I need some advice on the best way to keep my unused pool covered.
Our house in Las Vegas is empty most of the year except for two months at the end of summer when we're here and using the pool. We might also spend some time in the spring here, but it's too cool to use the pool then. I prefer to keep the pool covered to minimize the maintenance (adding water, chemicals, running the pump, etc.) I have a vacation watch service that comes by every couple weeks to check on things and address any minor maintenance issues that may arise while we're gone.
What has sort of worked in the past is the following: Solar cover on the pool, then a winter cover on top of that, held down with Aqua Bloks filled with paver bricks (pool is free-form shape). The solar cover is there in order to insure that the winter cover floats above the water - there are enough winter storms and summer thunderstorms to dump a lot of water on top of the winter cover and sink it if I did not have something under the winter cover. This year though, my brand new solar cover only lasted six months!!! All the bubbles are deflated now. I don't know how this happened given that it was underneath an opaque winter cover, which presumably blocked all UV and visible light. The water had a very minimal amount of chlorine in it too.
I'm somewhat leery of purchasing a new solar cover, just to float the winter cover. I had thought of perhaps tying a bunch of pool pillows together and letting the winter cover sit on top of that (that would also prevent any pooling of water on top of the winter cover), but the reviews of pool pillows are not very good regarding durability. Any other ideas out there? Maybe get a few giant truck innertubes that are used for recreation (towed behind boats), tie them together, and pull the winter cover over that?
Our house in Las Vegas is empty most of the year except for two months at the end of summer when we're here and using the pool. We might also spend some time in the spring here, but it's too cool to use the pool then. I prefer to keep the pool covered to minimize the maintenance (adding water, chemicals, running the pump, etc.) I have a vacation watch service that comes by every couple weeks to check on things and address any minor maintenance issues that may arise while we're gone.
What has sort of worked in the past is the following: Solar cover on the pool, then a winter cover on top of that, held down with Aqua Bloks filled with paver bricks (pool is free-form shape). The solar cover is there in order to insure that the winter cover floats above the water - there are enough winter storms and summer thunderstorms to dump a lot of water on top of the winter cover and sink it if I did not have something under the winter cover. This year though, my brand new solar cover only lasted six months!!! All the bubbles are deflated now. I don't know how this happened given that it was underneath an opaque winter cover, which presumably blocked all UV and visible light. The water had a very minimal amount of chlorine in it too.
I'm somewhat leery of purchasing a new solar cover, just to float the winter cover. I had thought of perhaps tying a bunch of pool pillows together and letting the winter cover sit on top of that (that would also prevent any pooling of water on top of the winter cover), but the reviews of pool pillows are not very good regarding durability. Any other ideas out there? Maybe get a few giant truck innertubes that are used for recreation (towed behind boats), tie them together, and pull the winter cover over that?
