Solar Cover Leads To More Leaf Vacuuming

[Surf Hawk]

Hi, since our pool temp dipped into the 60's I've started to use our solar cover to see if I could stabilize the temp, and it seems to be working.

It seems with the cover on I have a lot more vacuuming to do on Saturday's. My theory is that with the cover on the skimmer doesn't take care of floating leaves, so the leaves go in the gaps between the cover and side wall and eventually sink to the bottom. Is this one of the tradeoffs of rocking a solar cover?

Also, the cover is clear with bubbles on one side. From doing a search it seems I should have the bubbles down, is that correct? I have the opposite right now.

Are there good techniques for rolling/un-rolling the cover to keep leaves from getting in the pool? I have a reel and the width of my cover is about 4" less than the width of the pool, and the length could cover over-lap the edges if I so desired. Right now when I roll up the cover I make sure the skimmer is running and I'm raking the leaves that fall.

 

[JohnT]

My pool is usally dirtier when I use the solar cover as well for the reason you describe.

You can hose the leaves toward the skimmer from the top of the cover to keep them out of the pool, or you can use a leaf net on top of the cover to drag them off if there are a lot of them.

 

[DorsalSpine]

Hi, since our pool temp dipped into the 60's I've started to use our solar cover to see if I could stabilize the temp, and it seems to be working.

It seems with the cover on I have a lot more vacuuming to do on Saturday's. My theory is that with the cover on the skimmer doesn't take care of floating leaves, so the leaves go in the gaps between the cover and side wall and eventually sink to the bottom. Is this one of the tradeoffs of rocking a solar cover?

Also, the cover is clear with bubbles on one side. From doing a search it seems I should have the bubbles down, is that correct? I have the opposite right now.

Are there good techniques for rolling/un-rolling the cover to keep leaves from getting in the pool? I have a reel and the width of my cover is about 4" less than the width of the pool, and the length could cover over-lap the edges if I so desired. Right now when I roll up the cover I make sure the skimmer is running and I'm raking the leaves that fall.

The bubbles should be down.

 

[mas985]

Ditto! My pool gets dirtier with the cover too. I usually leave it off this time of year because of leaf fall. Plus I want the water to get colder because less chlorine is required and less chance of algae.

 

[Surf Hawk]

Alright, always glad to know I am not alone with more vacuuming. Was home at lunch and re-arranged reel and cover so bubbles are down now. I've been pretty steady at 64° the last few weeks w/o solar, I'll see if anything changes.

 

[Surf Hawk]

Another question, maybe for mas985, do you think you need less chlorine with an uncovered colder pool vs a covered warmer pool? I guess I was wondering what the most cost effective way to keep my pool this winter. We still get a lot of sun in the winter here, so I thought a cover would keep the sun off and protect the chlorine, but it would also keep the pool a few degrees warmer. Obviously this is on a per pool basis, but ever done the test to see which way uses less chemicals?

 

[mas985]

In the heat of the summer, I would say a cover definitely helps protect chlorine. But in the winter, the sun is lower in the sky and UV loss is reduced so operating without a cover may or may not reduce chlorine loss it depends on several factors and you would need to try it both ways to see for sure. For me, the overriding requirement is for skimming to keep the leaves off the bottom of the pool and there is no skimming with the cover so I find the maintenance to be much easier without the cover.