"thunder" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 18 May 2007 19:52:00 +0000, Calif Bill wrote:


Has warmed up here. A nice 70's day. At least the wind has died down.
Got up this morning to take down the old pool solar panels, and cart off
to the dump. Nice to not have to worry about the wind blowing them down
the street as I removed them. New solar panel time.

Just curious, how many years did you get out of the old ones? What's the
reason for the new ones? Solar power has never made much of an inroad
around here (NJ). I always assumed our cloud cover was to blame. The
few panels I see here, look to be for domestic hot water heat. I can't
say I've ever seen any for pool heating, except for those floating pool
cover things.

These were Fafco panels and we were trying to remember when we got them.
Been at least 20 years. The new ones are warranted for 5 years. The sun
finally go to them, that if you tried to plug a bad tube, the tube just
split. they work well, NJ, may not need them as it stays hot day and night
during the summer months from what I have experienced when I visited that
state. The neighbors panels lasted about 12 years, but since he pays
someone to do repairs, may have been cheaper to replace. Got the new panels
from Leslie pool supply and were on sale for $219 each. They say 3 is
enough, but is only 240sq ' and the Fafco was 320'. I'm leaving 4 Fafco
panels that do not leak connected to the system.