Solar cover breaking down, plugs filter.

[DarrelB]

Over the last week, could not figure out where these "flakes" were coming from, thought it was from one of the trees. They kept getting sucked into the filter, past the skimmer basket, and plugging the sand filter.
Lo and behold, it was my old clear solar cover starting to disintegrate and the bottom of the little bubbles were falling of it! Floating on top the water, they were sucked into the filter system, and plugged it pretty good. I was trying to get one more season out of it, but its really bad now, so off to the store today to get a new one.

So just a word of warning to keep an eye on your old covers, replace them.

 

[Razorhog]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a solar cover for? My first thought is the block the sun and protect chlorine.

 

[Pauls234]

Darrel - just curious how old the cover is? It seems that solar cover's life is typically around 3 seasons before they start to fall apart and that is regardless of the thickness.

Razorhog- Solar covers help maintain pool temps, it is basically a large blanket that covers the pool surface. They really do their work by preventing heat loss at night, rather than capturing solar rays and adding heat during the day. They should probably be more properly called lunar covers! They do have that effect of blocking the sun and reducing chlorine loss, but that is incidental to their real purpose.

 

[Razorhog]

Thanks for the explanation. I think I need the opposite! Water temp is currently 84F which is nice but I don't want it to get any warmer.

 

[DarrelB]

The clear one allows the sun to go through and heat the water, reflects he rays back into the water bouncing back and forth.

This would have been my 4th season with it, 5 year warranty but I doubt I will get anything out of it.

 

[f3justusc]

Good to know. I am going to get a new cover soon and I have been debating the clear cover. I will stick with blue because no doubt exists when the bubbles begin to fall apart.