[NA]solar pool heater problem[NA]

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Dave Taylor
My homemade solar heater has been working pretty well this summer but yesterday a visitor failed to follow instructions to turn the pump on when the sun was getting on it.

I came home to three 'blow-outs' inside the panel, where the heat was so great it caused the plastic tubing to soften and stretch, then form eruption-like defects before it let go.

Even after I install the pump controller which turns on when the temp differential is 1°, there will be times when I need the collector to withstand high temps (pool too hot, need to shut off collector, or pump controller fails). It is unlikely someone will always be there to cover or move.

The tubing is like this; 1/2" black poly irrigation hose.

Maybe there is something more durable? Other than copper $$ :)
Still amazed it was able to build enough pressure, the discharge pipe sits in the pool; the inlet is the pump; also in the pool.

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It it were me, I would have rigged some narrow black painted metal cans together and circulated the water through that. Plastic isn't really all that efficient at heat transfer to begin with, so you could afford to lose some surface area by going with metal. Aluminum maybe.
 
Get an over pressure valve, the kind they use on water heaters, to release the pressure.
Get an over-temperature switch, the kind they use on automobile radiator fans, to turn your pump on when it gets too hot.
Get a hot water tank to use as an expansion tank when it gets too much heat/pressure.
 
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