The Good

• Cheapest Find We Found
• Even heat distribution
• Tested compatible with most pool pumps
• Highly Water Resistant Solar Panels
• Lightweight

The Bad

• Less Power than its counterpart (Model 240-2)
• Only heats up to a 16′ Round Pool
• No indication on power production
• Lack of technical details listed in product descriptions

Prices

Fafco Industries 240-1 Sungrabber Solar Pool Panels
$147 at Unbeatable Sales

Detailed Review

The lightweight Fafco Industries 240-1 Sungrabber Pool Solar Panel was found to be the least expensive and most reliable pool solar panel system. This solar package offers an inexpensive supplement to your existing heating system, or it can be used to completely heat a small pool of 16’ or less. What we liked most about this solar panel was its price, at the time of this review, numerous product searches resulted in no other product that was less expensive than this one. Another feature that we liked about this model was its even heat distribution system. According to the description, the Fafco 140-1 Sungrabber uses a “patented waterflow metering system” which prevent hotspots from developing.

The main thing that the 240-1 Sungrabber lacked was power. It only supported up to a 16’ round pool and even had a bit of trouble dealing with that. If you have a small pool, then this product is perfect for you, but if you have a larger pool use this only as a supplement to your current pool heater. If you would like a more powerful version of this solar panel, read our review on the 240-2 Sungrabber over here. Another thing we disliked about this product was the lack of technical detail. Just like its counterpart the 240-2 there were no

Verdict

All in all, we found the Fafco 240-2 Sungrabber to be a nice solid product with good integration. However, as we stated in the review the price was a bit high, and it was lacking a sufficient amount of technical details.

The Good

• Heats up to a 24′ Pool (better than average)
• 10 degrees F water temperature increase
• Tested compatible with most pool pumps
• Completely Water Resistant Solar Panels
• Won the “Editor’s Pick” Award

The Bad

• Pricier than its counterpart (Model 240-1)
• No indication on power production
• Lack of technical details listed in product descriptions

Prices

Fafco Industries 240-2 Sungrabber Solar Pool Panels
$234 at
Unbeatable Sales

Detailed Review

The Fafco Industries 240-2 Sungrabber Pool Solar Panel was found to be the most efficient pool solar panel system and was deemed the “editor’s pick”. The solar panels offer a complete pool heating system with an average temperature increase rates of about 10 degrees F after 30 mins – 2 hours of use depending on the time of day and weather. What’s good about this solar panel is that it can adequately heat up to a 24’ round pool. This is significantly better than other models that could only heat up to a 16’ or 18’ pool. Another thing we liked about this pool is that is if fully compatible with industry standard pool pumps. This means that there is no need to install specialized pumps in order to make these solar panels work—just plug it and go.

There were also some negative points for the 240-2 Sungrabber. For one, the price is about one hundred dollars more expensive than its counterpart—the 240-1 Sungrabber. This may be a problem for anyone who may be on a tight budget. If that is the case then please read our review on the cheaper 240-1 Sungrabber model here. Another downfall that we found about the Fafco 240-2 was its lack of technical details both in the product descriptions and on the manufacturer’s website. The closest thing we could find for power production was the rate of 80,000 BTU for a similar model produced by Fafco and we could find absolutely nothing on how the solar panel was built.

Verdict

All in all, we found the Fafco 240-2 Sungrabber to be a nice solid product with good integration. The only issues were its high price and lack of sufficient technical details.

We found it for $234.37 USD! Buy Now

The Good

• Heats rooms up to 1500 sq. ft.
• Easy to install and use
• No electrical wiring needed
• Compatible with most AC or DC fans
• Includes mounting temple and bracket
• Efficient

The Bad

• Works best when the sun is out
• No way of storing the heat

Detailed Review

The Your Solar Home SolarSheat 1500GS Passive Solar Air Collector was found to be a simple, inexpensive solution to supplement home heating costs. One thing to note is that this product is not a solar panel. Instead is a solar air collector which collects heated air and provides it to an existing vent system. The way this product works is due to air convention—warm air rises and cool air is pushed down. What this product does, is it harvests the warm air at the top and uses a fan to blow it into the heating duct, because the cool air is pushed to the bottom there is no need to worry about cool air entering the ducts. The key selling points to this product were that it was amazingly simple to install without any electrical wiring required and its efficiency. The product installs by two included mounts, and then connected to a duct system. We were also surprised by the high efficiency of the device which produced heat even on cloudy days.

There were not that many aspects that we didn’t like about the SolarSheat. The only thing we could think of was not specific to this product, but to passive solar air collectors overall. They work best when the sun it out, and have no way of storing the heat since there is no electric wiring involved.

Verdict

In the end, we found the SolarSheat to be an excellent product with no product-level cons. It is highly efficient, simple to use, and a perfect supplement for any home.

Pool Solar Panels

Pool solar panels are solar panels which have been specifically built to accommodate the excessive moisture that is found around pool areas. These solar panels work like traditional solar panels and are either mounted on a roof and subsequently connected to a pool, or are place beside a pool to provide a direct source of electricity to the pool. These solar panels are great for any environment, but work best in sunny places.

View our reviews of pool solar panels here, as well as what we considered as the best value pool solar panel, and the editor’s pick pool solar panel.

Passive Pool Solar Heat Collectors

Passive pool solar heat collectors are a type of solar pool heater which passively collect and provide heat from the sun to the pool. These solar pool heaters usually are optimized for retaining solar heat and use air convention to push the hot air into a pool. These products rely on the heat that surrounds the pool and may not work well in the winter.

Reviews for passive pool solar heat collectors are coming soon and well be released as soon as we finish writing them.

Solar pool covers

Solar pool covers are made of a special type of material which allows heat to come in but prevents it from leaving. This usually involves using a layer of blue bubbles which trap heat for the pool and are in turn cooled by the pool water. These solar pool heaters need at least 3 hours of sunlight to work best.

Reviews for solar pool covers are coming soon as soon.

Solar pool covers, which are also know as solar blankets and solar covers, soak up sunlight then traps the heat within pool water. Due to the unique way that they are built, solar pool covers only let heat get in, but  prevents heat from escaping. Solar covers are usually colored blue, and contain bubbles of air that are configured for maximal absorption of heat. If you get at least five hrs of sunlight on your pool per day, you’ll incur a significant benefit from your solar pool cover. As a matter of fact, your pool will heat up as much as ten degrees Fahrenheit per day! A different reason solar covers are so effective is that they also assist in trapping heat in the pool water at nighttime once it gets cold. Not only does it trap the sunlight but it also will aid you in preventing your pool chemicals from becoming  evaporated. If you’re using a pool heater, you can expect to cut your bill in half with a solar pool cover.

Since, all this sounds so unbelievable, you’re in all odds questioning how come not every pool owner has a solar blanket? Well, the truth is that many pool owners don’t want to go out to the pool and pull the solar cover off and on day-to-day. People prefer to enjoy their pools, not have it be something to add to their chore list.  Continuing to keep a pool clean already have thousands of people letting their pools go to waste, so it would be expected that no one would spend their time and effort on going out to buy a solar cover rather than spending their time doing leisure activities.

The fact is however, a solar cover makes the job of cleaning a pool much easier while simultaneously saving on electric and heating bills. It is even possible to buy an automatic reel that you’ll be able to hook up to your water hose, an make the energy involved at a minimal amount. The only tradeoff is the initial cost of the solar cover and reel, and possibly the real-estate that the cover and reel will take in your back yard. If you would like to see some great solar pool covers, please go to our solar pool review section.