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

[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

[bbb]

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.

I chols a Horizon HV 2000 reel for my pool specifically because it is tall enough to fit OVER my low profile diving board. The reel fits perfectly over my diving board even with the entire 20x40 solar cover rolled up on it. The only negatives to that reel are that it does sag a little in the middle when fully loaded (the manual says that can be solved by drilling extra screws into the post, but I haven't bothered), and that it is a bear to install the first day (well over 20 self-drilling screws without any pre-drilled holes). Totally worth it though.

[RavenNS]

I chols a Horizon HV 2000 reel for my pool specifically because it is tall enough to fit OVER my low profile diving board. The reel fits perfectly over my diving board even with the entire 20x40 solar cover rolled up on it. The only negatives to that reel are that it does sag a little in the middle when fully loaded (the manual says that can be solved by drilling extra screws into the post, but I haven't bothered), and that it is a bear to install the first day (well over 20 self-drilling screws without any pre-drilled holes). Totally worth it though.

Yeah, I looked at one of those reels ( don't know if it was brand though); but when i measured it it was only about an inch 'n a half + above my board..
( I'm sure my old low-profile board is so old that it's not very low-profile compared to the newer boards).
Anyway, I figured that with the blanket being so long ( & bulky because i have to fold part of it in-half), that I just didn't have the clearance to use one of those reels.
I think that maybe a good invention would be a reel that sort of works like a sardine can roller... goes along the edge of the deck & stores under a low-profile diving board; well, it might work

I agree about the drilling holes part. what a huge PITA!
my directions were basically nil. I was trying to do the install in the dark. I doubt that I was using a proper metal drill-bit ( I suspect that it was actually a wood-bit). I've never taken industrial arts ( & so have limited experience using power tools)... I learned very quickly that drilling in to a round tube that is esentially free-floating, is extreamly difficult to do with acuracy for someone so inexperienced...

[Spensar]

Setting up a solar cover reel doesn't get much consideration when someone is building a pool, and that's a shame. I probably wouldn't think about it either if I didn't have a pool already, but if I had to build one I would want a permanently installed roller so that it is easy to use. If you are going to heat a pool, this should be considered part of the system and as easy to do as possible.

Unfortunately I've seen a lot of new pools where using the cover is a real chore and people just don't bother. With some the setups I probably wouldn't either.

We bought a house with a simple rectangular 16x32 foot inground pool and luckily the reel stand is permanent and not it the way, so putting the cover on is a 15 second job. Something to be said for simple shapes!

[ShelleyAnn]

I would love to trim our solar blanket to fit our 15 x 30 AG...maybe even with a 1" gap all around. Has anyone ever regretted cutting theirs? It would mean loosing about 10" all the way around. I wonder if it really would be less of a pain in reality or if it just seems like it would.

Shelley

[AnnaK]

Here's what we did:

http://ellerbach.com/Pool/Solarcover/Solar.htm

Works like a charm, easy for one person, goes on and off in under 2 minutes.

[matt4x4]

Mine is also cut to fit, within an inch of the sides - when it comes to that, it's the best thing I did. There is absolutely NO difference when it comes to evap loss or heat loss.

[karrde97]

AnnaK,

Good idea. I've been trying to figure an easy way to get our cover on/off. we just put up fencing on the pool so a reel is somewhat out of the question. I could run it from the deck to other side of the pool. Unfortunately, my deck isn't big enough to hang a 23' pole on. I may try to cut it into manageable pieces.

Somebody had a link to solar rings. Does anybody know/have any experience with them?