[telegraph.hill]

I would be interested to hear from anyone that actually has a solar panel on their roof or in their garden to provide domestic heating/power. I would eventually like to get one/some myself, and so am interested to hear what types or brands work, from people that have actually used them over a long period.

I am interestd to hear what kind of set up is best in terms of utilising the power.

When I was in Turkey I noticed that people use a lot of solar panels - they were on roofs, and in gardens. I never got chance to discuss it with anyone though, as I was too busy having a holiday!

[Tree]

My landlord's pool is heated by solar energy. That is: they have a system of pipes that criss-cross the roof of the poolhouse, which is painted black. This heats the water from early April til he closes the pool in September (in southern BC, Canada). He can choose to pump water through the pipes or not, depending on the temperature of the water, but by mid-May/early June, it's plenty warm enough to not use them most of the time. This isn't an example of using solar "power" so much as solar "energy" but the cost savings for him are HUGE as I imagine it's expensive to heat a pool otherwise.

[horselover]

I just read the other day that it's costly to own a pool, and it's not just the heating costs. It's the maintenance costs as well.

[Horlequism]

We used to have solar panels here but we had to take them down. We had a really hot summer here once and we were really busy during that summer and they apparently took in too much sunlight and got screwed up. I can't really remember the exact reason but we had to take them down because we had problems with them.

There must be certain name brands that I can further look into...

[NABR 1337]

Originally Posted by Horlequism

We used to have solar panels here but we had to take them down. We had a really hot summer here once and we were really busy during that summer and they apparently took in too much sunlight and got screwed up. I can't really remember the exact reason but we had to take them down because we had problems with them.

There must be certain name brands that I can further look into...

I really must querry as to the problem you ran into and why they needed to come down. Could you research and re-post so we can know what to advoid.

[freeranger]

Hard to imagine that solar panels could be damaged by ' too much' sunlight. We have been using various brands of solar panels for over 25 years and have never encountered this (or even heard of it). Without a regulator it is possible for the panels to overcharge batteries, causing them to fail but that's easily avoided by fitting a regulator.

[Logruve]

My pool is heated through solar energy. It has a "dark bottom" which attracts the sunlight and keeps the warmth in. The solar energy can heat up the pool to an average of 88 degrees in the summer time. As for the solar panels... my house is one of the 20% mandated homes in the Del Sur community to run on a solar energy system. It has worked out great and has significantly reduced our cost of living. I would definitely recommend equipting your house with them.

[sam1900]

nice to meet u guys

[atula]

we have a solar panel at my parents place and it is actually very good...the problem I heard was that because the water waas hard...there is usually some scaling which reduces the efficiency of the panels..so my father has to regularly get the panel cleaned.....otherwise it works well

[RFL1986]

I like the idea of solar heating a pool. We could usually get by without running a water heater just through the use of a solar blanket but any further ideas on that front are fantastic.