Solar Pool Water Heater Mat for Above Ground Swimming Pools

I will build a frame for this and put it under acrylic sheet for better heating. It is under acrylic right now, but not boxed in. I “MacGyvered” it, and use small tubing that works with my pond SOLAR pump that I have, so it can heat my pool all day, not just when pump is running. Instead I use a small pond solar pump and run 3/8” ID tubing to and from the pad, with one end connected to a pond pump with solar panel sitting on noodles in pool or off to side on a table, like the pad is.. Works great. I have a small Bestway pool 6.5’x10’x33” (1000 gal) and this raises temp by 10 deg a day with a bubble cover on my pool too. Last year I made a similar DIY panel, with copper tube painted black, put under glass in a frame. This is way better.

Long review. Do the mats work? Yes and No! Do the mats leak? Yes and No! Do YOU own a pump large enough to consider? According to Intex whom I called myself. These mats are supposed to work with multiple pumps they sell. They did not lie when it came to the fact that it did move the water through the mats. However, when I questioned the minimum spec amount for the pump that would proficiently work for me. They would not give me a direct answer. What I have found is they will not do this for many of the products they sell. So what's left is a handful of poor reviews/videos to go along with many items they sell. I have watched several YouTube videos of people that have been able to get these mats to work but they are also running a second pump to these mats. So if you don't mind additional hoses with clutter and dead grass. ( Many may have parts/pumps laying around as some due from previous pool purchases ). Then by all means. However, if you intend to keep a neat, clean and orderly backyard this summer. One without all the clutter and additional electrical wires, pumps and hoses. Then this is not the route to go. So after I was able to play around with the piping to get it to stop leaking. ( A lot has to do with the black O-ring gaskets ). If you try to push the hose onto the mat pipe without first lubing the pipe. There is a good chance that you will push the O-ring gasket out of its Groove. ( Main cause of leaks I have found so far and reviewers ). So now the leaking has stopped. On to the next issue. NEEDING A BIGGER PUMP. The representative form intex suggested I run the pump for up to an hour just to make sure all the air was out of the mats system. When running it as it was suggested with just the B side ( heat side ) the pump lasted 20 or 30 minutes before it overheated and died. ( At this time I did not even have the pool skimmer connected to it just the two mats ). The mats have an A side and a B-side. A side is direct current from the intake to the pump. B-side is utilizing the mat itself and the heating channels. Running the B-side alone suffocated the pump causing it to overheat. Now running just the A side. ( Even with/out connecting the skimmer ). It still wasn't enough suction. ( Skimmer still wouldn't function correctly ). So I opened A&B at which point I finally received water moving through my system. ( However, with skimmer connected ). I still had no upper movement from the skimmer. My pool is one that has the dual intake. I even disconnected one intake. Plugging it and removing the additional hose lines as I was asked to do so by the representative. This didn't make much difference at all. However, the representative still swears up and down that it works. Again it works in regards as to it does move some water but nothing else will function properly. I opened it up to the B-side itself and moved the warm water. Within 20-30 minutes the pump overheated and died. The purpose of the mats obviously is to intake water. Heat the water up and then filter it back into the pool in a circulation. So of course you're going to want to run this for several minutes before entering. Not just two to five minutes. The mats obviously aren't large enough to hold a massive amount of water that two or three minutes is enough to knock the chill down. However, running only 20 to 30 minutes and having the mats overheat the pump and kill the pump. Is not proficient at all. Especially when Intex told me let it run for an hour. Now again I am only running a thousand gallon pump. A pump Intex themselves swears runs the system. ( It does move water from one end to other ) As for running the system proficiently. This it does not. I also hooked a skimmer sold by Intex. An accessory they have told me will work with my layout. It does work. It pulls water in from the lower half but as for it skimming the surface there is just not enough pump suction. I also have tried closing one intake valve as it was suggested I do by the representative. Some reviews reading this will say that's too much to run accessory wise on such a small pump. ( This is how I feel as well ). However, it's a pump that Intex says should be running the system absolutely proficiently well. As for questioning customer service and asking them the required specs to run the system proficiently they would just tell me what I have is fine. My neighbors statue that urinates has more flow. I'm also running not one but two mats which also was recommend by Intex. I have placed an ordered for a larger sand filter pump. Upon arrival and testing. My rating and post may or may not change. Their customer service by far is the worst of all companies I've had to deal with. Buyer beware if you do not save your tracking email they will not honor any of the their warranties. And what I mean by tracking email is the actual tracking email not the order receipt email. So if you do buy an accessory from them or a pump that has a one or two year warranty. Remember at all cost to save the tracking email if ordering through Amazon. My understanding is if you do not order from them directly one will need a tracking receipt. On the bright side. With mats only being $13 dollars apiece through Amazon. I've seen them listed anywhere from $32 a mat to $60 dollars. It may be well worth buying one or two for parts. If anyone has priced out clamps for hoses especially the converter adapters to connect a larger pump to a smaller pool. They run high in price. Example, it's $25 and up just for a pair of adapters to go from a small pump to a large pump then to the pool. Included was one such adapter in the Box. So if you need two or more of these adapters. And you can catch the mats at 13 apiece or lower. It's almost like getting the mats for free along with additional clamps, hoses and accessories. So I'm still hoping for the mats to work for me with a larger filter and pump this summer. I will be bummed if they don't. However, getting additional parts that can always be used ( from what I'm learning from this company NEEDED ). I'm basically getting the mats and some parts for free. It's well worth the Gamble. So after getting larger filter I still had very little luck. I could only imagine six to eight of these hooked together. You kill you pump!

I installed this inline with the pump as explained in the directions. I found a good place that had decent sun exposure... After installation the soaking pool I am using it on is only like 500 gallons so it changed the temp on sunny days to a nice warmer temp. Layout of the mat is really simple. They include some awesome fittings if you need them I am planning on using PVC to replace some of my hoses and I will be using the fittings they gave in the kit to accomplish that. My one major complaint... the areas where you interface to the mat do not stay well inflated and flex ALOT.... it impedes flow especially when the filter is getting a little more full with biomatter. I removed 2 stars for this because well... there is no immediately easy solution to fix this. I have rigged stuff up but when you package a item like this... and its put into use you should consider the end users may not be as handy. I would recommend this to anyone who wants their pool to be warmer... but bear in mind that some regular adjustment of hose positioning will be required.

Good product, price on point. Had no troubles, no leaks. My pool sits in the shade for the bulk of the day and needed to warm it up just a touch so the kids would use the dang thing. Product works, water from solar heater is about 10 degrees warmer than going in. I needed to lay the mat in a remote location (in the sun) and found sump pump hose works pretty good. Used two 24' hoses and located the mat in the sun. I did have to wrap the hose connections about six times with electrical tape as the pools 1 1/4 is not the same as the sump pump hose 1 1/4", lol. Workers good, no leaks. You have to use worm clamps instead of the plastic ones. I think intex should offer there hose in bulk (maybe they do) for us who need to remote locate the mat as the only give a foot long piece and they assume your pool and pump are already in the sun........ if that were the case, I wouldn't need the pool heater 😉 The small pump with the 10' easy set pool is able to pump the water just fine in case your wondering about the extra 50' hose. Also as a bonus of the sump pump hose, its black and attracting the sun too!!

Disclaimer: we have a small 9’x18’ pool with a solar cover so your results may be different. Right now the outside temperature is 75F, our pool is 76F, and the water coming out of the mats is 83F. In the spring I was able to get our pool in the mid 80’s even though the daytime highs were in the low 70’s with lows in the 50’s at night. I have it on a separate system from the pool pump. I use garden hoses and a sump pump (make sure it isn’t too powerful). I made my own hose adapters. I have a friend that uses a solar panel to run the pump so it automatically turns on and off when it is sunny. I love that idea but for now I just have the pump on a smart plug that I have on a schedule and can remotely turn on and off. I had two mats that leaked so I sent them back to get replaced. In the instructions to send them back they asked for a 6”x6” piece of the mat as well as the valves. I only got the mats back (no valves) and after a few calls I got the runaround and they ultimately said the case is closed and refused to send the valves. As you can see I improvised and used pieces of bicycle inner tube and hose clamps. A couple of tiny leaks but just drips. I’m here now because I’m thinking of adding another 1 maybe 2 or even 3. For only 24 bucks is worth it. And it is probably a good idea to have more in case any of them spring a leak. I took a star off because they may be fragile or I just got a couple of duds. I treat them like they are made of paper. I use a leaf blower to remove water and debris because I don’t want to pick them up. And of course I never step on them. Good luck!

I cannot stress enough that you should NOT buy this. The connections leak, and even if you don’t move or touch the pad, it will spring a leak. Both pads I bought spring leaks within less than a month of intermittent use. The material cannot handle the pressure of the water coursing through it and rips. Now my pool is half empty, and I have to pay more to refill it. I’m utterly disappointed and hope this review can help to prevent other potential buyers from making the mistake of ordering this pool heating pad. Not worth it.

Worked well while it lasted. Purchased this pool heater in June of this year. connected it and was happy with the resulting temperature increase when run for an adequate amount of time in direct sunlight. Water coming back into the pool after going through the heater was noticeably warmer than the pool water. After a few days put it into bypass so as not to over heat the water. All good. Then in August of this year, it split a seam and drained about 4 inches of water from our 24X12ft pool before found that it was leaking. Not good! It should last more than 60 days. I heave reached out to Intex about a replacement item and have not heard back from them, thus the 1 star rating. It was only 30 bucks but come on, it should last longer than that; at least one season. My advice is that if you do use one of these, would be to check it frequently when the pump is running to ensure you're not pumping your pool water out.

I purchased a total of 12 of these for my 18ft round 52" deep, Bestway Pool. I installed them on top of my flat roofed garage. I arranged them in 3 parallel sets of 4 in series. I reversed the inlet/outlets of my pool first, because it seemed backwards. I now have one large intake to filter/pump and two 1.25" outlets back to pool. I routed one of the 1.25" outlets through my solar array. I also installed valves on both 1.25" outlet hoses and a tee to allow control of flow through the solar mats. I can force all supply water from pump, though solar mats and still get a 6* Fahrenheit temp rise on a 75* ambient day. I also purchased a solar blanket to retain that heat at night. I didn't have any problems with leaks due to factory connection, none of my seams leaked, and my water temp increased nicely. I try to read reviews of products through an idiot filter. Most problems with any product is a result from morons not following instructions, which seems to be a problem with these mats. I would, and probably will purchase more of these if they wear out in the future. TIPS: LEAKING CONNECTIONS - all the connections rely on an "O-ring" making a seal. Wet, and carefully rotate and slide hoses onto fillings. Most leaks are probably due to people cramming the hoses on. RIPPING/BURSTING SEAMS - I have the stock pump for my Bestway pool. I am not sure of the flow rate, however, there is NO way I would divert all the flow through a single line of mats. This is most likely why seams bust. Also multiple mats in a parallel configuration allows for some relief if the flow is restricted due to a kink, or someone standing on the mat, which is also a likely reason for seam bursting. SIZING - If you do not purchase enough mats for your pool size it will never warm the pool due to basic physics. Also, purchase a solar mat to retain the heat! I read that while it takes only one BTU of heat to raise the temperature of one pound of water, you can loose as much as 1100 BTUs per gallon of water through evaporation (or like 8 pounds of water). EXTRA PIPING - I purchased 25ft lengths of 1.25" sump pump hose for my extra required piping for about $7/25ft at my local hardware store. Use steel hose clamps one extra piping connections, and use a drill/impact gun to tighten those extra clamps.

Chauffe très bien avec 4 tapis et une pompe à chaudière pour avoir un débit 1000l/h. Gain de 4 degres par jour pour une piscine de 30 M3 + pompe à filtre.

It does what is required, however I ordered two expecting the temperature to Increase two folds however it did not. Maximum increase in temperature received is 5'C

To już kolejna mata. Ogólnie mam 3 sztuki i jestem bardzo zadowolony

Alors, j’étais dubitatif mais au final, le chauffage solaire donne bien de l’eau chaude mais pas sur le long terme. L’eau qui sort de là atteint parfois les 40 degrés si votre tapis a été exposé correctement. Néanmoins, nous sommes passé de 19 à 25 degrés au niveau de la piscine. 3x2 sur 75 de profondeur. Une pompe de 3496L/h et une pression degrés 2 PSI. Je trouve donc qu’il fonctionne bien à moindre coût.

Completely useless product, money down the drain...the pump doesn't have enough power to push the water through it!!!