Intex Eco-Friendly Solar Heating Mat for Swimming Pools
Intex Eco-Friendly Solar Heating Mat for Swimming Pools #28685
Solar Mat
The Intex Solar Mat is an energy efficient way to capture the sun’s rays to heat up your above ground swimming pool. Designed to work with most Intex filter pumps, this heater is perfect for increasing your swimming session with warmer water, using friendly solar heating technology.
- Designed to increase temperature of pool water by approximately 5 – 9 degrees Fahrenheit depending on weather condition
- Compatible with filter pumps up to 1/3 HP or pump flow rate < 2,000 gal/hr
- Suitable for above ground pools up to 8,000 gal / 11ft sq surface to absorb sun’s rays
- 1.25in hose attachment points
- Dimensions: 47.25in X 47.25in (flat, before fill)
| Dimensions: | 175 x 320 x 225 cm; 2.4 Kilograms |
| Model: | 28685 |
| Part: | 28685 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Unknown batteries required. |
| Manufacture: | Intex |
| Dimensions: | 175 x 320 x 225 cm; 2.4 Kilograms |
We have a 2 x 3 meter pool bout 15in depth. Attached this to the filter and it raises the pool temp by about 5c over the course of a day. I was quite impressed. My little pump does struggle to push the water through but its managing at the mome
Since early April, I’ve had two of these solar panels, slightly raised above the pool (due to the layout of garden), and a 12v Whale (caravan) pump powered by a rotating/tilting solar panel. It’s only an 8ft pool as my patio won’t take any bigger. I have a floater thermometer for the pool, and a probe thermometer in the solar panel outlet (both Inkbird – I recommend, can view remotely on phone app).
On a sunny day, the flow is like a kitchen tap on 70-80%, and the output is 5 degrees higher than the pool. With sun all day, it can raise the pool temp by 7-9 degrees C (bearing in mind it only really works from 11am to 6pm). Depending on the overnight temp, it drops 3-5%, so I spend a lot of time praying for 2+ days of consistent sun. This week, the pool is up to 27 degrees (C), which is lovely.
I didn’t use the tubes provided since I purchased heavy duty reinforced PVC hose a while ago to replace the Intex corrugated tubes that crack after one summer. I have gym mats underneath the panels, and I’ve just brought garden staples and tent pegs to try and prevent the warping mentioned by another reviewer.
Photos taken 6:17pm 26/06/24
I have 2 of these now connected through the pump, very easy to install, used on a 10ft above ground pool. You want a slightly bigger pump than the basic ones you get with the pools, especially with more than 1 mat, the basic pumps struggle to push the water through. They will help increase that temperature on a sunny day, a few degrees makes all the difference.
This is the second pool heat mat I have bought. The first is installed and I have just added a new one.
I didnt use the pool filter pump as the big pipe is on the wrong side of the pool for the sun.
Our pool is in a big shed so cant be moved without emptying.
IF you are thinking of using a standard hose with it, be warned, the inlet and outlet are ready to accomodate the pool pipes which are way 32mm. I bought 2 adaptors to go from the 32mm to a 16mm barbed to take my hose and Im feeding the water to it via a 12v submersible pump running from a power station.
When the second mat came(today), I used the short piece of hose they supply for fitting to your filter pump, to instead join the mats together. This was easy to do, taking only a few minutes .
The leaky bits are where you push the big hose onto the gasketted inlets. The gaskets pop out and you have to very carefully push them back and twist till the hose end fits over and on.
You get some plastic hose clips to make it tight once on.
I’ll update once the weather is a bit warmer with some proper temp measurements.
Its only May now so hopefully warmer swims to come.
The weather today has been around 17c with the pool temp going up to 16c from about 14c (with the one Mat).
The instructions do say it wont work under 26 degrees,
It works but you have to be able to slow the flow down or stop and start it to allow the water in the mat time to get warm.
In Cumbria we don’t get a lot of sun, so why use one of these, well I have put it in the pool connected to a separate pump and a wood burner with back boiler and that heats my pool, very little electricity needed.
When the sun is very bright the water coming out is noticeably warmer. My pool is very small so this worked well, I can’t imagine it doing much for a bigger pool. It folds at the edges so ideally needs some pin down points.
For the negative commenters: This stuff will not do a toasty hot water stream into your pool. This is designed to slowly but continuously increase the temperature of your pool. You will need some time (it depends on many factors) to have warm water.
Bought this for a second heat mat so we can heat the pool faster. The pool was 8C the morning after filling until midnight, probably about 70% of the day was sunshine and with 2 mats, the 10ft pool was 18C by around 4pm. Both mats have their unique issues, one’s flow control valve is stuck in half and half position; the other, one of the heat channels appeared stuck closed at the beginning so I used a thin bottle brush to separate it and that seems slightly better now.
With the mat where I can use the flow control, half and half position seems to work best anyway, since flow rate is crazy slow if it’s only going through the mat and no bypass.
Hope this helps someone.
I purchased two of these to try to take the edge of the cold in our 12ft above ground pool. I ran with two pumps (we had a spare from a previous pool).
It does slow the water flow (to be expected) but did the job really well. The temperature slowly rose over time and kept maintained with the solar cover on when pool not in use.
This is not going to give you the heat of an expensive pool heater. But after the initial. Purchase the heat is free and in these pools every little bit extra its great.
I see it has had some terrible reviews but for us last year it helped. I am planning on setting up the pool soon again to get the most of the sun early on.
I’ve found that the most effective way to set the vale is to direct water down both the coils and the bypass at the same time. The problem is if your pump is too powerful, it will buckle the pad and kinks will form near the inlet stopping water from going into the coiled section. With six pads in this configuration, there was no flow. Changing to half/half bypass/coil we have a good flow rate, and the entire pad is cool to the touch indicating that the water is getting everywhere.
There are two downsides. Firstly, they’re relatively large, they will kill your grass and they’re awkward to move so that you get sunlight underneath. Secondly, the plastic clamps are garbage. They don’t do up tightly enough to get a good seal – half our pads were ok, but half of them are dripping slowly. You can try double clamping, but really you should probably get some proper jubilee clamps instead.
Setup is easy – if you have a pump, you already have enough tubing. Each additional pad comes with enough extra piping to combine it into the loop. Make sure you check the prices. These are absolutely not worth 50 each. We bought ours for around 15 each.
Flow through the filter is definitly slower with the mats, I doubt I could have put another mat or 2 in the chain without there being too much of an obstruction.
They do work, on even mildly sunny days 17 degrees the water coming out has definitly been heated by 5 or more degrees compared to the pool water. Don’t expect miracles- this will not make the pool heat up much, the flow is too little. Get a bigger pump and more mats maybe, but even then it’s not going to make the pool warm enough for lounging around if the outside temp isn’t hot. The pool will lose heat overnight, definitly dont leave the filter and mats on overnight as the increased surface area of the mats allow greater heat loss when the sun is not being absorbed by the black mat.
However as a whole it is a worthy purchase, the mats have laster a summer of me periodically heaving them around to allow the grass to be mowed.
I find that you have to put a little bit of effort into the setup, so it flows. I have leveled the ground and tried to get a straight line between the two I have using some bricks to stop the sag.
I also plan on adding a small polly tunnel over the top them at some point. I’ll update when I do.
I wouldn’t expect much performance on a non sunny day. But then we don’t use the pool then.
Remember it does require the sun. So try and position in your garden so it maximises. We leave ours in the morning and the kids will go in circa 14.00hrs.