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The heat of summer is still upon us, but fall has arrived and solar pool heating season is right around the corner! October 15th traditionally starts the solar pool heating season, but it seems to be getting earlier and earlier every year. The phone starts ringing off the hook as seasonal residents flock back to Southwest Florida and year-round residents find pool temperatures dropping. People like their warm pools — getting and keeping them warm is what we do! Shorter days and cooler nights result in significantly lower pool temperatures, especially for uncovered pools that lose lots of heat to the evening sky. Warm daytime temperatures andRead More →

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My closest friends know I’m a huge Happy Gilmore fan. Back in the day I watched it at least a few times a week. I had ringtones and computer alerts with soundbites from the movie. In the scene where Mr. Larson (played by Richard Kiel) threatens Shooter McGavin, he’s wearing a distasteful pro-gun shirt that reads “Guns Don’t Kill People… I Kill People.” Maybe that’s where I got my favorite solar energy related catch-phrase: “Homes Don’t Use Energy… People Use Energy.” If you think about it for a minute, it’s pretty obvious. While most people would consider electricity a necessity, technically speaking, energy use isRead More →

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I’ve seen homeowners do some pretty crazy stuff with their pool plumbing, but one thing that is quite common is finding valves arranged to slow down the water flow through a solar pool heater. The rationale given by people is that they want the water in the solar pool heating panel to heat up more before it gets returned to the pool. It sounds like a reasonable idea, but unfortunately it’s not the right way to maximize the performance of a solar pool heater! Sure, it’s nice to stand by the return jets in your pool and feel that warm water coming off your roof,Read More →

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While all of our installers do great work, I can often tell which installer did a job by the plumbing. Sometimes it’s the valve manifold at the pool equipment pad and sometimes it’s the roof work. While he likely trained the person doing the actual work on the roof, I’d call this a “Danny job,” recently installed in Cape Coral, FL. Because two lengths of solar pool heating panel were combined in this system, it required that a “common high” be installed. This entails making sure that the water leaving the shorter panels reaches the common high point in the system, which equalizes pressure andRead More →

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We sprung forward last night for Daylight Saving Time, and naturally many people want to change the clocks on their Pentair SunTouch Solar Pool Heating Controllers. It’s actually quite simple, and I’ll show you how here. Here are the steps to change the time on your Pentair SunTouch for spring Daylight Saving Time: Press Menu 5 times Press the right arrow Press the up arrow Press the right arrow 2 times Press the left arrow to return to the main screen In the fall, do the same thing, except in step 3 you will press the down arrow. If you need to adjust the minutesRead More →

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It’s not uncommon for people to mishear or misunderstand the name FAFCO as Fasco, Fastco, Falco, Fabco or something else. FAFCO is an acronym for Freeman A. Ford Company. Freeman is a visionary in the solar thermal industry, having revolutionized/started the solar pool heating industry in addition to a variety of other solar thermal technologies. The local Southwest Florida dealer is actually Fafco Solar (note capitalization). Fafco Solar is a fictitious name (dba) of Solar Pool Heaters, Inc., a Florida corporation. FAFCO, Inc. Is the California manufacturer of a variety of products. The FAF in Fafco Solar is Freeman A. Ford.

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What are you looking to get out of a solar pool heating system? Do you know how it works? What made you consider a solar pool heating system? Why do you want a solar pool heater? Have you experienced a solar heated pool at a friend or neighbor’s house? What other pool heating sources have you considered? Are you aware of the alternatives? Are you aware of the options? How did you find us, and what prompted you to call me? What are your concerns about buying a solar pool heater? These are all things you might hear out of a solar company’s sales professional.Read More →

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I left my phone in the living room last night, and awoke in panic when I saw my charging cord dangling on my nightstand. Being without my phone makes me feel naked. Alone. Rendered useless. Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but I do have a bit of an iPhone addiction. It got me thinking… Could I do my job without my phone? Could my employees do theirs? What would solar energy sales and contracting look like without our phones? The phone has long become “not a phone” at this point. Calling people still happens, of course. Of the time I spend “on my phone,”Read More →

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I just received my FPL Solar Rebate check for the solar photovoltaic system I installed at my home. Needless to say, I’m a happy man today. FPL has a highly competitive rebate program that grants funds to about 300 lucky residential customers per year. The maximum rebate amount is currently $20,000 for a 10 kilowatt rated solar energy system, covering about half of the typical cost. The Federal government kicks in another 30%. The bad news is, the rebate funds are exhausted for 2014. The good news – plummeting PV prices have made photovoltaic systems reasonable investments without utility rebates!

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My wife will tell you that I was screaming at the TV last night while watching an episode of CSI. I’m one of those guys that points out every little factual mistake in TV dramas. The crack team of CSI agents were trying to determine which home in a neighborhood was using inordinate amounts of energy to identify a drug grow house. They had obtained the “energy” usage of a neighborhood of homes, and identified a home that consumed 5,300 “kilowatts” in one month – a sizable amount of energy supposedly. The problem is, a kilowatt is a measure of power, not energy. It’s beenRead More →

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It has been extremely exhausting, but I finally completed installing a 10kW photovoltaic (solar electric) system at my home in Fort Myers, FL today. The final interconnection was done by my electrician and we fired up the system. To my delight, even with dense cloud cover, my meter started spinning backward! I see this happen many times each year, but now I know the feeling of producing my own energy. I now understand why customers are so antsy and anxious about their installation schedules. It’s EXCITING to be your own power plant! I now understand why people want it, and more importantly, why they wantRead More →

This typical pool pump performance curve shows that a small increase in head pressure is inconsequential if the pump is sized properly for best efficiency to begin.

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It’s true that FAFCO brand solar pool heating panels, which have a subheader for flow distribution, add a higher back pressure also known as head pressure, to pool pumps. Here are the facts: A FAFCO Sunsaver solar pool heating panel does have five times the pressure loss (also known as head loss) than some competitors’ panels at the recommended flow rate.  FAFCO systems use 2″ panel headers and PVC plumbing versus 1-1/2″ by some competitors, which does help, but there is restriction in the headers that choke the actual header inside diameter down to 1-1/2″. As a rule of thumb, FAFCO systems will typically add about 5Read More →

Solar Pool Heating Panels last a long time!

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Professionally installed Solar Pool Heating panels are an investment, and most people want to know how long Solar Pool Heating panels last. That’s a great question! Most major manufacturers provide a 10-12 year collector (panel) warranty that covers manufacturer defects. That shows you how confident the manufacturers are in the quality and longevity of a typical solar pool heating panel. Considering that over 100 million gallons of water can pass through a typical solar pool heating system in its lifetime, it truly is amazing how well solar panels stand up to the rigors of pressure, chemicals, sunlight, wind, and all of the other elements thatRead More →

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Men may be from Mars, and Women may be from Venus, but both share an interest in Solar Energy. What’s interesting is the products each gender tends to buy. At risk of sounding stereotypical and seriously impacting my home life, I decided to write this post anyway. I have fairly hard data behind my opinion, so I figure I can get away with it. I have found that men are the primary buyers of Solar Electric (Photovoltaic) Systems in Southwest Florida. On the other hand, women and men equally or collectively tend to drive the decision to buy solar pool heating systems. The last 10Read More →