Deciding on a solar cover.

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Summoner12

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Nov 16, 2015
87
Riverside, CA
I am looking to purchase a cover for the pool. I am mostly concerned with the water loss due to the extreme arid climate I am located in. I would also like the benefit of the heating.

I see there are blue and clear 'bubble wrap' type covers. To me, clear makes sense for letting in light, and trapping it's heat, is this logical?

Can I get away with not having an expensive cover roll-up device? I was thinking buy the thickest plastic possible and just be careful when folding up the cover for swimming.

Also, I have a water fall that spills from the spa. Do I just cut out an area for the water to fall directly to the water below? And can I cut out a cover for the spa without it trying to overflow into the pool below? Maybe some creative work can be done to anchor the spa's cover... or a cut out near the spill way? I tend to valve the spa's water supply down so it isn't a huge gushing waterfall.

Are there any brands to avoid or look for?

Thanks!
 
Expensive covers don't last much longer or provide much advantage. There is very little difference in the performance of the covers. Regardless of the color or thickness of the cover they all provide the primary purpose of preventing much of the nighttime heat loss. None provide a lot of heat gain, they primarily prevent loss.
 
After reading many posts on this I went with an 8mil blue cover for 99 bucks on amazon.

That cover worked well, it kept the heat in, added some warmth to the top layer of water and prevented evaporation.

The additional benefit of blue is it blocks the uv from consuming the chlorine..a clear one wouldn't do that.

I believe you get the most benefit from a blue one that way.

Also anything thicker than 8mil will be difficult to remove and replace by your self and won't last any
longer than a thinner one.
 
I cut mine so that about 3" rides up the walls all around. It keeps debris from getting into the pool, but makes removing much more difficult. Next one, I will cut it to fit.
 
The guy who installed my pool a few years ago showed me how to cut it and we managed to get it cut it really close to the edges of the pool. Mine rolls up nicely on the roller but I could see that if it rode up the sides and you were rolling it up it could be annoying.
 
Summoner12 said:
I see there are blue and clear 'bubble wrap' type covers. To me, clear makes sense for letting in light, and trapping it's heat, is this logical?
Click to expand...
Based upon my own testing, they both allow an equal amount of IR energy through the cover and since about 88% of the heating is in the IR range, I don't think there isn't going to much of a difference. Plus I found clear covers don't really stay clear very long.
 
The pool cover came today. Going to have people over this weekend. I want to get this thing into the water so I can get the pool warming up. With the weather being warmer (been in the 80's during the day) the pool hasn't lost a ton of heat from the weekend. We warmed it to 90 this weekend. Today it was close to 80*.
 

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The instructions on mine said to cut it and leave about 2-3 inches of space between the cover and the pool wall so
that it may "float around' and thus remain flat on the water...also easier to roll up that way.

One big annoyance was the pine needles from the trees. Even though they fell on the cover, when I
rolled it up each time, it would dump them all in the deep end.

Summoner, I bet if you'd had the cover on after heating to 90 your pool would have been around 86-87.
Amazing how much of a difference a cover makes.
 
I'm about to order a cover and I've been wondering about sizing as well. I don't want it rub on the overhanging stone (needs to be easy to roll up), so I was planning to cut it about 3" (75mm) narrower than the waterline (1.5" (~40mm) of water on each side and 1/2" (~10mm) narrower than the width between the coping. Everything I've read here at TFP says it's all about reducing evaporative cooling, which makes sense. The uncovered perimeter margin will be 3% of the surface area, so it seems to me I'd still be wiping out 97% of the evaporation and maybe the cover won't look so bad. Interested to hear from some more experts on Summoner12's trimming question.
 
Needsajet- have a look at the Daisy website- it is really informative and have some really clear "How to videos" http://www.daisypoolcovers.com.au/which goes through the selection/install of the covers. I've gotta say I'm amazed at how well my Daisy cover works in terms of the protection of FC, evaporation and how well it keeps in the warmth.

Summoner12 I know your in the States but it might be useful for you just to look at the vids!
 
I still need to do some trimming I think. I cut everything to fit with a slight gap, so the plastic lays flat, but I still have folds/air pockets. There is only one straight edge in the whole pool. Since everything is curved it just takes some time to slowly work your way around trimming here and there getting the contour right.
 
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