Best color for solar cover? And thickness? And....

[mas985]

In most cases, I think you are better off with the cover on than off even though it is blocking some of the sun. This is because the amount the cover reduces the sun's heat gain is usually less than the amount of heat loss when left uncovered.

 

[Canned Heat]

Last year I bought the clear 16 mil for ours, replacing an older blue one whose lifespan was up after 3 or 4 years. This thing has been nothing short of staggering on a performance level. Blows my cheap 5 or 8 mil blue one out of the water, no pun intended. I will never go with anything other than clear and the thicker one here in WI and the thicker cover makes a ton of difference on an insulating level in this climate. The clear one lets the entire water column warm up....I was suspicious of this, but it's legit. It's probably given us an extra 4 weeks minimum here. We were in it this weekend already and that is unheard of....most people open their pool this week up here.

 

[mas985]

The thickness of a cover might help it last longer but it should have very little impact on the heat retention capability. 80% of the heat loss in a pool are from evaporation and radiation both of which are completely independent of the cover thickness. For evaporation, even a very thin piece of sheet plastic will completely stop evaporation. Also based upon measurements, the transmissivity to IR radiation is virtually independent of cover thickness. Only the bubbles provide insulation qualities but that only works for convection losses which account for less than 20% of the heat loss. So if if the bubbles had 2x the R-value, the overall improvement should be less than 10%. Something else is at play here. Perhaps weather differences?

 

[bbrock]

Rt on Caned Heat. Glad u found something that works better for you.

I can't imagine using anything more than the 8 mil b/c the added weight would make it unimaginable to roll up and take out solo. I followed Mark's (mas985) DIY solar cover roller thread to make my rollers and if I had a heavier, thicker cover it would be unwieldy to remove/handle my rollers. I'm on year 2 with my cover and it's showing wear but mostly where it's attached to my rollers (i.e. tearing). Hopefully, it'll make it to the end of the summer (and it should). So even if I just get two seasons out of it, it served its purpose to save me a lot of water. Thus, the thinnest (and blue) one worked fine for me. We have solar and I got my water hovering around 88, which is awesome. I throw on my rollers and I have checked my pool temp in the AM and it looks like right now I'm just losing 2 degrees overnight. With regards to heat loss, it has also served its purpose well.

 

[rnjw]

Keeping this thread alive for new users...
My 12 mil blue bubbles are disintegrating after just less than 2 years. Our experience has been pretty good with the cover increasing water temp about 5-7 degrees and obviously helping to keep most blowing leaves and flower petals out. I just reordered a cover from the same vendor - LeisureLiving.com - but crystal clear this time. They have a good price and quick shipping (FedEx) without extra charges.

The blue created a "cream on top", heating the top 6-8 inches of water to a fun 88-92 degrees. Great to float on it for a few minutes before swimming mixes it up to give us 82-88 degrees depending on outside temp. We generally don't swim at night so I can only report that ducky temp stays around 82 close to the surface.

Here in Pittsburg, CA we have daytime temps of mid 70s to highs of 103+ between late May and October. Our in-ground painted fibreglass pool is approx 20x 32ft with a 2 stage pump and cartridge filter, running 5 hours on low speed every night. NO heater except the cover. The 1981 design does not have the greatest circulation but when I follow TFT with just chlorine, I rarely need shocking. (except when I forget about CYA or allow Cl to drop too low)

 

[simplemind]

What would you recommend if you wanted to minimize the heat gain here in TX, but wanted the pool covered for extended times in the summer (vacation)?

 

[bbrock]

As thin as possible. I think I got a 8mil last summer and it should last through this summer. If u read rnjw's experience w/ a 12mil an disintegrating bubbles, note that mine r disintegrating too. So I'll probably get two seasons out of it. The difference is that the 8mil cost less than the 12mil. Prior to buying mine, I researched and posted here at TFP and learned most covers only last 2-3 yrs. As such, might as well buy the lightest and cheapest. I got mine at Swimming Pool Supplies More - PoolSupplies.com at the time as they had the best price.

 

[jblizzle]

Any cover to protect the chlorine is going to also reduce evaporation which is going to raise the temperature.

 

[simplemind]

Do you ever put a cover on in Tucson?

 

[jblizzle]

Nope. I have a large solar panel array. But it would certainly lower evaporation rate