Can I mount my 4x10' Solar Panels horizontally along my fence?

[Slippery]

My fence faces south. I was wondering if I could mount my solar heater panels in a row along the 6 foot tall south facing fence.

They would not be able to be placed side by side where the tops and bottom pipes would connect because the fence will not be at least 10 feet tall. They would be placed head to foot. How much less heating would I have if I had to cap the sides facing the ground (or the other way around and cap the tops but connect the bottoms with a U shaped PC pipe)

Can a standard wood fence handle the extra weight? I am going to get a fence installed. So I can ask the builder to over engineer them if needed for the extra weight.

How would I mount them? I don't have any mounting hardware. Last year I just laid them on the lawn. It looked pretty trashy.

I understand I will want to angle them toward the sun rather then keep them at 90 degrees. If I don't angle them how much less efficient will they be? Would I be better getting a pump that moved more water rather than spending the time coming up with a frame to angle them?

I don't currently have a pool. Was thinking about one of the rectangle Intex pools that are 16x8. I have 5 panels in total. I can likely only fit 3 or 4 on the fence.

 

[splashpad]

@Slippery, good questions! The fence installer would definitely brace up the fence slightly heavier, and could possibly mount or set-up the mounts for you. The reason for angling the solar panels is to get maximum sun exposure (shade isn't heating)
If you have your old pool's pump still, you could use that to run the solar heater panels by themselves.

P.S. love your sig quip, "defunkifying"

 

[Slippery]

T

@Slippery, good questions! The fence installer would definitely brace up the fence slightly heavier, and could possibly mount or set-up the mounts for you. The reason for angling the solar panels is to get maximum sun exposure (shade isn't heating)
If you have your old pool's pump still, you could use that to run the solar heater panels by themselves.

P.S. love your sig quip, "defunkifying"

Thanks! So is there an issue to running the panels in series rather than parallel?

 

[splashpad]

Thanks! So is there an issue to running the panels in series rather than parallel?

Not to my knowledge, maybe even beneficial? I'd have to do some more research. We're considering solar heating panels ourselves, so trying to do lots of research!

 

[mas985]

Head Loss & Heat Loss both suffer from a series installation. Plus with an Intex pump, you may not be able to have much flow rate through the panels which affect efficiency even more.