Solar Blankets....really worth the trouble ????

[JETTA]

Last season I purchased an 18' solar cover, which was a square so it had to be cut to become round. I, the scholar, decided to fold the cover up and trace 1/2 a circle and cut it out to open into a round circle.

Well I did not plan this very well as I had two 1/2 circles after I was done.

After being frustrated, I realized that this was a good idea. It makes it a lot easier to put on and off.

[medvampire]

Next year I am going to use solar heating and liquid blanket and see if that works. I guess mine will end up in the shop with the Nature 2 after I replumb the system this fall.
Steve

[AnnaK]

I'll have to see how the noodle idea works...it seems like it should work well.

And . . . ? How do the slit noodles work? I really like the idea of cutting the blanket into quarters!

[kevincad]

Bob
I have a 24 ft and have found the troublejust not worth the extra 2 to 3 up temp. Where are you in E.Tn and I will let you haul mine on and off a few times and see what you think. I have been testing a liquid solar blanket I picked up in Pigon F. and have seen solar cover like proformance. I am only loosing 1 to 3d at night and picking it back up each day. I have been able to hold 83 to 85 for the past few days. Where you running?
Steve

I love my solar cover. By leaving it on at night, I get 4 or 5 degrees in a couple of days. If you have a solar cover reel, nothing could be easier. Like you, when I hauled it on and off without the reel, I hated it. Now I love it.

[kevincad]

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has a solar cover. I'm looking for one to fit my 18 ft above ground pool to boost water temps a bit and to cut down on some of the evaporation. How hard are these to put on and take off ? I'm wondering if they are really worth all the hassle, I do not want to get one of those reels, because they look tacky, IMHO. Would it be easy enough for the wife to take off or put on, as I work shift work.


thanks


Bob P
Pool newby
E Tn

I love my reel, you can take it completely off and store the cover under the deck when not in use. I hated my solar cover until I got a reel, now wouldn't be without it.

[kevincad]

I have a 24 ft AG and a solar cover. It is amazing the difference in the water temp when the cover is used. I had one a few years ago that got destroyed thanks to my two dogs. (The edge of it was hanging off the deck and they managed to get a hold of an edge, pull it into the yard, and have a party.) It didn't take too many days after I no longer had it on the pool to realize how much heat we were losing at night. Yes, they are somewhat of a pain to take on and off. I am still thinking about the easiest thing to do for my pool, but in the meantime, I just drag it off my pool and put it on my deck. I can pull it off easily myself - takes about a minute. (Granted, I am not folding it and covering, etc. like I should. I just pull it off the pool and drag it under a large umbrella to shade it during the day.) In the evening, I usually put it on right before I get out of the pool. Again, not hard to drag back on the pool - 2-3 minutes to get it all spread out. If I'm not in the pool, it it easier to have somebody on the opposite side of the pool to help me put it on.

A little bit of a pain, but definitely worth the couple of minutes. My water is currently about 86 degrees. Without the cover, I struggled to keep it at 78-80 - and that is even with my solar heater. Like I said, still trying to find a good way to roll it up and remove it from my pool. Don't really want to pay $150 to buy one of the reels, but ultimately may have to if I can't figure something else out. Anyone with a large round AG with a good idea, please share and show pics.

(Carl noted that the cover collects a lot of stuff in the spring. That is true, but without it, the stuff would be dropping in the water anyway.)

Get a reel, you'll never look back!!

[jv4nu]

Just got my reel and cover a couple of weeks ago. I spent all last season without a blanket. We have a gas heater, and have just found we were losing too much heat at night and spending too much to make it up with the heater! I can haul it on and off by myself with the reel (20 x 40 pool) and it only takes me 5-10 minutes at the most to get it on and off. I am finding I am saving 6 degrees or more heat loss when the nights are getting down in the 60's now, which equates to several hours worth of gas to heat it back up to where we like it during the daytime. I say my pocketbook will like it!

[RavenNS]

I live in a cold(ish) wet climate, using a blanket is a big plus for saving heat. I knew that from my old donut pool... then when we moved into the new house with a 42' IG pool ( & bought a heat pump), my DH said that he didn't want a cover on the pool because it was "ugly".
well I went along with this for a bit, but it rained every night in May, then almost everyday in June... I was tired of paying extra for heating. I already had solar fish ( btw you can also buy " heat savr", the liquid stuff in the fish, that you can pour in daily & "solar pill", a slow dissolve skimmer product of the same stuff).
Anyway, I got the blanket out the shed & proceeded to unroll it, which is when I discovered, that the blanket was nailed ( with rotton wood) to big PVC pipe & there was no way to roll or unroll the blanket. huge PITA!
I ordered a good solar reel ( waterpik, owned by jandy), & this helped great; but the store had told me that I didn't need to drill holes in the decking to make this work... turns out they were very wrong... I dumped the moving reel in the pool a couple of times.
Finally my DH drilled some holes in the deck for the reel to be screwed into.
( wasn't exactly as close to the pool as I would have liked, but my DH was concerned about cracks forming around the pool walls).

anyway, with the "proper reel" I can get the blanket on & off in about a minute.
This is including the time it takes to fold the deep-end part of the blanket in half because the pool is a lazy "L" & it's quite difficult to make the turn without folding the blanket.
The reel works so well that I can actually swim it on (unrolling & carrying/swimming the heavy blanket back to the deep-end).
So I usually swim it on as my DH gets the kid's floatation devices off & opens up the hot tub.

( I only wish that the diving board wasn't low-profile so that the reel could have been stationed at the deep end instead of the shallow. it would leave more deck space in the shallow end)

Anyway, I find using the reel ( with the 42' blanket) a lot easier than taking my old donut-pool blanket on & off manually.

[geordie]

1. Yes it is a pain.
2. Yes it does help retain heat and stop evaporation.
3. One person alone can handle it but it can be frustrating.

We have a 24 ft round and currently have the solar cover on. Our pool temp was near 90 most of the summer, but here in the midwest in August our nights start to get pretty cool. We've been in the 50s for the last few nights and our pool temp dropped to low 70s. OUCH. Out came the cover. My husband has a long pvc tube he uses to roll the cover on (like a reel) and then we just carry it to a convenient corner and drop it until it is time to put it back on. Gets junk in the pool, but when it keeps the pool at or above 80, instead of 72, it is well worth it. I can't handle the stupid thing without help, especially after a rain when it gets some water pooled on top. The kids got big enough to help at about 10. If you get in the water with it, it makes the job easier, but we usually don't do it that way.

[RavenNS]

Geordie,
buy a good reel & ditch the PVC... you'll find that you can easily handle it yourself & you won't have the decission of "will I or won't I go swimming because I don't want to deal with the stupid cover", anymore