A SwimMaster Plus solar pool heater will not only make your pool warmer and more comfortable, it will also add months to your swimming season, allowing you to spend more leisure time in your pool.
Come on in, the waters' fine.
A SwimMaster Plus solar pool heating system lets you harness the world's most abundant energy source: the sun. And unlike other fuels (electricity, gas, propane) there's no charge for the sun's energy. Your SwimMaster Plus system will easily pay for itself in fuel savings alone when compared to conventional, fossil fuel-driven pool heaters. You'll enjoy the comfort of your pool, knowing that you are using an environmentally friendly source while conserving our natural resources.
All you do is set the desired pool temperature and your SwimMaster Plus controller does the rest. When your automatic controller senses there is adequate sunlight to heat your pool and that your pool is colder than you like, water is automatically diverted to your solar system. As the water flows up through the solar collectors, the sun’s energy heats it. The solar heated water then flows back into your pool. This cycle continues until your pool reaches the desired temperature.
You can also cool your pool during the warmer months by running your SwimMaster Plus system at night. Your SwimMaster Plus controller can automatically switch to cooling your pool, maintaining the perfect temperature.
Product Features
Universal Mounting System
The engineers at Solar Hydronics Corp. devised a way to combat the problem of outdated mounting hardware. The first set of hardware to be modernized was the header mount that secures the top of the solar collector to your roof.
Traditional mounts fit snuggly to the collector, allowing no flexibility for the collector to move as the material expands and contracts throughout each day. Collectors restricted by these mounts could bind at the anchor points causing additional and unnecessary stress on the collector, anchor points and roof penetrations, leading to increased product failures.
So what did the engineers develop? The Universal Mounting system.
The base of the mount cradles the header, lifting it slightly off the roof. This allows the collector to expand and contract without causing stress to the collector, the anchor points, or the roof. The mounts also feature a two-piece design that allows the collectors to be released without disturbing the anchor points at the base of each mount.
Over-Molded Header
SwimMaster Plus utilizes today's most advanced molding technology to create a one-piece, over-molded header. The header is the manifold that carries your pool's water to and from the absorber surface.
Traditionally, headers are welded to the absorber. Not only can welding block the absober tubes, these welds tend to weaken as the collector naturally ages. Not with SwimMaster Plus. The header is formed directly over the absorber tubes, ensuring a strong secure bond.
But there needs to be more to the header than sturdiness. It is your pool water's expressway, and traffic jams are not allowed! Because the header is molded directly around the absorber tubes there are no barriers, so water freely exits the header into each individual absorber tube. Simply put: the more water that moves through your collector, the more heat that is transferred to your pool each day.
Tube-on-Fin Absorber
When engineering SwimMaster Plus' absorber surface, Solar Hydronics Corp. chose a tube-on-fin design due to the combination of its performance and durability. Loose tube absorber designs are known to produce the least amount of heat, and welded tube and flat plate designs don't allow for natural expansion and contraction, leading to premature failure.
The fin, or webbing between each tube, along with the tube itself, collects the sun's heat and efficiently transfers the heat to your pool water. The fin also enables the collector to flex, expand, and contract without putting pressure on the water-carrying tubes, while allowing the roof to breathe.
SwimMaster Plus' built-in flexible zip joints have been proven to outlast all other absorber designs without sacrificing BTU output.
Flexible Zip Joints
The SwimMaster Plus' flexible zip joints are located every 6 inches across the absorber surface. Flexible joints allow for vertical expansion and contraction; critical for applications where a tree or other shadow-causing element may partially shade the collectors. Flexible joints eliminate stress caused by natural temperature variances between panel sections by allowing the collectors to move along the joint freely.
Additionally, unlike traditional bonding methods that weld the absorber sections together which can pinch, puncture, or weaken the absorber, there are no welds in SwimMaster Plus' entire absorber.
Strap Anchor System
First, stainless steel straps with an outer coating of polypropylene are placed over the panel array and fastened into our unique strap mount hardware (see illustration). Next, and most importantly, the distinctive two-piece design makes SwimMaster Plus strap mounts highly durable and virtually weatherproof. The bottom half of the anchor is the piece that is secured to your roof. The strapping is laid across the array and into the mount. Then, the top halves of the anchor screw onto the bottom, cinching the strap in place, and protecting the mounting hardware from the elements. That's fascinating, you say. But what does truss-mounted mean? SwimMaster Plus collectors were specifically designed for compliance with home construction standards. They are built 48″ wide, so that the straps can be anchored in the roof truss, rather than the roof decking or tiles, providing the most secure bond possible.
