The single biggest use of solar thermal systems worldwide is to heat swimming pools. As a result, special technologies have appeared that facilitate this use, the best of which is a web-and-tube setup. The requirements for seasonal pool heating are much simpler than those for a whole-home, all-season solar thermal system: the water only needs to be heated to a little above ambient temperature, the collectors don't need to be climate-proof (as they're only laid out in hot months, when needed) and they don't need any glazing.

Most pool-heating collectors warm the water directly, rather than using an additional closed loop. This gives rise to their main problem: the water they're heating contains various chemicals – notably and most frequently chlorine, which is a corrosive substance. Consequently, pool collectors can't be made out of metals susceptible to corrosion. Most are manufactured with proprietary materials based on copolymer plastics. Although there are many different configurations for pool-heating collectors, the web-and-tube setup is the most efficient and popular. In the web-and-tube system, the individual riser tubes are separated by a small amount of webbing which keeps them separate and makes it easy to replace damaged parts. The risers connect to the manifold (or header) which runs along both the top and bottom. The pool water is passed around the system in PVC pipes, since it would corrode copper.

Most pool collectors aren't fixed to their mounting location. Web-and-tube setups are often just laid out on a sunny surface (usually the roof) and strapped down with plastic-coated stainless steel straps. Not only does this make their temporary installation a lot simpler but also allows the tubes to expand and contract freely.

Although pool collectors are only temporary and cannot be used in cold weather, they are outstandingly efficient, often beating out all the glazed types of solar collector.