Is It Worth Patching Your Old Strip Solar Pool Heating System?

We get requests to supply parts to repair older (10-15 year old) strip solar pool heating systems, and we always advise the same thing: it's best to replace everything up on the roof, instead of constantly trying to patch it up, replacing parts piecemeal. Here's why (and no, we're not trying to upsell you):

Safety - Do the Job Once

First and foremost, safety. Every time you get up on a roof you risk a fall, so it's far better to do the job once and have a reliable system that'll last a long time with little extra maintenance, instead of piecemeal replacements for components that fail one after the other.

The thing with polymers is they keep their structural integrity right up to the point where the stabilizers, plasticizers and UV protection are depleted, then they fall off a cliff. Hence that old component may look fine, but it's probably on its last legs. If your strip system is 10-15 years old and has had a good UV dose, and the manifold dies, then replacing just the manifold will mean that in a year or two the strips will go as well, and vice versa. In fact, if your PVC piping wasn't painted or otherwise protected from UV when it was installed, we recommend you replace all sun-exposed sections once it's older than 15 years.

Old and New Parts Often Don't Match

Secondly, while there are replacement manifolds and strips out there, systems that are 10-15 years old typically have a different tube size, tube wall thickness, strip width or tube spacing to the newer modern systems. This means the locking collars that typically go over the tubes once they're pushed onto the barbs might not fit, or might be too loose to lock tightly. Or you might need to do custom tube spacing to line them up with the barbs. A mismatch of components could lead to leaks of corrosive chlorinated water on your roof, and is more trouble than it's worth.

Sun-Aged PVC Falls Apart as You Work on It

Thirdly, if you try to work on an existing system that's been out in the sun, you'll typically find that the stress on the PVC rubber can make it fall apart as you're working on it. Or the stress of pulling sun-exposed tubes off the barbs can weaken them further, again leading to leaks.

Newer Strips Get More Heat per Square Metre

Lastly, the science has come a little way since the old days, and now with 14 tube strips like our PoolMasterPro, for the same area you can get more heat, or conversely you don't need as large a collector area.

So there you have it - it's far better to replace the whole system rather than patching it; there's a little more upfront cost, but it'll be worth it in the long run.