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Um, I don't mean to be snotty here, but manufacturers of pool chemicals try EVERYTHING to convince people the methods advocated on this forum are crazy.Quote:
Originally Posted by waterbear
HTH, one of the biggest chem companies, recently reformulated their Tri-Chor tabs to include copper, which generally VERY bad for pools with the advert "Now double-acting!"
CarlD,
I mean that if there are any negative effect I am sure that someone in this forum would have pointed them out to us! ;)
This is the second season we've used the solar fish. In my experience, in Central Texas, it warms the water 6-8 degrees in a matter of several sunny days. Before we got the fish, our pool would lose heat at night, and every morning was like starting over at square one temperature wise. The fish kept the temperature from dropping back down and allowed it to keep climbing even higher the next day. I have young children who have a higher tolerance for cool water than I do :-). There is no way I wanted to mess with a cover when the kids would get in and out of the pool several times a day for 20 minutes or so. It extended our swim time both in the Spring and in the Fall. I noticed absolutely no oily residue or coloring/clouding of the water. I do not think it is as finicky about water motion as some other posts mentioned. We used the filter as usual and as stated before were in and out of the pool often. I w ould suggest you try it for $10 and see if it works for you too!
Yup, I would agree if you don't want to do the cover it is better then nothing. We still use it if we have lots of people over and know the pool will be left uncovered so people can go in and out as they please, every little bit helps.
The primary chemical in heatsavr (Solar Fish) is isopropyl alcohol which changes the evaporation properties of water. Because a pool loses most of the heat through evaporation, this can help reduce heat loss as well. They claim as much as 40%. It is not as effective as a cover but a whole lot easier to use. I plan on trying it out this season to see how well it works.
Here is a web site that has the technical information:
http://www.flexiblesolutions.com/pro...ety_data.shtml
The way I read the product description the alcohol is a carrier and quickly evaporates. The "active" ingredient is not named (other than by brand), even on the MSDS.
My understanding is that is is a proprietary susbstance in an isopropyl alcohol carreir or solvent. It is supposed to leave a molecule thick coating on the surface of the water. This leads me to believe it is some type of polymer. The MSDS that the above link goes to lists the isopropyl (commenly called rubbing alcohol) as the only hazardous ingredient since it is both toxic and flammable. Alcohol will disperse in water and not form a film on the surface. If you had enough in the water it would evaporate first but you would need to have a pretty strong mixture...probably over 50% to have any appreciable effect!Quote:
Originally Posted by mas985
oops, I guess I missed the note on the primary chemical. Sorry. However, the effectiveness test do show some promise.
http://www.flexiblesolutions.com/pro...ss_tests.shtml
Well, I've had two nights with the fish!
It'd say it works as advertised. Temperature barely dropped overnight, even with a 10 degree air/water difference.
Unfortunately, it was in the upper 60's low 70's all day today so the pool didn't heat up either... but still holding at 71 degrees. What do other folks in Dallas have?
Not a scientific test, but I'm pretty sure I had temp drop overnight before the fist.
I estimate 800 sqft of surface area. I was only able to buy the "turbo" fish ($20@Leslie's). They have two modes, 400 sqft and "other". I dropped in two fish.. one in the "other" mode, the other 400sqft. I wanted to make sure I had enough in the water to get a result
I'm running the pump during the day 6 hours or so. Sucking from skimmers and returning through floor jets. Water is pretty smooth.. barely a ripple in the wind.
I'll report results from time to time. I used the spa tonight, so tomorrow's measurements will be meaningless (I dumped heated spa water into the pool when I was done)
Robert
I use the Turbo Solar fish and it works for us. I believe a bubble cover would work better, but we have a large odd-shaped pool and not much deck space inside the safety fence to store the rolled cover, even in pieces. My kids are another reason to avoid the bubble cover--a friend's toddler almost died when the pool gate was left ajar at a party and he went into the pool, slipped under the cover and wound up at the bottom before being found just in time.
We have a large temperature drop in the air in N. California (30-40 degrees sometimes). The fish keeps temperature loss in the pool to 5-7 degrees, sometimes less depending on cloud cover.
Sometimes the fish don't work and I can tell right away by the pool temps. The company that distribute the fish (sunsolar) is really good and will send replacements for bad fish if you send the proof of purchase, so keep the receipts. They don't have this on the instructions, but if you have the turbo they told me to hold the turbo at the base when you first put it in the water (not held upside down, just put your hand onto the bottom of the fish). Within 4-8 seconds, you should feel the vibration of the pump activating. If not, remove it from the water, give a small whack against the pool deck and try again.