Intex 28685E 47 Inch x 47 Inch Solar Pool Water Heater Mat for 8,000 Gallon Above Ground Swimming Pool with Hose Attachment and Adaptors, Black

The work great for the price!! Almost done season over I have no complaints...as for everyone saying they leak or burst make sure you wet O rings don't hook up to giant pool pump I have one running on a small fountain pump I believe 200 gpm and have it throttled down in full summer sun will burn your skin if down to much....Works great for 30 bucks.....oh and for those I used 1/2 rubber hose from menards was 20 bucks 50ft and lawn irrigation fittings to reduce 1.4 to 1/2...hope this helps someone...Buying 2 more atm hopefully run pool longer into the fall will update

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!

This mat works amazingly well! I have a 20-ft round above ground pool and I hooked up two of these in series to the pump. The flow certainly reduced, but the water coming up in was quite warm. After a week, my pool was above 90 degrees F, even though the air temperature got no higher than 85. I do live in California, so these got full sun for that week. But temperatures at night were in the 50s!Similar products sell for $100-200, so how does Intex do it? Well, they cut corners on durability:1) The plastic is relatively thin (like a heavy-duty air mattress), and it will be under fairly high pressure. So, if you have any rocks or sticks under the mat, it is likely to get a hole. I wish they made it from the same material as their pools, which are much more durable!2) the connectors are held together with plastic holes clamps. PLASTIC HOSE CLAMPS! I went out and replaced these with metal clamps from Home Depot so they wouldn't pop off.3) the valves are wimpy. Granted they include a bypass function - that's nice! But, you need to be careful turning the valves (and only when the pump is off) or they will break.Note that:1) you need to be running the pump for most of the day for this to work. I had my pump turn on at 9:00am and off at 5:00pm.2) the mat needs to be fully in the sun that whole time.3) you need to use a solar cover (especially overnight) to retain all that heat you gain!4) don't trust this to not fail if you are on a trip. If you're gone for more than a day, I recommend rerouting the hoses to bypass these mats, just in case they spring a leak.Both of mine got holes in the first month (after getting my pool up to 90F!), but Intex will replace parts if they fail in the first 90 days - just call their customer service number, 1-800-234-6839.