heating efficiency would be to put as much water through as possible with only a little temperature gain. The side effect being low electric efficiency from the pump having to move so much water. There is a balancing game to be played there where the more energy you spend moving the water the more heat you can get from the sun, you just need to decide how efficient you want the solar heater to be vs. how much energy you want to spend moving the water.
I assume the thermo syphon effect is what is causing the warm water coming from the pool outlet, even with the pump turned off... I ordered on to see if I can heat up some water in a 5 gallon bucket for purpose of a shower in a campervan setting...
You need 4 of these 4x4 solar pads just for a 8 x 8 pool to raise the temp around 10 degrees in my experience. The amount of gallons or height of the pool doesn't really matter as heat is lost through surface area. A solar pool cover will also raise the pool temp around 10 degrees. And a dark colored above ground pool will easily stay 10 degrees warmer than an in ground pool as long as the sun is shinning on the side walls. I plan on spray painting my above ground pool outside walls black!
@Matt Lundquist Hi, can you please explain your hose setup a bit further - possibly include a close up picture. Which hose is to the pool/which hoses is from the pump? I’m experiencing the same issues where two mats greatly reduce the flow from the pump. Also, where did you get the hose “T’s” from? Was that part of the vacuum hose parts you purchased? Thanks so much 😊
Mark it is a simple setup. The tee is placed in the hose going to the heater. You place one heater to the left and one to the right and use the tee to connect them. Then on the outlet sides use the tee to connect the left and right sides of the outlet. Then use the center of the tee to return to the pool. I got all the parts from Intex directly. The hose is a replacement hose for their vacuum cleaner as it is 25' long and can be cut shorter. Hope this helps I can't post pictures here so only description.
@@MattLundquistVW Thanks so much for getting back to me. I was able to screen shot the setup to zoom in. For clarity, is the “T” closest to the bottom of the video frame and wood structure the line for warm water back into the pool? Thanks again 😊 Mark
I wish my pool started out 84, I wouldn't need them... but here in Washington it gets up to around 78 with two heaters. But in the 3 years I've had them, I've already tossed one and one has a leak this time around
I put a sheet of polystyrene under mine and a sheet of clear plastic over the top so the heat dosnt leach out into the ground or the air. Haven't had one for a while now because we heat the pool with a diesel burner. I'll be interested to see any improvements you make to it.
@@dinky7749 very well, first one I made was to heat the washdown water for our milking shed. Got it up to 70°c daily then heated the last 20°c with electricity. Wind is the biggest heat loss.
So I have the 2.6m x 1.7m rectangular Pool with a 1000Gal pump which is actually WAY over spec for such a small pool. Before I got this heater my pool would get up to about 28°C due to how fast the pump moves the water during the day. With the intex mat attached my pool is at about 22°C. The mat is so restrictive, it does allow the water to flow fast enough to get all the cold water through the mat, resulting in a much colder pool. I am better off not using the mat.
how are you keeping it at 92? by running the pump all day? or only a few hours a day? thanks. Also when night comes..what happens? does the pool go back to cold again? thanks
I run 2 in parallel keeps my pool 80+, use real hose clamps not their plastic crap. I also use a 500ft sprinkler hose under a tarp w/subpump, and a subpump feeding a copper tube running through my BBQ grill. got it to 87 one day in NYC area.🥵
When I connected them together in a straight line ( in series) it made the pump work much harder to pump the water. It might heat the water better in series, but the pump I had at the time was not that great.
I have 4 of these with similar sized pool. First of all check your pump, it might be too strong for this thing. Second: the bypass part is silly, it deforms the whole mat when you put it under pressure and almost cuts out the water flow but reduces a lot. The idea of bypass is good, but they could have just added another pipe with a T joint or if you but 2 you have 2 pieces of 2 way valves already... As longetivity I don't think these will survive more than a season, will see.
I just ran the pump untill the air came out of the pad. Now I did have the pump primed with water first, and my heater pad was at the same lever as the pump. Hope this helps.
I used to wrap my pools walls in transparent bubble foil. 2 layers worked the best. Then plus on top of the solar foil, I placed another smaller one from ma previous smaller pool, and some isopor boards, then topped it with covering blanket I could use my pool till mid nov, it was already freezing. OFc hoses, and pump also needed some upgrades, obviously, to isolate better.
Bought the heater pad. Bought intex pump. Can’t figure out to hook it up to the pool. The guy at the store told me I can run the pump and heater pad alone.
So, the hose that comes out of the pool and connects to the inlet of the pump stays the same. Then the hose that comes out of the pump ( the one that would return to the pool) goes to the heating pad where the bypass valve goes. On the other side of pad ( where there is only one connection) that hose reconnects to the return side of the pool. Hope this helps. P.S. The pad needs to be on the pressure side of the pump.
Thanks for the review. I've been thinking of doing this. The solar cover is amazing. I figure if I ad two or three of these mats we'll be swimming in our pool in Florida all winter
@@RobAlfieInostrozaLindley our blue bubble cover works great. We leave it on till we want to swim. In the winter it helps hold the warmth. I'd say it keeps the pool at least 10 degrees or more warmer. But in the winter I want to as a solar heater to help
@@RobAlfieInostrozaLindley The solar cover helps keep the heat in especially at night. It rise the temperature of the water but not nearly as well as the solar heating pads did. They work great together as a system. If you do solar heating pads make sure you get them in a spot that has good direct sunlight for several hours, for best results.
@@MattLundquistVW thanks. I can have the solar covers under my regular pool covering? Also... for how many hours are you running the water through the pads (aka running the pump )and does it mean that doing this for various days it keeps the water warm at all times? Thanks
I want to be able to also enjoy some warm water at night. Do you recommend those water heaters that dangle in the pool or will it be warm from the pads doing their work at daytime? Thanks
Funkar verkligen dessa solpaneler? Vi har en liten pool på bara 4.600 liter. Men har ändå haft funderingar på att köpa en Solvärmare till poolen. Men förstår inte riktigt hur allt är kopplat, xsamt behövs en timer? Har visserligen sandfilter från bestway med inbyggd timer
I have my pool sitting on 5cm thick insulation boards, I use an intex pool cover on the top of the pool and only take the cover off when i want to swim, Other then that the cover stays on. in summer outside temp is anywhere from 28 to 38 degrees cel. pool temps are around 26 to 34 degrees cel of course if we have two rainy cooler days the pool can drop to about 21. So for me these mats would only be useful to get the temp of the pool back to 28 after bad weather days. Therefore i think a mini heat pump would be better. you can keep it plugged in and at a set temp of lets say 28. when the pool drops bellow that it works when its about it the water just gets pump through the pump but not heated. i've seen these pump for about 500€
@@MattLundquistVW Actually its about double that price here in Norway. Pump is a 5000 liters in one hour. Oh, the money I have spent on pool.. Just this year we have upgrated to a fiberglass pool. Not big, medium with 22m3. Total cost is around $25.000. Still use the same filter pump, solar mats and electric heat unit. Not sure what its called in english, but looks like a aircondition unit, but works opposite.
I have only 2 hours per day sunlight in my yard, because next door buildings. I cant take a bath because water is cold, If is left in shadow, can heat the water ? I have some solar lamps and they works in shadow.
Unfortunately I don't believe this will work for you. The more direct sun light you have the better. If it is a very small pool than two hours maybe all you need. But the more time in direct light the better. You could maybe put them on the roof if your pump could push the water that high, as the roof may get more sun light.
The reason you have to have so many it’s cause it’s running through it all the time if you can devise a way to pump it in there on your own and have it on a timer where it was shut off for say 15 minutes to heat up or even a half hour and then turn on for 15 minutes or whatever it takes to clear that vinyl out every time it would heat up much quicker just with one my biggest thing is I don’t like to have it on the ground that is going to kill my grass
On these small above ground pools the pump is on a GFCI built into the power cord, when you shut it off the GFCI will trip and you have to manually reset it ( it's a safety device) so if you put it on a timer the GFCI will trip and the pump will not run when the timer turns back on.
Neveen Andrawes no you don't have to run them all the time. I run mine for two hours a day as that is how long I run the pump to filter the pool. As for what time of day depends on if I want the pool warmer or cooler. To warm the pool I run the system when the solar pads are exposed to the most sun light. To cool the pool I run the system at night. Hope this helps 😁.
@@MattLundquistVW could you clarify about the pump - is he just connecting to the output of the stock intex pump after the filter? i have the saltwater converter as well which has been another thing maybe someone would be interested - so this is the 3rd season and though i had thought of cleaning the element changes the water - well it was caked up but only see it from the sides, so when i had looked at the unit from above it still looked normal without buildup - so i kept adding salt because it was giving a low salt warning and shutting down. Ace Hardware had some 10$ bags of pool sand which was convenient rather than ordering online - and i kept adding another bag, the 40lb bags - so after 3 bags i knew something was malfunctioning so i opened the saltwater converter to see the caked on i guess it's calcium - use apple cider vinegar to soak for a couple hours and using the water hose sprayer to blast it clean quickly - and so then of course running clean the converter gave me a too high salt warning and shuts down - so i kind of like the buoyancy with the higher saline content - since that had been down most of the june and july - so was having to shock it frequently - walmart (by the way was not carrying any pool items other than simple chlorine type solutions - which is why them not having the black water heater - i went with the 62lb container of 3" chlorine tablets - get a dispenser - HD had a 1" dispenser so i just split it up to fit it in - i position it on a string over the output so it works real well, haven't hadh to shock the pool since using the tablets and no algae starts to grow , nice clean water - but i am really wishing i had the heating thing figured out - but i've been real busy supporting people trying to get word out about event 201 and beyond - the year is only going to get rougher before it gets better - recomment subbing to The Prepared Mind channel about shtf situation we as a country face now - did you all know that chip maker Intel has publicly admitted recently that it is not competitive in chip making anymore. AMD has been the victor in cpu production. folks - intel isn't planning to make anymore cpus - hq seems to be isreal now - now we have a huge group of people who are going to be struggling we gotta pull together and protect ourselves - do you all realize how heavily the censorship has been on these platforms has been?
@@SunshineBlueJay yes you connect the heater on the outlet of the pump. Pool stuff is very seasonal and the price goes up steeple in the middle of summer, and the stock goes way down. I'm sure Intex has pool stuff, they are just keeping the price high buy saying it's out of stock. Good to know about the salt water system.
Not that I'm doubting that there's warm water coming out of it but if you wanted a true reading on the pool temperature you wouldn't have it next to the outlet I was going to tell you as the temperature right there that's not the temperature of the whole pool
The chart you showed says 4 for both 16'x42' and 14'x42', so I assume 2 only get you somewhere. But won't it be easier putting some black robber mats directly in the pool?
Putting rubber mats in the pool would block the sun light and keep it from adsorbing heat. What ever type of cover you put on the pool to try to heat it needs to be translucent. So the sun light can pass through it heating the water trapped under it ( like a green house). Yes the chart shows I should use four solar mats for my pool; but two are working well for me, but more would be better I.e. faster heating of the water.
@@MattLundquistVW I mean put in the bottom of the pool so the mats absorb heat and disperse the heat directly to water, make the pool looks not pretty for sure. Never seen any pool with black color...
@@JasonECI I don't think that would work, lots of cold water would be above those mats. Buy the time the light would reach them the energy would be dispersed.
I think the water inside the mats would make them to heavy to hang. There are some other brands that use tubes that might work for hanging but cost more.
Yes I got them from Walmart.com one for$ 25 and the other for $27. Not sure what they are charging today as the pool stuff seams seasonal, and prices are best at the beginning of the season.
@@JonesNMann that is a crazy price. For some reason the prices go stupid crazy at the middle of the summer, even the pools that cost $200 are $600 right now. But when summer is over it all goes back down. You might just want to wait until then and you could buy three heating pads for that price.
@@JonesNMann on Intex website it is 24.99 but maybe out of stock. Their website says it is having problems so call them and see if they can get you one. intexcorp.com/products/above-ground-pools/pool-accessories/heating-system/
if you measure near the outlet the water temperature will be higher there of course. Other reviews of this product actually show that it only works to heat a pool effectively on very small pools, the cover however especialy in sunny regions works excellent.
The heaters work well for my size pool. Yes if it was larger like a 30'x52" then something else like a heat pump would be best. These small solar pads are good for the pools, that most people are getting at the big box stores for the summer.
I heated my 36-thousand gallon inground pool with a black garden hose and a "found" little giant submersible pump. I connected the hose to the pump dropped it in the pool and let it trickle water through the black garden hose coiled on the concrete pad. It worked rather well the water from the hose was uncomfortably hot to touch and over a period of days it raised the pool temperature significantly. I think I got 86 F. I think the real trick is the speed of the weather flow. Slower is better.
@@Chadman333 When I was making injection molds back before dinosaurs roamed the earth I'd hang out in the mold room to watch the molds being run after a repair or whatever. The molder running the machines would adjust the thermal cycling of the mold using two things: (1) the pressure of the injector generates tons of heat, can get the plastic to 900F if they want it to, and (2) water flow. The molds are cooled with water. When the mold wouldn't cool down fast enough to get the cycle rate as high as the molder wanted he'd turn the outlet valve down restricting water flow, forcing the water to spend more time in the mold. This cooled the mold faster Letting him cycle more parts through the machine faster. Water is phase change material. You can get thermal energy into it very fast during lower thermal regimes and then at higher regiems, you have to put more energy into the water to get it to accept the energy.
Yes, results maybe similar. But the cost will be about the same as the connectors to make it work with the oddball Intex size will drive the price up. This setup is simple cheap and has everything someone needs to install into their pool system. Now if you have the parts laying around from past home projects then go for it. Just remember that these heating pads cost under $30.
@Scott Dee glade to here your system is working for you. I thought about doing something similar. But found these pads for under $30 each, and was skeptical that they would work at all. Now I am a believer, they work a little to well and the pool keeps getting over 92°F ( I like 88 max). But they work well in the middle of night to cool the pool down also.
I've got a couple of 100' contractor grade 3/4" water hoses I used a thermometer this morning @ about 0945. The temperature went as high as 115°F and sustained this hot water flow for a significant amount of time. The hoses hold about 4.5 gallons of water I'm not sure how long it took to reach that temperature, I could experiment further. But I can assume you would get the best benefit by stopping and starting the flow once the water contained in the hose has reached a desired temp. I can imagine a simple Arduino setup with some valves and temp sensors would rock!
@@MattLundquistVW how are you keeping it at 92? by running the pump all day? or only a few hours a day? thanks. Also when night comes..what happens? does the pool go back to cold again? thanks
@Matt Lundquist God bless you, for answering these...well very interesting and intelligent questions :) Greetings from Serbia, your video helped me a lot!
Sorry to hear that. Mine have been on the job for over a month now, no leaks or blow outs. But I am running them I parallel, the gauge on the pump went in to the red with them in series. When I redid the hoses and added the tees to make the solar mats in parallel the back pressure went down dramatically. Also your pump is larger than mine also (2400gph to mine 2100gph) I would think it would put out more pressure than mine with a restriction. But could be you just had a bum mat from the start, I would try to contact Intex and see if they will make it right. We had a pool from them that had a hole in it from the start, several years ago. Called them up and they shipped a new pool that day.
On sunny days it can raise the temperature of the water several degrees higher than the ambient temperature. Last season we had a full week of sunny days and forgot to turn the heating pad off and the temperature got to 94°, ambient temperature was in the high 80's.
The mat is about 47 1/2" square so plan on 4' square area for one mat. The chart said one mat is good for an 8'x30" pool ( see chart at the 2:30 mark in the video) but it will make a difference in a larger pool. For example our pool is a 14'x42" and they recommend 4 mats. With one mat it brought the temperature from the mid 70's up into the 80's. With two mats we got the temperature up to 94° with three days of full sun. Hope this information helps , sorry for the late reply.
I have a salt water system...I placed mats between the pump and SGM( as was recommended) but the water flow is too low to run the salt machine. Can the mats be placed after the salt machine?
If it came with the 1000 gph pump than you probably will. The chart recommend 3-4 for my pool and one heating pad kept it swimmable but two made it real nice. So you might not need as many as they recommend. I recommend putting the heaters in parallel not in series, as when I did it in series ( one connected right after each other) it really made the pump work harder. I upgraded to the 2100gph sand filter pump and it works nice, no more cartridge to clean and has a timer to boot. Hope this helps you, have a great time swimming this summer.
@@MattLundquistVW how are you keeping it at 92? by running the pump all day? or only a few hours a day? thanks. Also when night comes..what happens? does the pool go back to cold again? thanks
@@RobAlfieInostrozaLindley I only run the pump/ heater pads when they have direct sunlight on them. If you run them when they are in the shade it will actually cool the water. It takes a few good days to bring up the temperature really high and a rainy day will set you back some. Also I have a solar blanket which helps keep the heat in at night and add a little the the rise in temperature during the day.
I believe they recommend the 1000gph for the solar heating pads, but can't be sure. You can always try it and if it doesn't work get the bigger pump later.
Walmart.com is where I bought the solar pads. The extra long tubing and tee's I bought through INTEX's website. If you have the space next to your pump and it is sunny there. Then the solar pad kit should have everything you need.
Hello if I translated it correctly you are asking how to purchase a 10'x30" pool in Puerto Rico. I live in Florida so I don't really know how to get one on the island. But I would try walmart.com first as I have heard they ship to the island. If that is no good try target.com and Amazon. Hope this helps, I understand that getting things out there can be costly. Have a blessed day and enjoy that beautiful island 🌞.
We bought 5, all sat on a smooth protected tarp covered surface. Day 3 we came home to find one had ruptured., emptying half of our pool. Avoid these like the plague, absolute garbage.
Sorry you had a bad experience with them. I on the other hand have had the exact opposite experience with them. We have had three Intex pools now 10'x30" , 9'x16'x 42"rectangle and now the 14'x42". The first 10'x30 had a leak in the bottom seam, we called them up and they sent a whole new pool kit ( was expecting just a liner) in about five days. The others we have had no problems with. The heaters are not leaking yet and the pump is working well. Now when I went to get more connectors for the heater they took a long time to ship, but that is understandable as they are in a state that was completely locked down. When the lock down eased up they got here in a fair time.
Matt Lundquist I’m in Maine and I’ve made a few variations for my pool but heck for what you paid I would have gone that route instead but haven’t seen the same deal you got
Absolutely wonderful. Heats my pool upto 84 degrees. Looking to purchase again. Very durable and easy to set up. Great product from a great company.
I bought 4 of these for a much smaller pool (3000 Litres) + a solar cover. I run the solar matts in series with a 330 gallon an hour pump on either side so ... [ punp , solar matt, solar matt, solar matt, solar matt, pump ]... And it works a treat it feel like a hottub on warm days and raises the temps about 2c-4c depending on cloud cover.
Just one square metre of land can absorb about 1300 watts of energy from the sun. So having 4 of these solar matts is almost like having two 1800w kettles on all day long to heat the water and they really do work a treat in direct sunlight. If you forget to put the pump on in the morning the water can be almost scalding hot for a few minutes when it starts up at lunch time. Incredible how how it can get actually.
We have only had ours for a few months and they seem pretty durable but I would expect a big 800 gallon an hour pump could pop these if you put too many in series. However if the pump pressure is low you could string these up in series no problem up to 6 in a row I would imagine.
I would also pump the hot water back into the bottom of the pool for maximum efficiency.
I use one of these with my sand filter on my 12'x30" pool. Can't say it works great but, over a couple days of running it when the sun is directly on the mat, my pool is warm. This alone won't work very well. I also have a solar bubble cover and a vinyl stretch over cover. With the combination of all 3, my pool has been about 90° in 90° air temps. I highly recommend the 2-cover method as well.
Another tip I found with my set up is put the pump on one of those cheep plug in dial timers and have it click the pump on and off in 15min intervils over the hottest part of the day. It gives the solar cover on your pool time to heat the top layer of the water up and also the water in the mat gets crazy hot before it clicks back on and mixes it all up. I increased my temp by an extra 5 to 10 degrees C by doing this
This is actually a bad idea. There are 2 principles that show this:
1) The amount of heat added to your pool is the inflow to outflow temperature difference (the number you are raising) multiplied by the outflow rate (the number you are lowering).
2) Heat transfer works best when the temperature differential is large. The sun can only apply so much heat so the hotter the water you are trying to heat is the slower the temperature will rise.
Without the second rule adding a timer would have no effect, you would be raising the temperature of less water causing the same amount of heat to be added but with the second rule you are reducing the heat added by reducing the difference between the current water temp (in heater) compared to the heat source (radiant heat from the sun).
The best heating efficiency would be to put as much water through as possible with only a little temperature gain. The side effect being low electric efficiency from the pump having to move so much water. There is a balancing game to be played there where the more energy you spend moving the water the more heat you can get from the sun, you just need to decide how efficient you want the solar heater to be vs. how much energy you want to spend moving the water.
I assume the thermo syphon effect is what is causing the warm water coming from the pool outlet, even with the pump turned off...
I ordered on to see if I can heat up some water in a 5 gallon bucket for purpose of a shower in a campervan setting...
You need 4 of these 4x4 solar pads just for a 8 x 8 pool to raise the temp around 10 degrees in my experience. The amount of gallons or height of the pool doesn't really matter as heat is lost through surface area. A solar pool cover will also raise the pool temp around 10 degrees. And a dark colored above ground pool will easily stay 10 degrees warmer than an in ground pool as long as the sun is shinning on the side walls. I plan on spray painting my above ground pool outside walls black!
Did you ever spray paint the walls of your pool?
@Matt Lundquist Hi, can you please explain your hose setup a bit further - possibly include a close up picture. Which hose is to the pool/which hoses is from the pump?
I’m experiencing the same issues where two mats greatly reduce the flow from the pump.
Also, where did you get the hose “T’s” from? Was that part of the vacuum hose parts you purchased?
Thanks so much 😊
Mark it is a simple setup. The tee is placed in the hose going to the heater. You place one heater to the left and one to the right and use the tee to connect them. Then on the outlet sides use the tee to connect the left and right sides of the outlet. Then use the center of the tee to return to the pool.
I got all the parts from Intex directly. The hose is a replacement hose for their vacuum cleaner as it is 25' long and can be cut shorter. Hope this helps I can't post pictures here so only description.
@@MattLundquistVW Thanks so much for getting back to me.
I was able to screen shot the setup to zoom in. For clarity, is the “T” closest to the bottom of the video frame and wood structure the line for warm water back into the pool?
Thanks again 😊
Mark
I wish my pool started out 84, I wouldn't need them... but here in Washington it gets up to around 78 with two heaters. But in the 3 years I've had them, I've already tossed one and one has a leak this time around
I put a sheet of polystyrene under mine and a sheet of clear plastic over the top so the heat dosnt leach out into the ground or the air. Haven't had one for a while now because we heat the pool with a diesel burner. I'll be interested to see any improvements you make to it.
How well did this work? I had the same idea
@@dinky7749 very well, first one I made was to heat the washdown water for our milking shed. Got it up to 70°c daily then heated the last 20°c with electricity. Wind is the biggest heat loss.
So I have the 2.6m x 1.7m rectangular Pool with a 1000Gal pump which is actually WAY over spec for such a small pool. Before I got this heater my pool would get up to about 28°C due to how fast the pump moves the water during the day. With the intex mat attached my pool is at about 22°C. The mat is so restrictive, it does allow the water to flow fast enough to get all the cold water through the mat, resulting in a much colder pool. I am better off not using the mat.
Good video thanks, did i see the intex skimmer box hanging off the side of your pool? Just wander if its any good?
Yes I had the Intex skimmer on that pool. It worked well.
how are you keeping it at 92? by running the pump all day? or only a few hours a day? thanks. Also when night comes..what happens? does the pool go back to cold again? thanks
Is it on a timer? or do you need to manually let the warm water through?
I had the pump on a timer. The solar pad has valves that you can use to bypass the pad if you don't want hot water.
I run 2 in parallel keeps my pool 80+, use real hose clamps not their plastic crap. I also use a 500ft sprinkler hose under a tarp w/subpump, and a subpump feeding a copper tube running through my BBQ grill. got it to 87 one day in NYC area.🥵
I have an 22x52 I’m guessing from what you’re saying I don’t want to connect them together? I’m thinking of getting 2 or 3
When I connected them together in a straight line ( in series) it made the pump work much harder to pump the water. It might heat the water better in series, but the pump I had at the time was not that great.
I have 4 of these with similar sized pool.
First of all check your pump, it might be too strong for this thing.
Second: the bypass part is silly, it deforms the whole mat when you put it under pressure and almost cuts out the water flow but reduces a lot. The idea of bypass is good, but they could have just added another pipe with a T joint or if you but 2 you have 2 pieces of 2 way valves already...
As longetivity I don't think these will survive more than a season, will see.
I have a problem with air in the panel. Do I just run it till it comes out. 🤔
I just ran the pump untill the air came out of the pad. Now I did have the pump primed with water first, and my heater pad was at the same lever as the pump. Hope this helps.
I used to wrap my pools walls in transparent bubble foil. 2 layers worked the best. Then plus on top of the solar foil, I placed another smaller one from ma previous smaller pool, and some isopor boards, then topped it with covering blanket I could use my pool till mid nov, it was already freezing. OFc hoses, and pump also needed some upgrades, obviously, to isolate better.
Bought the heater pad. Bought intex pump. Can’t figure out to hook it up to the pool. The guy at the store told me I can run the pump and heater pad alone.
So, the hose that comes out of the pool and connects to the inlet of the pump stays the same. Then the hose that comes out of the pump ( the one that would return to the pool) goes to the heating pad where the bypass valve goes. On the other side of pad ( where there is only one connection) that hose reconnects to the return side of the pool. Hope this helps.
P.S. The pad needs to be on the pressure side of the pump.
What about the pump on my pool? I have a hose going to that.
I’m trying to gather your comment. Thanks
images.app.goo.gl/vyw9LfzHhpcrQ14d7
It goes the way this photo shows. Hope this helps
Thanks for the review. I've been thinking of doing this. The solar cover is amazing. I figure if I ad two or three of these mats we'll be swimming in our pool in Florida all winter
hi, does the solar cover with the bubles really work? do you have to leave it there all day or how? thanks
@@RobAlfieInostrozaLindley our blue bubble cover works great. We leave it on till we want to swim. In the winter it helps hold the warmth. I'd say it keeps the pool at least 10 degrees or more warmer. But in the winter I want to as a solar heater to help
@@RobAlfieInostrozaLindley The solar cover helps keep the heat in especially at night. It rise the temperature of the water but not nearly as well as the solar heating pads did. They work great together as a system. If you do solar heating pads make sure you get them in a spot that has good direct sunlight for several hours, for best results.
@@MattLundquistVW thanks. I can have the solar covers under my regular pool covering? Also... for how many hours are you running the water through the pads (aka running the pump )and does it mean that doing this for various days it keeps the water warm at all times? Thanks
I want to be able to also enjoy some warm water at night. Do you recommend those water heaters that dangle in the pool or will it be warm from the pads doing their work at daytime? Thanks
Funkar verkligen dessa solpaneler?
Vi har en liten pool på bara 4.600 liter.
Men har ändå haft funderingar på att köpa en Solvärmare till poolen.
Men förstår inte riktigt hur allt är kopplat, xsamt behövs en timer?
Har visserligen sandfilter från bestway med inbyggd timer
I have my pool sitting on 5cm thick insulation boards, I use an intex pool cover on the top of the pool and only take the cover off when i want to swim, Other then that the cover stays on. in summer outside temp is anywhere from 28 to 38 degrees cel. pool temps are around 26 to 34 degrees cel of course if we have two rainy cooler days the pool can drop to about 21. So for me these mats would only be useful to get the temp of the pool back to 28 after bad weather days. Therefore i think a mini heat pump would be better. you can keep it plugged in and at a set temp of lets say 28. when the pool drops bellow that it works when its about it the water just gets pump through the pump but not heated. i've seen these pump for about 500€
I don’t get how the water heat up when it running too fast through the hoses and out?
Matt, how is your pump holding up with these?
You have the size pump and pool as me. Wondering if these are burning the pump out.
I have upgraded to a larger hard sided pool, but used that setup for over a year with no ill effects noted
I use 12 of those. They work very well 👍🙂
Wow that's over $300 in heaters, must be a really big pool and pump.
@@MattLundquistVW Actually its about double that price here in Norway. Pump is a 5000 liters in one hour. Oh, the money I have spent on pool.. Just this year we have upgrated to a fiberglass pool. Not big, medium with 22m3. Total cost is around $25.000. Still use the same filter pump, solar mats and electric heat unit. Not sure what its called in english, but looks like a aircondition unit, but works opposite.
@@MattLundquistVW in Canada they are ON SALE for $91 the exact same one you have 🤦
@@cherylbiles645 the price of things have gone insane over the last year unfortunately.
I have only 2 hours per day sunlight in my yard, because next door buildings. I cant take a bath because water is cold, If is left in shadow, can heat the water ? I have some solar lamps and they works in shadow.
Unfortunately I don't believe this will work for you. The more direct sun light you have the better. If it is a very small pool than two hours maybe all you need. But the more time in direct light the better. You could maybe put them on the roof if your pump could push the water that high, as the roof may get more sun light.
The reason you have to have so many it’s cause it’s running through it all the time if you can devise a way to pump it in there on your own and have it on a timer where it was shut off for say 15 minutes to heat up or even a half hour and then turn on for 15 minutes or whatever it takes to clear that vinyl out every time it would heat up much quicker just with one my biggest thing is I don’t like to have it on the ground that is going to kill my grass
On these small above ground pools the pump is on a GFCI built into the power cord, when you shut it off the GFCI will trip and you have to manually reset it ( it's a safety device) so if you put it on a timer the GFCI will trip and the pump will not run when the timer turns back on.
If you had put it in a frame covered with glass it should work wonders.
Hi. How did you do the split to have the mat in parallel and not in series?
I want a heater, solar, that will hold a 80 degrees in the winter. Amy suggestions
You will need a bigger heater and plenty of full sun to have 80° all winter.
In the winter,good luck with that.
Do you have to keep them on all the time day and night or you can turn it off during bight just for saftey
Neveen Andrawes no you don't have to run them all the time. I run mine for two hours a day as that is how long I run the pump to filter the pool. As for what time of day depends on if I want the pool warmer or cooler. To warm the pool I run the system when the solar pads are exposed to the most sun light. To cool the pool I run the system at night. Hope this helps 😁.
@@MattLundquistVW could you clarify about the pump - is he just connecting to the output of the stock intex pump after the filter? i have the saltwater converter as well which has been another thing maybe someone would be interested - so this is the 3rd season and though i had thought of cleaning the element changes the water - well it was caked up but only see it from the sides, so when i had looked at the unit from above it still looked normal without buildup - so i kept adding salt because it was giving a low salt warning and shutting down. Ace Hardware had some 10$ bags of pool sand which was convenient rather than ordering online - and i kept adding another bag, the 40lb bags - so after 3 bags i knew something was malfunctioning so i opened the saltwater converter to see the caked on i guess it's calcium - use apple cider vinegar to soak for a couple hours and using the water hose sprayer to blast it clean quickly - and so then of course running clean the converter gave me a too high salt warning and shuts down - so i kind of like the buoyancy with the higher saline content - since that had been down most of the june and july - so was having to shock it frequently - walmart (by the way was not carrying any pool items other than simple chlorine type solutions - which is why them not having the black water heater - i went with the 62lb container of 3" chlorine tablets - get a dispenser - HD had a 1" dispenser so i just split it up to fit it in - i position it on a string over the output so it works real well, haven't hadh to shock the pool since using the tablets and no algae starts to grow , nice clean water - but i am really wishing i had the heating thing figured out - but i've been real busy supporting people trying to get word out about event 201 and beyond - the year is only going to get rougher before it gets better - recomment subbing to The Prepared Mind channel about shtf situation we as a country face now - did you all know that chip maker Intel has publicly admitted recently that it is not competitive in chip making anymore. AMD has been the victor in cpu production. folks - intel isn't planning to make anymore cpus - hq seems to be isreal now - now we have a huge group of people who are going to be struggling we gotta pull together and protect ourselves - do you all realize how heavily the censorship has been on these platforms has been?
@@SunshineBlueJay yes you connect the heater on the outlet of the pump. Pool stuff is very seasonal and the price goes up steeple in the middle of summer, and the stock goes way down. I'm sure Intex has pool stuff, they are just keeping the price high buy saying it's out of stock. Good to know about the salt water system.
Not that I'm doubting that there's warm water coming out of it but if you wanted a true reading on the pool temperature you wouldn't have it next to the outlet I was going to tell you as the temperature right there that's not the temperature of the whole pool
Where did you get your long hoses?
Ordered them off the Intex website. It is the same size as sump pump discharge hose, so a good hardware store should have them also
Can this be placed on top of my garage? My garage and an attached overhang if right next to pool pump.
If your pump can push the water that far without struggling I don't see why not.
I need to know about 10x30” intex metal frame
The chart you showed says 4 for both 16'x42' and 14'x42', so I assume 2 only get you somewhere. But won't it be easier putting some black robber mats directly in the pool?
Putting rubber mats in the pool would block the sun light and keep it from adsorbing heat. What ever type of cover you put on the pool to try to heat it needs to be translucent. So the sun light can pass through it heating the water trapped under it ( like a green house). Yes the chart shows I should use four solar mats for my pool; but two are working well for me, but more would be better I.e. faster heating of the water.
@@MattLundquistVW I mean put in the bottom of the pool so the mats absorb heat and disperse the heat directly to water, make the pool looks not pretty for sure. Never seen any pool with black color...
@@JasonECI I don't think that would work, lots of cold water would be above those mats. Buy the time the light would reach them the energy would be dispersed.
@@MattLundquistVW You might be right about that. Can those bags too heavy to hang on wall?
I think the water inside the mats would make them to heavy to hang. There are some other brands that use tubes that might work for hanging but cost more.
Did you say you got the pads for $25 and $27 from Walmart?
Yes I got them from Walmart.com one for$ 25 and the other for $27. Not sure what they are charging today as the pool stuff seams seasonal, and prices are best at the beginning of the season.
Matt Lundquist yeah.. the cheapest I have seen them is $88.
@@JonesNMann that is a crazy price. For some reason the prices go stupid crazy at the middle of the summer, even the pools that cost $200 are $600 right now. But when summer is over it all goes back down. You might just want to wait until then and you could buy three heating pads for that price.
@@JonesNMann on Intex website it is 24.99 but maybe out of stock. Their website says it is having problems so call them and see if they can get you one. intexcorp.com/products/above-ground-pools/pool-accessories/heating-system/
Scumbag scalpers selling for triple
A good informative review. But 86°!!! That's a hot pool 😆 our bestway is chilling at 67° rn
if you measure near the outlet the water temperature will be higher there of course.
Other reviews of this product actually show that it only works to heat a pool effectively on very small pools, the cover however especialy in sunny regions works excellent.
The heaters work well for my size pool. Yes if it was larger like a 30'x52" then something else like a heat pump would be best. These small solar pads are good for the pools, that most people are getting at the big box stores for the summer.
I heated my 36-thousand gallon inground pool with a black garden hose and a "found" little giant submersible pump. I connected the hose to the pump dropped it in the pool and let it trickle water through the black garden hose coiled on the concrete pad.
It worked rather well the water from the hose was uncomfortably hot to touch and over a period of days it raised the pool temperature significantly. I think I got 86 F. I think the real trick is the speed of the weather flow. Slower is better.
Actually more flow is better. Water is not as "hot", but more heating energy is actually transferred to the pool. Yes it seems counter intuitive.
@@Chadman333 When I was making injection molds back before dinosaurs roamed the earth I'd hang out in the mold room to watch the molds being run after a repair or whatever. The molder running the machines would adjust the thermal cycling of the mold using two things: (1) the pressure of the injector generates tons of heat, can get the plastic to 900F if they want it to, and (2) water flow. The molds are cooled with water.
When the mold wouldn't cool down fast enough to get the cycle rate as high as the molder wanted he'd turn the outlet valve down restricting water flow, forcing the water to spend more time in the mold. This cooled the mold faster Letting him cycle more parts through the machine faster. Water is phase change material. You can get thermal energy into it very fast during lower thermal regimes and then at higher regiems, you have to put more energy into the water to get it to accept the energy.
You can also do this with black poly irigation pipe.
Yes, results maybe similar. But the cost will be about the same as the connectors to make it work with the oddball Intex size will drive the price up. This setup is simple cheap and has everything someone needs to install into their pool system. Now if you have the parts laying around from past home projects then go for it. Just remember that these heating pads cost under $30.
@Scott Dee glade to here your system is working for you. I thought about doing something similar. But found these pads for under $30 each, and was skeptical that they would work at all. Now I am a believer, they work a little to well and the pool keeps getting over 92°F ( I like 88 max). But they work well in the middle of night to cool the pool down also.
I've got a couple of 100' contractor grade 3/4" water hoses I used a thermometer this morning @ about 0945.
The temperature went as high as 115°F and sustained this hot water flow for a significant amount of time. The hoses hold about 4.5 gallons of water I'm not sure how long it took to reach that temperature, I could experiment further. But I can assume you would get the best benefit by stopping and starting the flow once the water contained in the hose has reached a desired temp.
I can imagine a simple Arduino setup with some valves and temp sensors would rock!
@@MattLundquistVW how are you keeping it at 92? by running the pump all day? or only a few hours a day? thanks. Also when night comes..what happens? does the pool go back to cold again? thanks
How long does it take to warm up your pool
That depends on how sunny it is. Today was a fairly sunny day ( not the most tho) and it went from 77f to 80f.
What is the temp like on the side where the warmer water isn't coming in? Thanks
You gotta mix the water lol
@@samanthaabigailsalazar 🤦♂️
Can I use this at night?
It's solar , it needs sun light to heat the water.
@Matt Lundquist God bless you, for answering these...well very interesting and intelligent questions :) Greetings from Serbia, your video helped me a lot!
Had two and my pump (3/4 hp 2400gph) blew out the first one.
Sorry to hear that. Mine have been on the job for over a month now, no leaks or blow outs. But I am running them I parallel, the gauge on the pump went in to the red with them in series. When I redid the hoses and added the tees to make the solar mats in parallel the back pressure went down dramatically. Also your pump is larger than mine also (2400gph to mine 2100gph) I would think it would put out more pressure than mine with a restriction. But could be you just had a bum mat from the start, I would try to contact Intex and see if they will make it right. We had a pool from them that had a hole in it from the start, several years ago. Called them up and they shipped a new pool that day.
But what is temp? Like i live in Ga when it's 80 degrees outside with just the solar cover my pool is 80 degrees. So what is your temp outside?
On sunny days it can raise the temperature of the water several degrees higher than the ambient temperature. Last season we had a full week of sunny days and forgot to turn the heating pad off and the temperature got to 94°, ambient temperature was in the high 80's.
@@MattLundquistVW ok thank you
Hi! What is the size of the one heater mat?
The mat is about 47 1/2" square so plan on 4' square area for one mat. The chart said one mat is good for an 8'x30" pool ( see chart at the 2:30 mark in the video) but it will make a difference in a larger pool. For example our pool is a 14'x42" and they recommend 4 mats. With one mat it brought the temperature from the mid 70's up into the 80's. With two mats we got the temperature up to 94° with three days of full sun. Hope this information helps , sorry for the late reply.
@@MattLundquistVW Thank you!🙂
What model and strength pump do you need to use one of these? I've got the stock canister filter pump that comes with the 15' Intex blowup pool.
They suggest the 1000gph pump for the heater pad. Most Intex pools have that pump standard.
I use two 330 gal an hour pumps with 4 solar matts. Works great in my 3000L pool.
I have a salt water system...I placed mats between the pump and SGM( as was recommended) but the water flow is too low to run the salt machine. Can the mats be placed after the salt machine?
I don't see why not.
i have a 15' x 48'' pool. the chart recommends 5 but will i need to get a bigger pump?
If it came with the 1000 gph pump than you probably will. The chart recommend 3-4 for my pool and one heating pad kept it swimmable but two made it real nice. So you might not need as many as they recommend. I recommend putting the heaters in parallel not in series, as when I did it in series ( one connected right after each other) it really made the pump work harder. I upgraded to the 2100gph sand filter pump and it works nice, no more cartridge to clean and has a timer to boot. Hope this helps you, have a great time swimming this summer.
@@MattLundquistVW how are you keeping it at 92? by running the pump all day? or only a few hours a day? thanks. Also when night comes..what happens? does the pool go back to cold again? thanks
@@RobAlfieInostrozaLindley I only run the pump/ heater pads when they have direct sunlight on them. If you run them when they are in the shade it will actually cool the water. It takes a few good days to bring up the temperature really high and a rainy day will set you back some. Also I have a solar blanket which helps keep the heat in at night and add a little the the rise in temperature during the day.
I have the 12'x30" pool, would only 1 of the 8000 gph models work?
I believe they recommend the 1000gph for the solar heating pads, but can't be sure. You can always try it and if it doesn't work get the bigger pump later.
Thanks
Where did yo get them? On line?
Walmart.com is where I bought the solar pads. The extra long tubing and tee's I bought through INTEX's website. If you have the space next to your pump and it is sunny there. Then the solar pad kit should have everything you need.
Bud that was French not Spanish. You may already have been corrected but didn’t look through the comments.
It's all Greek to me lol. Thanks for the lesson tho.
Hola,me interesa saber cómo lo puedo comprar en PR, o por internet, para una piscina 10*30
Hello if I translated it correctly you are asking how to purchase a 10'x30" pool in Puerto Rico. I live in Florida so I don't really know how to get one on the island. But I would try walmart.com first as I have heard they ship to the island. If that is no good try target.com and Amazon. Hope this helps, I understand that getting things out there can be costly. Have a blessed day and enjoy that beautiful island 🌞.
Buenos días, gracias por su recomendación , trataré en Walmart,que tengas un excelente día,un 🤗🇵🇷
Does it work at night?
It will cool the pool off if you run it at night. It needs sun light to heat the water in side the pad.
We bought 5, all sat on a smooth protected tarp covered surface. Day 3 we came home to find one had ruptured., emptying half of our pool. Avoid these like the plague, absolute garbage.
I think you need to put some chlorine in your water.
What ladder are you using?
Intex is horrible and they leak big time, The company will also not stand behind the merchandise you will be screwed.
Sorry you had a bad experience with them. I on the other hand have had the exact opposite experience with them. We have had three Intex pools now 10'x30" , 9'x16'x 42"rectangle and now the 14'x42". The first 10'x30 had a leak in the bottom seam, we called them up and they sent a whole new pool kit ( was expecting just a liner) in about five days. The others we have had no problems with. The heaters are not leaking yet and the pump is working well.
Now when I went to get more connectors for the heater they took a long time to ship, but that is understandable as they are in a state that was completely locked down. When the lock down eased up they got here in a fair time.
Hmm
Next video....how to get 10k views !
Lol it's got more views than I would have thought. I'm just glad people are finding it useful.
Lol it's got more views than I would have thought. I'm just glad people are finding it useful.
Matt Lundquist I’m in Maine and I’ve made a few variations for my pool but heck for what you paid I would have gone that route instead but haven’t seen the same deal you got
Y am i here im a kid?
Hahaha
Yeah dont freak out we were all kids once👍
Never purchase named INTEX…. Worst brand
Where did you get the extra tubing?
From Intex. Was on there website as accessories