Stop paying to heat your pool. SolarTech’s solar pool heating systems use year-round sunshine to keep your water at the perfect temperature. Extend your swim season and eliminate electric heating bills.
A gas pool heater is the most common way to warm a pool in Southern California, and it is also the most expensive to run. Every degree of warmth costs fuel. Heat the pool through spring and fall and the bill follows you all season.
Most of that money is not heating your pool. It is replacing heat that has already escaped. Evaporation from the water surface is the single largest source of pool heat loss, which is why a gas heater has to keep firing to hold a temperature it already reached.
Solar pool heating changes the economics rather than the plumbing. The collectors mount on your roof, your existing pump moves the water, and the sun supplies the heat at no cost. Once the system is installed, adding warmth to your pool stops appearing on a bill.
You pay for every degree, every month you run it.
Cheaper than gas to run, but still metered electricity.
No fuel cost, ever. The sun is not metered.
A solar pool heating system is not a solar electric system. It does not generate electricity and it does not connect to your utility meter. It moves your pool water through the sun and puts it back warmer.
The pump you already run for filtration pushes water through the filter, which keeps debris out of the collectors.
An automatic control valve sends water to the collectors when the roof is warmer than the pool, and sends it straight back to the pool when it is not. You set a target temperature and the controller handles the rest.
Water spreads across a large, dark, sun-facing surface and picks up heat as it flows. There is no combustion, no exhaust, and no additional energy input.
The heated water rejoins the pool. Over a day of circulation, the pool climbs to and holds your target temperature.
In hot months the same system can run in reverse. Circulating water through the collectors at night sheds heat instead of adding it, which cools an overheated pool without running anything extra.
There is no single best pool heater. There is the one that matches how you use your pool. Here is the honest comparison, including where solar is the wrong answer
| Factor | Solar | Gas | Heat Pump |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to run | None. Sunlight is not metered. | Natural gas or propane, billed every month you run it | Electricity, billed every month you run it |
| Heats on demand | No. Depends on available sun | Yes. Fastest recovery of the three | Partially. Slower than gas, and loses output as air temperature drops |
| Best at | Extending the swim season across spring and fall | Cold snaps, spas, and pools used unpredictably | Holding a steady temperature in mild weather |
| Typical service life | Roughly 10 to 20 years | Shorter than solar | Shorter than solar |
| On-site emissions | None | Combustion on site | None |
| Moving parts | Minimal. Uses your existing pump | Burner, ignition, heat exchanger | Compressor, fan, refrigerant circuit |
| Roof space needed | Yes. Sizeable, unshaded, sun-facing area | None | None |
| Federal tax credit in 2026 | Not eligible | Not eligible | Not eligible |
No pool heating equipment qualifies for a federal residential tax credit. Systems used to heat a swimming pool are specifically excluded from the residential clean energy credit, and that credit ended for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025. Solar pool heating pays for itself through operating cost, not through incentives.
Many homeowners run both. Solar carries the pool for most of the season, and a gas heater covers the handful of days it cannot. We will tell you which combination makes sense for your pool before you spend anything.
We do not subcontract. SolarTech designs your system, our own crews install it, and our own technicians service it. That matters more here than in most trades, because a solar pool heating system is plumbing mounted on your roof. When it needs attention in year seven, the company that installed it is the company that answers the phone.
Collector area, mounting location, and controls are specified against your pool size, roof orientation, shading, and how long a season you want. Undersizing is the single most common reason a solar pool heating system disappoints the person who bought it.
No subcontractors and no handoff. The people mounting the collectors and tying into your pool equipment are SolarTech employees working under CA Lic# 1106777 and AZ Lic# ROC 343417. Nobody points at another company when you have a question.
Warranty, maintenance, and repair all stay in-house. One number to call, one company accountable, and technicians who already know how your system was put together.
The Department of Energy guideline is collector area equal to 50 to 100 percent of your pool's surface area. Sunny climates and shorter target seasons sit at the lower end. A longer season, a shaded site, or a windy lot pushes you higher. We measure the pool and calculate it rather than estimating from a photo.
South-facing is ideal and west-facing works well. What matters more than perfect orientation is unshaded exposure through the middle of the day. Collectors can also go on a patio cover, a garage roof, or a ground rack if the main roof is not suitable.
Unglazed collectors are the standard choice for pools across most of our service area. They cost less and perform well in warm climates. Glazed collectors cost more, hold performance in cooler and cloudier conditions, and matter for longer seasons or higher-elevation sites.
This is the part most companies leave out. Evaporation is the largest source of heat loss from a pool, and a cover addresses it directly. A cover lets a smaller solar system reach the same result and holds overnight heat that would otherwise be gone by morning. We will recommend one whether or not you buy it from us.
We measure your pool, evaluate roof area, orientation, and shading, and confirm your existing pump and plumbing can carry the system.
You get a specified collector area, a mounting layout, and a control strategy sized to the swim season you asked for.
Collectors are mounted and plumbed, the diversion valve and controller are tied into your existing pool equipment, and every connection is pressure tested before the system is turned over.
We run the system, confirm flow and temperature response, and walk you through the controller, seasonal operation, and what maintenance the system actually needs.
Solar pool heating systems last a long time. The companies that installed them often do not. If your collectors are leaking, your valve has stopped diverting, or the pool is simply not getting warm anymore, our technicians can diagnose and repair it, regardless of who installed it or how long ago. These are the same technicians who install our systems, not a separate service contractor.
We install and service solar pool heating from five local offices. Every install is handled by a crew working in the climate your pool sits in, which is what sizing depends on.
TESTIMONIALS
Hear from our satisfied customers and why they choose SolarTech for their solar pool heating services.
Tell us about your pool and your roof. We will size a system, tell you honestly whether solar is the right fit, and give you a real number. No obligation and no pressure.
15,000+ homeowners have already gone solar with SolarTech.
(619) 743 9193
(619) 743 9193
sales@solartechonline.com
Your existing pool pump pushes water through the filter and up to solar collectors mounted on your roof or another sunny location. The water absorbs heat as it spreads across the collectors and returns to the pool warmer than it left. An automatic valve and controller divert water to the collectors only when the roof is warmer than the pool, so the system never cools your water by accident. There is no combustion and no additional energy input beyond the pump you already run.
That depends on collector area, roof exposure, wind, and whether you use a cover. The more useful way to think about it is season length rather than degrees. A properly sized system takes a pool that is comfortable in July and August and makes it comfortable across spring and fall as well. What solar will not do is heat a cold pool on demand for tomorrow morning. If that is what you need, a gas heater alongside a solar system is the right combination, and we will tell you so.
No. Equipment used to heat a swimming pool or hot tub is specifically excluded from the federal residential clean energy credit, and that credit ended for property placed in service after December 31, 2025 regardless. In California, solar pool heating also does not qualify for the active solar energy system property tax exclusion that applies to solar electric systems. Any company telling you otherwise is mistaken. Solar pool heating earns its return through eliminated fuel cost, not through incentives.
The Department of Energy guideline is collector area equal to 50 to 100 percent of your pool’s surface area. In Southern California and Phoenix, a summer-extension goal usually sits toward the lower end of that range. A longer season, a shaded roof, or an exposed windy site pushes it higher. Using a pool cover reduces the collector area you need. We measure and calculate this during the site assessment rather than quoting from a photo.
Usually yes. Solar pool heating is designed to run on the circulation you already have, which is why it has no fuel cost. During the site assessment we confirm your pump can deliver adequate flow to the roof height involved. If it cannot, we will tell you before you commit, not after.
You do not need one, but you should have one. Evaporation is the largest single source of heat loss from a pool. A cover keeps overnight heat in, lets a smaller system reach the same temperature, and improves the result of any pool heater, solar or otherwise. We recommend one on nearly every install.
Yes. Solar pool heating and solar electric are separate systems that do different jobs, and they coexist on the same property routinely. The practical consideration is roof space. If you already have PV, we plan collector placement around it during the assessment. If you are considering both, doing them together is usually the cleaner sequence.
Very little. There are no burners, no heat exchanger, and no refrigerant. The system runs on the pump you already maintain. Keep your pool chemistry balanced and your filter clean, since that is what protects the collectors, and have the system inspected periodically. A well-installed system typically runs 10 to 20 years.
Yes. Our technicians repair collector leaks, replace panels, fix diversion valves and controllers, and diagnose loss of performance on systems installed by other companies. Many of the pool solar systems in our service area have outlived the companies that installed them. Schedule a service call and we will look at it.
