solar cover

[muundance]

We would like to purchase a solar cover to increase our swimming season. Could someone recommend if we should get clear, blue, or blue with a reflective side? Also what mil of thickness is advised. We have a fiberglass pool. Valerie

[doggie]

I haven't seen too many folks here talk about solar covers. But in my experience, from now on we'll always get an extruded one. Which means it's not 2 pieces put together such as a blue top with a silver underside.

We always used to get the blue/silver ones, but invariably it would start to bubble apart the very first year. Which would prevent it from rolling up on the reel correctly. And let me tell you, that's annoying!! Maybe it was some sort of chemical imbalance that made ours bubble, but we were never able to get one to last more than 2 years no matter what quality it was nor how much extra we paid for it. The new extruded one is holding up great and will last several years at this rate.

If you want to read more about the extruded ones, here's the link. They do cost a bit more, but they are WELL worth it in my opinion.

http://www.poolproducts.com/-p-solarblankets.htm

[muundance]

Thank you very much! I will check out the link.

[tenax]

this is the one i'm using:

http://intheswim.com/Solar-Blankets-and-Reels/Solar-Pool-Covers-and-Reels-for-In-Ground-Pools/12-Mil-Solar-Blankets-I-G/

first season i've had it and used for full season in various weather conditions..the price was right and it works very well in retaining heat on my in ground pool. i haven't noticed any damage including split seams etc. i'm careful to always cover it with the plastic white sheet that came with it whenever it's not on the pool to prevent bubble burts or melting of the cover. (it can get warm even if it's under a good shade tree!)

i figured to stay under the 100 dollar range after reading various opinions on the "lifespan" of solar covers. i decided that even if i went through a cover a year, a 100 bucks was not too much to pay.

it will be stored in my basement in the winter.

[doggie]

That reminds me, no white cover is needed on the extruded ones when they are on the reel. That was another selling point for us. As we get older, we need things to be more convienent. :)

Also, I paid $169 for our 18x36 and I'm guessing it will last several years.

[doggie]

Hmmm, I can't seem to get the edit to open up right. Oh well, new post. :)

Tenax, I'm glad to hear your cover worked out so well. Ours would always have basketball sized areas in several spots where the layers seperated by the middle of the very first year no matter what cover we got. I'm just glad we discovered the ones we did.

Anyone else have problems with the layers coming apart leaving big bubbles?

[matt4x4]

I have a relatively cheap 2 layer blue one, I don't use a white cover either since it became a real pain to continually put it on and take it off, so I only put that cover on over the winter. It's now lived 3 years and still going strong, so I assume the white cover really doesn't do THAT much for a longer cover life - I only expected 3 years out of this one, looks like I'll get 5-7.

[tenax]

i did spent 35 bucks and bought a rubbermaid storeage box that i have on my shaded deck..i just take the white plastic and 3 bungies and dump it in there. 15 ft from my pool and it's good exercise..i'm a better safe than sorry kind of guy:)

[matt4x4]

I stopped doing it because of the amount of time needed (it's always windy here), so without my wife's help, it probably works out to 5+ minutes a day to cover/uncover the cover, this over the summer adds up to numerous hours, so for the sake of argument, lets say 5 hours a season, I can mow my lawn 2 times in 5 hours, do 10 oil changes on my cars in 5 hours, dirtbike 2 evenings in 5 hours, hang out with my kid for 5 hours...... so I guess what I'm saying is that my time is put to better use doing other things with those 5 hours.

[tenax]

WOW..don't start adding up how many hours you waste sleeping in a year..it would drive you nuts:)

[Jakebear]

I'm looking for a new cover too. The cheapie we got has started losing the the bubble tops.

I called a couple of suppliers today after doing a Google search. I found one company with a 10 year warranty --- only trouble is it does not Cover "Chemical Damage" or "Heat Damage" so if the bubbles pop --- in their opinion it's chemical damage. If the seams split or it delaminates, your covered.

The Extruded one in the link (above) sounds a lot like the one I found only 5 year warranty. But with their interpretation of what causes the failures, I'm not sure it matters.

If someone has other ideas I'd like to know too.

BTW --- with a reel I can uncover the pool in less than a minute 16X40X25 ell. This time of year --- wouldn't be without it.