There is no better place to relax and entertain than the swimming pool, its an excellent addition to any property and can change your lifestyle completely making it easier to both relax and exercise more often. Running a pool properly does have specific responsibly though, including heating and cleaning the pool. As most pools are based outside, inevitably the pool will get debris in the water, so a pool blanket offers the best option to reduce manual maintenance. However the pool still needs to be heated to some degree, as no one likes dipping into an ice cold pool. So how do you heat your pool. Well, traditionally it would have just been a case of installing a gas or oil heater and letting it run to raise and maintain the temperature of the water. However for most people today, due to price rises this simply isn't an option as its just too expensive. Other alternatives are therefore more than necessary to help people to enjoy their pool.

Solar Blankets and Solar Water Heaters

One of the best and most definitely the cheapest option to get heat into your pool is to capture the energy of the sun using a solar blanket and a solar water heater. Using both of these technologies together it is easily possible to provide all the heat into the water you could possibly need all year round.

A Video Example of a Solar Water Heater

Below is a video of the type of water heater which is suitable to be used for providing heat to the pool. This particular design is known as a passive solar water heater. This is one of the original, and still the best designs of solar water heater, as it has the least parts, lowest cost and is the most reliable of the designs. The video shows how to construct a passive solar water heater, and which materials to use.

Solar Water Heater Parts and Equipment

So what is a passive solar water made from. Well, as stated the design is one of the simplest yet most efficient. Firstly a water storage tank is required. The tank should be black to capture and retain as much solar energy as possible and transfer it to the water. The tank has flow and return connections to connect to the swimming pool. Values and pumps with control the flow of water, to capture as much solar energy. The tank is then placed with an insulated solar collector box which allows solar energy in, but not out.

DIY Plans To Build a Solar Water Heater

Passive solar water heaters are simple enough in design that even someone with only a basic grasp of DIY could make one, or have someone they know do it