Blue Bubble Cover - leaching plastic pieces after just 2 years !!

[cody21]

2 years ago we bought one of those Blue Bubble Solar covers from Leslie's Pools for our in-ground pool, replacing the previous owner's same type of cover that was a mess. It came with a "5 year warranty" (of course, read the fine print on THAT). It is already starting to wear out, leaving small blue bit of plastic from the deteriorating bubbles in the cover. I mean, ***?

Is this typical of these? I maintain perfect numbers for our chemical/chlorine. With a CYA of 40-45, I maintain my CL at around 5.0 ... Is Chlorine the culprit? It's impractical to always put it into a shaded area every time we roll it up to use the pool, but after October, it is removed for the late fall & winter - and doesn't go back on until around May. So really only gets 6 months per year of use.

If YOU were to replace it, what would you replace it with that would LAST more than a couple of years? Is it just a bad design?

Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnT]

It's mostly sunlight degrading the plastic. They just don't last more than a couple of years for me either. I've been limping through this year with mine that is falling apart. Just hoping I can make it to the end of the season so I don't have toi store a cover over the winter.

 

[jblizzle]

Sounds pretty normal. They only last 1-2 years which is why we recommend buying the cheapest ones you can find.

What exactly does the warranty cover?

 

[peterdaly]

I hope and expect to get 3 or 4 seasons out of my cover, regardless of how much it costs, or what the warranty says. If it makes it to season 4, I expect it to look pretty ratty and clearly due for replacement.

 

[heidelj]

If you don't have a shady place to keep it when it is off the pool, put an opaque cover over it to keep the sun off it. Mine came with a thin sheet of opaque plastic to cover it when it is rolled up. It gets extremely hot inside a rolled or folded up cover in the sun. Mine has been on my pool 2 years now and if i cleaned it off, it would be good as new.

 

[cody21]

I agree with Peter, given a "5 year" warranty, I would have expected to get at least 3-4 years out of this thing. As far as "what does the warranty cover", the receipt from Leslie's simply says "5 year warranty" .... the cover sheet that came with the cover has a list of precautions, nothing about "Warranty" -- one of which is if you get your chlorine above 1.5 ppm, it should NOT be put on top of the pool water. I mean, really? That is a pretty low CL level, IMHO. Anyway, I was hoping that someone here has been thru this to the point of finding a better Solar cover solution that lasts longer than 1-2 years. I don't mind paying more for something that would actually last. Thanks all.

 

[mickey4paws]

My last cover lasted about 4 years. We got a new cover last year and stored it on a reel in our garage over the winter. Well some critter got in our garage and chewed a big hole through the whole cover, so when we unwound the cover from the reel, it looked like paper doll cutouts of the hole. At least it's only on one side of the cover. I guess we'll be getting a new cover soon.

I've looked at the ones at Leslie's, and IMO they look thin. I think the covers that have a longer warranty are usually better made.

Edit: Forgot to add that I believe our last cover that lasted was from Doheny's. You might also check out Amazon too.

 

[cody21]

Thanks for the info Mickey - I'll check that out. Update: I went to Leslie's Pools, receipt in hand that specifically said 5 year Warranty. They are going to sell me another one for 25% of the cost - "pro rated" usage of the one I have. I guess that's fair ... I mean, I wouldn't expect a brand new one after 2 years of use, I guess.