Blew up my Autocover

[harleysilo]

We are in the beginning of swim season, and while i can heat up the pool, i can't do anything about the cold chill in the air.
I started thinking about this at the end of last season...yesterday i was cleaning out the autocover pit and scrubbing the cover down and decided to try real quick and see if it would work. I inserted a length of 3" PVC through the skimmer, then stuck on a 45, sealed it with wet towels, and took the blower too it. Took about 3 mins to inflate. Stayed inflated for about 4 mins before it had significantly deflated.

I've looked at pool domes, would be in the $5000 range to cover my pool with one. Another grand if you wanted to heat the air inflating the dome to 70 degrees. Possibly one could put the blower in say a basement, not sure how long of a run of pipe you could have between the blower and dome.

Blown up there is about 20" of room between water surface and autocover, It would be like swimming in a underwater cave. Of course the big issue would be how do you get in the pool? I figured i could open cover to reveal steps, then i would need a piece of wood that stretched the width of the pool, attached to it would be some plywood that extended just below the surface of the water. The plywood would be touching the end of the cover providing the needed seal.

Then there is the keeping it inflated issues. I've got a spare skimmer cover that could have an opening cut into it, and i've got a blower motor for a small bounce house. Not sure how loud it would be under cover with motor blowing.

Anyways I'm heating up the pool for the coming 80 degrees days so one night this week i'm going to try it out since i basically have everything to rig it up. If it works, not to loud, then maybe i could make the sealing wood piece nicer.....

 

[dafuzz]

You are a genius!

Why in fact, you remind me of, me!

Sounds just like something I'd come up with.

As long as safety is paramount, like, no one under the cover alone. As for noise, perhaps get a longer hose or fashion some in an extended fashion?

 

[harleysilo]

You are a genius!

Why in fact, you remind me of, me!

Sounds just like something I'd come up with.

As long as safety is paramount, like, no one under the cover alone. As for noise, perhaps get a longer hose or fashion some in an extended fashion?

This would be an adults only after hours thing.....

 

[dafuzz]

You are a genius!

Why in fact, you remind me of, me!

This would be an adults only after hours thing.....

pr00f!

 

[elwood58]

There is always some out gassing when the pool is covered like that. I am not sure I would be under there with it being actively vented. You will also find that it is a little like blowing smoke into a coke bottle. Once inflated, there will be back pressure on the blower, and the supply of fresh air will drop quickly.

Fun idea. I just don't want to see this on the six o'clock news as a cautionary tale.

 

[harleysilo]

You must have meant to write without it being actively vented. That wouldn't be hard to do, might be hard to keep it inflated and vented....

Your concern is out-gassing of which chemical specifically? The dome like covers i looked at for hot tubs specifically include vents and tell you to use them, but they are more like clear tents than blown up domes. The large domes for pools did not talk about vents/venting.