Thank you for your response, Gary. It may be more trouble than it is worth for heating the pool. I am intrigued by the comment that you made about solar space heating. We are currently using electric heat in the garage apartment on top of which these units are installed. If I bought a heat exchanger and a fan unit, could I hook these panels up for solar heat? I am assuming that there is a pump somewhere that was associated with the solar hot water system... or would that have been in the hot water tank? The space in the garage apartment is only about 350 sq feet. Would four 4'x8' panels produce enough heat to make an impact in this space? Gee, I would be very happy just to make a good dent in the electric bill!

Hi Measure Twice... not sure if I'm the PoolKing ( big grin ) but thanks if you are talking to me. GPM is 20 gallons ( that's 20 gallons per minute that it's rated at ) - I'm sure it's pushing that much as I am pushing a ton of water, I did some tests last year on how fast I could fill up a jug with the output and the test results were out of this world, - to give you an idea, the flow from that pro system comes out like a fireman's hose, it's that fast. Hi RatherBeGardening, - the size I have on that false roof I built is 16 feet x 10 feet.... there are 4 panels there ( Enersol brand ) - each panel consists of 4 strips each, I actually screwed up and there are only 15 strips there, and not 16 strips, so it's not a full 4 panels.... it should have been 40 sq feet per panel x 4 panels = total sq footage of 160 sq feet, but instead it's 150 sq feet.... - each strip that makes up a a panel is 1 foot wide x 10 feet long ( 10 sq feet of area ) Cost ? .... I paid almost $270 or so for each panel. Where did I order from ? The place is called Northwestwholesale.com , and they sell to the United States and Canada, info on the solar panels is here: http://www.northwestwholesale.com/pool_solar_panel.asp Solar Panels 10' long - 40 sq. ft. per box $242.42 (Canadian funds ) $204.24 - American funds. By the way, shipping is FREE ! , I forgot about that, so that's another great thing ! I spoke with Doug Charman but there are plenty of salesmen who will get back to ya. Each panel comes in a nice box, and if you are going to order any, they sell you one box that has the same panel in it, but it included stuff you need for installation, like a special key, straps, bolts and even a video ( VHS) . I didn't install mine as of yet on my roof so no need for any of the hardware like straps bolts etc.. The official site for Enersol solar panels is : http://www.enersol.com/home.html Btw, you'll see a picture of the box you get with the stuff included in the box like the video etc.... Mark Here is a link that might be useful: Enersol Solar Panels

When you say you want to solar heat your pool are you meaning heating it through the winter? Or summmer or both? When we lived in Arizona we had a completely unheated pool that we heated quite warmly with a simple bubble pool cover. We had to leave it off in high summer because the pool got too warm.

soundsgood, I have a 400k BTU natural gas heater for the spa. The propane (LP) heater will do the same exact thing except you will need an LP tank installed. I recommend going with the 400k BTU so it can heat the spa faster. I have the heat pump/ gas heater combo for my pool and spa and donÂt think its overkill at all. I want the pool warm when I want to go swimming so I am willing to pay the price to heat it. Heat pumps have come a long way as far as being efficient. When choosing a heat pump check the C.O.P. rating. C.O.P. stands for Coefficient Of Performance and the higher the C.O.P rating the more heat the unit will create using less energy. This is why I like the Summit or AquaCal heat pumps. Summit is a real good value and AquaCal makes some of the best heat pumps on the market but they are expensive. I also prefer heat pumps that have Titanium heat exchangers so the chemicals in the water do not corrode it. You should be able to get a Summit SUM 5 installed for less than a solar system. In Florida you will probably only use the heat pump for 2-3 months in the spring and 2-3 months in the fall. Heat pumps have thermostats just like an AC unit, you set the temperature and it turns on and off as needed to maintain the temperature so it does not run all the time either. Also, if you have solar or a pool heat pump and your water in the pool is warmer than it will take less gas to heat the spa because the temperature difference that you are heating will be less.