Can you shock w/ solar cover on?

[vanman2501]

I always left mine on and it never seem to hurt the cover. I have found that if you turn your pump off over night it holds the heat better. I don't use my solar cover anymore I found by turning off the pump I lose less water to evaporation and the heat stay in. Less work then putting the solar cover on and off.

vanman2501

[prh129]

With a blue cover, you will probably get more heating with the cover off because the sun's rays can reach the bottom of the pool and heat from the bottom up. With the cover on you are transferring the heat from the cover to the top few inches so you will still get some heat that way. The tradeoff is that it's a pain to keep pulling the cover on and off. If you know it will be mostly sunny then that would be a good day to take the cover off. A solar mat might be something to consider - it's a big black mat that hooks up to your filter so water is pumped through it and the sun warms it up before it goes back in the pool.

Peter

[cajunfla]

solar mat? any idea where I can get info on this product?

Thanks

[NWMNMom]

See all the prior threads on solar panels (mats) -

[prh129]

Look in the Pool Equipment & Operations section for threads involving "solar heater". I called it a mat since that it what it basically is but it's actually called a solar heater.

Peter

[cajunfla]

Oh, I have seen the infor on solar panels. I thought solar mats were something different. maybe something to lay on the decking while not in use with ability to remove quickly and easily.

[prh129]

Since it has to be connected to the filter and will have water sitting in it, it's not going to be very portable.

Someone here suggested an idea of putting a black mat on the bottom of a pool to absorb sun then you could remove it when you didn't need more heating but as far as I know, such a product doesn't exist (yet).

Peter