View Full Version : Solar Covers and Safety
kwolfe
03-27-2013, 12:31 PM
Solar blankets don't appear to be all that safe. I have two kids and three dogs and we just put in our pool last year. I did not buy a solar cover at first but am in the market for one now.
Are there any ways to make it safer in case someone falls in on the cover? I saw the rings, but they are expesnsive and did not seem to last very long.
My pool is kind of a lagoon shape, 41' long, 18' wide on the deep end and 25' wide in the shallow end.
PoolDoc
03-28-2013, 01:41 PM
Solar blankets are NOT safe; there's a well-known scene in one of the early Lethal Weapon movies that illustrates the problem, albeit in somewhat exaggerated form. Here's the YouTube from Warner Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DndZsC25noQ
The closest thing to a 'safe' solar blanket would be an automatic pool cover with translucent fabric for the cover.
kwolfe
03-28-2013, 02:14 PM
Well the auto pool cover isn't going to happen. I just don't have the funds for it, plus I could imagine that people would be stunning their toes all day on the rails.
What if you cut you solar cover in strips? This way you could fall between the strips and have a much better chance at being able to come up for air. How about attaching floating strips of foam legthwise along the cover so that it is less likely to "engulph" you.
Liquid blankets? Homemade solar rings?
BTW, I can't believe someone hasnt invented a safer method yet.
BigDave
03-29-2013, 12:51 AM
Alisonquilts here, on the forum (http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?16565-passive-solar-heat-with-homemade-solar-disks) has already made her own solar rings.
Watermom has had success cutting her solar cover into pieces. In her case to ease installation / removal but would reduce the chance for entanglement.
I do not believe that liquid solar covers would be much help - at best it might reduce some evaporation on a windless night at the cost of dumping mystery goo into your pool.
Please remember that pools are NOT safe. Admittedly, adding a solar cover may add to the risk but the primary mitigation must be protecting the perimeter - excluding all people or animals that could end up in the pool when they shouldn't. That said, mitigating the secondary risk doesn't hurt.