Help! Solar cover - doing something wrong

[tenax]

ps- with the cord system to pull the cover on, i don't even use the handles to unwind the cover expect to get a foot or 2 of cover going to water level..from there it's all rope pull and quite easy to manage.

[cleancloths]

I just roll mine up and let the stuff fall into the water - BUT- I quickly get my hand skimmer on a pole and then scoup the stuff out of the water before it saturates and falls to the bottom.

As for warming the pool, the solar cover is somewhat of a misnomer. The pool would gain more solar energy without the cover, but it would also loose heat due to evaporation and wind loss, thus the cover helps maintain the heat as opposed to really adding heat.

[tenax]

given she has a clear cover, rather than blue though..my understanding is it would allow transfer of solar heat.

[Sherra]

You don't unroll the cover using the handles on the reel. You grab one edge of the cover and walk along the edge of the pool until you're at the other end. That's what I've always done anyway and as long as I've got a smooth roll onto the reel, the unroll is always a breeze. I do have to untuck the corner on the opposite side when I'm done unrolling, but otherwise the whole re-covering process takes about 2 minutes.

I've got a blue cover and my water temp has been staying in the mid 90s the past 2 months. We've been using our pool about 2-3 times a week. When I check chemicals in the mornings it's normally about 92 and in the afternoons if I leave the cover on the top layer of water is about 96-98. If we take the cover off and get the cooler water at the bottom all stired up it goes down to about 94. The pool is in direct sunlight from about 9:30 AM until sunset.

[Aranon]

What kind of solar reel do you have?

[Sherra]

I have this reel.
http://www.intheswim.com/Solar-Blank...olar-Reel-I-G/

[matt4x4]

Ok, to unroll, it's easier with two people - one on each corner of the blanket, pulling it off the roller as you walk to the oposing end of the pool - you can do it with one person, but may have to run from side to side a couple of times, when unrolling leave it on the roller and pull it off as you walk to the opposite end, it should go smoothly. The cover should stay on over night to keep the heat IN the pool.
The cover should stay on the pool if evaporation is a concern during the day.

Since you have a clar cover, I would leave it on the pool during the day.

In your case, take it off only when swimming.