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

[pool newby]

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

[medvampire]

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

[Poolsean]

without a blanket, you retain approx 50% of heat.
with a liquid solar blanket, you retain approx 65-70%
with a solar blanket, you retain approx 80%

There's newer type "solar" cover in the form of MANY small circles that floats on the top. Add enough and you can cover the surface, or at least retain more heat than without anything. AND anyone can handle them.
I'll have to find the manufacturer name...

OK, found it, http://www.solarsunrings.com/index.html

[pool newby]

I like the idea of these solar rings, seems like alot easier to put on and take off and to store. I wonder how much they are?

Med vampire,

I am in the Knoxville area, and usually my temps are about 78 at night and 80-82 during the days, unless it's in the 90s like it has recently, the highest temp reading I've gotten so far is 86.


thanks


Bob P
pool newby
E Tn

[JohnnySixString]

The solar rings are about $30+ each piece. My 24' round would require about 12 of them, costing almost $400 total. Seems like a more convenient but also more expensive alternative to the blankets.

[CarlD]

I take the different POV. I'm in North Central NJ and in the spring and late summer early fall the solar cover is VERY helpful. Having tried the opaque blue-on-top/black under, the transparent blue, and the transparent heavy-weight clear, I like the last best. I find it insulates when you are looking at days of rain, or cool nights. When you are not using it on sunny days, it really helps warm the water--very useful when you open the pool.

However, they collect a lot of junk in the spring, that you either have to wash off all the time, or falls in the pool--but it least you can skim it quickly.

For a small pool, like an 18' round, I see a reel as pointless--one person can remove or replace the cover, but it's far easier with two. On a larger pool, like my 40'x16', without the reel the cover would be impossible to manage.

[Watermom]

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.)

[Poconos]

Something I just thought of after reading about the rings. How about a plain round cover, then you cut it in 3 sections. Jump in the pool, roll the center one up, then the end pieces. Each would be 8' long and the center one 24' long. That would be the heaviest but should be relatively easy to handle. Better than trying to roll up or drag a single piece.
Just a crazy thought.
Al

[matt4x4]

I have a 30 foot, before I bought the reel, I would roll the cover up while getting into the pool myself, it was a bit of work since it's so cumbersome and big - a lot of side to side travel, then i would just toss it over the edge on the far end where I mounted about 6 large hooks on the uprights on which it would sit, to get it back on, from inside the pool I would reach over, starting on one end, get it back up on top and unroll it.
With the reel, my life has become really easy managing this mamoth plastic sheet.
I would have to say that an 18 foot cover would be REALLY easy to roll up and unroll since it would only weigh about 1/3 of mine, judging from how mine rolled up, I would have to say that side to side travel while rolling it up would be very minimal on an 18 foot.
I would NOT live without it, it raises the temperature enough to get about 2-3 weeks extra out of a season. It keeps enough heat in over night so the pool is nice and swimmable early in the morning. It pretty much stops evaporation which is a REALLY important aspect for me, being on a well.
We don't have any trees nearby, so dirt collecting on top is a non issue.
For some reason, it also really cuts down on the birds using my pool as a toilet.

[tenax]

got mine about 3 weeks ago for 18 x 28 IG pool and i'm a big fan. with the reel, it's a 5 minute job to take off, 5 minutes to put back on with one person..honestly...and the water evaporation saving is visible along with the heat retained. i'm still burning through the chlorine pretty quick when it's off, but not using stabilizer (i get that today)

short story- i wish i had spent the $400 canadian for reel, cover and casters when i got the pool 3 years ago.

[medvampire]

Bob
I am south of Morristown about 45 minutes from knoxville. If you take a gander at mine PM me. I have a lot of trees including one that hangs over the pool and getting the stuff that drops is a pain with the cover on. I can net things in the morning when I get home with out a cover quickly so I guess I have added reason for not using it.
The liquid seems to be helping quite a bit so I guess I will stick with it for a while.
Just checked my temp and I am at 82 down form 84 last night before I left for work. I did manage to get to 91 on the fourth other than that I advridge 85.
Steve

[waterbear]

I lve in N. FL and find the solar cover does a great job of extending my swim season in the coolor months. I have a heat pump to heat my pool and spa and without the solar covers on I lose about 10 degress overnight and only about 3 degree with the covers on. I only put the covers on at night to retain the heat and talk them off during the day so the sun can heat the water. They also cut way down on the evaporation that occurs when the pool is warm and the outside air is cold. I don't use them during the summer. (And the heat pump only heats the spa then). If the weather is warm enough to swim I get about 10 months of swimming in this way.

[gonefishin]

Since I don't have the second tier of my deck done...I have to live with a pool fence around the whole pool. Having only one small opening where the ladder is. This is WAY to much of a pain to try and pull the whole cover out of this small opening.

What I did, which made it much more manageable, is cut the solar cover into quarters, dividing it into four (pie shaped) sections. It's much more manageable now...But I also plan on adding some noodles (that I have slit down length ways) on the sides of the quarters to add stability and to make them "push" better in the water.

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

good luck,
dan

[ShelleyAnn]

Gone Fishin - Love the idea of quartering the blanket. Might get up the nerve to try it myself. Cut your noodle need in half by putting only one section right down the middle of each piece and not on both sides. You only need the point in the middle to push, the sides will follow. Less bulk, they would roll up nicely, and you'll have one left over to float on.

Shelley

[matt4x4]

This may be a dumb question, but after you install your noodles, how would you roll/store each quarter, they would have to lie flat thus taking up all kinds of space, or you would have to install/remove noodles all the time - sounds like more work than rolling the thing up....

[gonefishin]

Hi Matt,

What I planned to do was install the noodles in two section, on each side. Between each of the two sections would be a break, allowing enough room for the noodled cover to fold on top of itself. This way it would be able to fold very similar to the way I fold my quartered pieces now. Multiple times on the outer curve and once in half on the radius length.

But after seeing the suggestion from Shelley...I think I may head in this direction. (thanks for the ideas Shelley:)).

It did take alot of nerve to cut a brand new 24' solar cover. But I figured...as it is now...I'm not using it at all. And pulling the entire cover out of a 30" opening simply was not working! I could see being even more hesitant to cut the new cover if I had a large decked surface to pull the entire cover onto...but I didn't.

happy swimmin',

dan

[JimSentry]

Those Solar Rings seemed like a good idea until I read about having to inflate/deflate, then where to store them when its taken off.

I think I'd prefer the liquid fish.

I also have an automatic cover but it looks like crap after just a few seasons. Worst 6K investment I've made.

[prh129]

I guess the climate where you live affects how much of a benefit you'll get. The "swim season" in the northeast is so short that adding a few weeks in the spring and fall is a big plus.

Now that the weather has been consistently warm, I leave the solar blanket rolled up with the white cover over it until the nights start getting cool again. When the day temp is in the 70s but the night temp is only in the 50s, I think the cover makes a huge difference.

Actually the debris issue gives me an idea - make a solar cover with say a 10 ft wide fine mesh collector with one side tied to the solar cover and the other side has a float along the top so that all of the debris falls into it as you roll your cover off. If your reel is outside of the pool, then you dump the collector after the whole thing is rolled up.

Peter

[day1]

You can have mine!! I used it for a few days last year for the helluvit, (since it came with our package), and it caused cloudiness under it. Not sure why, but I rolled it right back up and stuffed it back in the box. Well, most of it made it into the box. I want to figure out how to use my winter cover to shade our pool...with 101 degree days, ours feels like a warm bath! I'm thinking a huge tarp going from the roof edge to the 8' fence on the other side of the pool! It's ridiculous!

[pool newby]

day1,

check your PM.

[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 :)

[kevincad]

Something I just thought of after reading about the rings. How about a plain round cover, then you cut it in 3 sections. Jump in the pool, roll the center one up, then the end pieces. Each would be 8' long and the center one 24' long. That would be the heaviest but should be relatively easy to handle. Better than trying to roll up or drag a single piece.
Just a crazy thought.
Al
I tried that. I actually cut mine (for a 24' round pool) into four pieces. STILL a pain, unless you get in every time you want to take it off, and put it on. The reel is the only way to go.

[steig]

The 30' round cover is impossible to take off with 1 person. Very hard with 2 people, and a pain in the Butt with 4 people. I would like a reel, but I have a pool fence around the pool. Even storing is a major problem.




:(

[medvampire]

I guess I will have to eat the words I spewed in the beginning of this thread.:o Two weeks ago I installed solar heating panels. After a few days I dumped my cumbersome solar cover back on the pool. I have quickly learned that the solar cover in conjunction with the heating panels is putting my temps up in the 90s. The best I could get before the solar cover with the panels was the low to mid 80s. I was hitting the high 70s with nothing heating the pool. I have a 7 to 8 drop with out the cover.
I did find a way to make getting the solar cover on and off less painful. I took a 10 ft section of 3 inch of pvc pipe glued 3 to 2 inch reducers on each end and added about 3 foot of 2 inch pvc on each end of the 3 inch. Capped the 2 inch pipe and rolled the cover up. If I get in the pool I can roll the cover up set it across the back if the pool in just a 3 or 4 minutes. The whole pipe assembly is about 16 foot long and floats very well. I can put the cover on and off from the out side but it takes 2 people then.
So solar covers do work but you need a external heat source to make the most of them.
Steve

[Spensar]

If your heating, definately worth it. Good link in this post I put up.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=5336

[matt4x4]

Steig - I have a 30 foot round pool with a 30 foot cover, now when i first received the cover, it was probably 32 feet big and curved up the walls once on the pool, I went and cut it so it's within an inch of the wall all around and floats perfectly flat on the water.
Ours was a cynch to remove, get in the pool, start rolling it up, once you get half way, stop moving forwards when rolling, rahter pull it towards you and roll so it gets rolled in the center of the pool.
Once all rolled up, I would start at one side and just lift it over the wall working my way along it's length until the whole thing was thrown over the wall and sat on large hooks that I bolted to the uprights.
To get it back on, I would reach over the wall from inside the pool, starting from one end and pull it back over and in, get it to the center and reverse the process.
Since then I have installed a reel at the far end of the pool, about 4-6" higher than the wall, and about 1 foot beyond the wall - now i can roll and unroll it by myself from outside the pool which is really nice since my kid likes to go swimming ALL THE TIME and I no longer have to drop what I'm doing to go and get changed etc etc... to open the pool

[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 :cool:

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...:D

[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?