What is the ideal direction and tilt angle for a solar pool heating system?
Solar pool heating collectors installed in the northern hemisphere should ideally face south. As long as the solar collectors face within 45 degrees or so of true south, heating performance will be pretty much the same as for due south. Solar pool heating collectors can also be face east or west and deliver the same performance as south-facing collectors by increasing the collector area (assuming enough roof area is available. As for tilt angle, the ideal for winter heating is to tilt the collectors at an angle equal to the degree latitude plus 15 degrees. However, solar pool heating collectors are usually mounted directly on a sloping roof for aesthetic reasons. While this typically results in a more shallow tilt angle, which may result in a slight performance loss during the winter months (between two and eight percent), the difference doesn’t really matter because most Floridians don’t swim during the coldest winter weather.
