Do pool covers pay for themselves?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
D

DesertJon74

0
May 2, 2010
72
Palm Springs area, CA
I live in the southern california desert, with a very hot, dry climate.

I have been looking at buying a "bubble wrap" style pool cover. What's holding me back so far is the initial and ongoing cost (replacement every 1-2 yrs from what I've read) and the hassle of taking it off and on.

One consideration that may sway me towards buying one is the savings from reducing water evaporation, and reducing pool chemicals. I use a chlorine floater and clorox in conjunction, and it works pretty well. In the summer I need to add clorox every 2-3 days on average. A slow leak and splash out seems to keep CYA in check.

-Are there any rough estimates on how much a cover will reduce need for chemicals? For water? We are on tiered water rates here and it is a precious commodity.

-I would probably need to ditch the floater and stick to liquid clorox if I use the cover. Is it reasonable to expect I will only need to add clorox once or twice per week?

Thanks for any replies.
 
- I do not think the "solar' covers affect the chemical usage very much ... no idea how you would quantify this.

- It will certainly reduce the evaporation, so will save your water, while also retaining more heat.

- We recommend daily testing and bleach addition. You may be able to go longer once you learn your pool, but the higher FC level you go for a given CYA level, the more ppm you will lose on a daily basis. So by trying to go multiple days, you will actually end up using more bleach.
 
I can't help you with the hassle of putting it on and taking it off but it does help with evaporation and I find I don't need as much bleach daily to maintain my target FC when the cover is used as when it's left off for a few days.
For the cost of your water it would likely be a savings in the long run. I just replaced mine last year and the previous one was over 7 years old. I wouldn't have one if it needed to be replace every or every other year.
 
Cut it into manageable strips. They are never painless but cutting it makes it a lot less painful. Know this, you will ALWAYS get a little wet when handling it. You will never get used to this. Lol
 
Expect 2 years of service from a solar cover in your climate. I never had more than 2 seasons before the bubbles started to pop and end up in the water.

The cover will prevent most of the evaporation. With the drought we are in and if they start water rationing, then a cover might be necessary.

A opaque cover should reduce some of the chlorine use, but I'm not going to say by how much.

The water might get to be too hot for you during the summer if the cover is left on the pool.
 
I also live in SoCal--can't say how much we save on chemicals due to use of a pool cover, but it really does help immensely with evaporation.

We have a 20x40 inground somewhat oval pool with a spa cutout. Part of the pool deck is set one step higher than the rest of the pool deck. In short, it's an awkward setup for using a reel. We invested in a heavy duty reel from Rocky's Rollers (there are certainly other manufacturers). We've had that reel for over a decade. It works much better than the usual plastic reels from places like Leslie's, but it does add to the cost. With water rationing certainly in our future, I'd think it's worth it in the long run. I can roll up the cover by myself without getting wet.

Our bubble wrap covers last 2-3 years--it's time for us to buy a new one, unfortunately. The biggest pain for us is mounting the new cover to the reel, as the pool's shape and deck configuration mean the reel is located in the middle of the pool, and not at one end.
 
Welcome to the forum Mayim :wave:

I guess my cover lasts longer because it's not out in the sun all year long as it gets stored over the winter. I hate the lazy L shape of mine as it makes rolling up the cover a pain too. Though yours sounds more difficult. :(
 
I replace mine once a year unfortunately. I live in Oklahoma and every year always have a bad hail storm when I'm not able to remove the cover. 16mil and the big hail goes right through. Like everyone else says it does help keep the evaporation down. It will raise the water temp a lot in the summer time. Mine has gotten 104 a few times. Would make for a huge party hot tub if I had air bubbles going. Lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
My understanding is sunlight will reduce the free chlorine in your pool. I have the same type of cover, and I use clorox to chlorinate my pool and test daily. On days when I leave the cover on the chlorine level stays pretty constant, I won't have to add clorox for 1 or maybe 2 days. With the cover off I'll need to add clorox on a daily basis. As a general rule I test and add clorox in the evening, to give the pool an over night period for the chlorine to do its job before exposing it to sunlight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply