Featured DIY Solar Cover Roller

[DeanP66]

For storage, make sure those covers are not in the sun when you have them on that wall. The sun will destroy them. If you have to, add a tarp over the top, that will help some. I store mine on my fence on my side yard. It only gets sun until about noon and then it's in the shade the rest of the day. I still use a tarp over the top, but mainly to keep the covers from getting all dusty and dirty.

 

[Aquaman7]

Hello,
This has been a very helpful and informative thread.
Today I went to Lowe’s website and the ABS pipe is not stocked in stores anymore. Delivery is available for 100.00 . That’s more than double what it cost for the material. So I wanted to run an idea by you guys to see if it would work.
Would filling a 1 1/2” Sch 40 pipe with spray foam cause it to float?
Thanks Joe

 

[mas985]

Look for PVC foam/cellular core pipe.

Injecting foam is not a good idea. It will get water logged.

 

[mariane]

Sorry, no. Someone else brought that up several pages back and it was a NO.
I bought some at Menards a couple months ago. They had white and black. The black was required for mobile homes and was more expensive than the white. They came in 10 foot lengths.

 

[Aquaman7]

Thank you Mas, Mariane. Didn’t think of that. Ok. I’ll look into the foam core and Menards.

 

[lardo5150]

What is everyone using for fasteners?
I see some are using parts of the pipe, cutting in half, then quarter, and using those.
Pipe - cover - homemade clamp. But how are you securing these? are you just drilling a screw through the two pieces with the cover in the middle?

 

[BlueWRXPride]

I just bought some automotive plastic fasteners like these: Amazon.com : Automotive Plastic Fasteners. Obviously you want to have the biggest head on the fastener as possible. I then drilled holes in the pipe of just the right size and simply used that to attach the pool cover to the pipe. Over 2-3 years I had one or two of the fasteners rip through, but didn't cause any issues. Lasted as long as the solar cover itself did, I'm re-building it this spring with a new solar cover.

 

[Newdude]

Replacement reel straps and hardware are widely available online and cheap. Mine used a plastic like buckle on the strap and a fat plastic screw pierced the cover, like this one, but there are a few styles available. The stainless screws are for the reel pipe.

Reel hardware

 

[bbrock]

What is everyone using for fasteners?
I see some are using parts of the pipe, cutting in half, then quarter, and using those.
Pipe - cover - homemade clamp. But how are you securing these? are you just drilling a screw through the two pieces with the cover in the middle?

When I did you my roller, I ended up doing what you stated (half it, then qtr.). I sandwiched the cover under the qtr pieces and secured it with galvanized screws. Worked good enough.

 

[mariane]

Same as @BlueWRXPride

 

[rachelbopt]

Someone in another thread had asked about how I built my own solar cover roller. So here it is.

Initially, I had purchased a SolarRoller and it worked pretty well for about three years after which the aluminum pipe corroded through. So I looked at several alternatives and came up with the following:

The design is based on a 1 1/2" ABS DWV pipe which because it is foam core floats unlike PVC or the original aluminum which tended to make the center of the cover sink. I used 10' pipe with a coupler but it would be better to use a continuous piece of pipe if you can find it that long.

To attach the cover to the pipe I used a faster with a 2" long 1/4 piece of the pipe in a clamp configuration (see pictures). I used the fasteners that came with the original solar roller but you could also use automotive panel fasteners with a hole drilled through the clamp and the pipe.

To roll up the cover, I reach under the cover for the pipe and just twist the pipe and the cover rolls up on itself. To unroll, I partially unroll the cover on the deck before pushing it all the way in and then simply unroll or pull on the ends of the cover to unwrap it.

Here are the pictures of the parts

Cover clamp and fastner

Cover Rolled Up

Cover Unrolled

Pipe Close Up

Hello! I realize this is an old post. I'm looking at the same concept to manage my cover. How has this held up? Does the pipe need to extend the full length of the portion of cover it's rolling? I have to decide if I need to piece together pipe for the full length or if a few feet off the pipe would still work. Thanks!

 

[BlueWRXPride]

Hello! I realize this is an old post. I'm looking at the same concept to manage my cover. How has this held up? Does the pipe need to extend the full length of the portion of cover it's rolling? I have to decide if I need to piece together pipe for the full length or if a few feet off the pipe would still work. Thanks!

Yes, I've found you really need to have the pipe extend all the way. You need to be able to grab the pipe to be able to roll it up and keep it somewhat tidy.

 

[mas985]

On the pool edge side, the pipe is about 3" shorter than the cover but in the middle of the pool, it is about 12" shorter. This allows cover overlap in the middle of the pool and at the edge, the cover can go right up to the tile and the pipe won't hit the tile.

 

[SunnyP2000]

Hello All great info here, can someone please suggest best way to deal with the cover. i am planning on ordering 8 mil blue from somewhere, i need it to be easy to remove and put on as wife and kids are lazy .Pool is 16 x 32 however i have a waterfall ledge on side and furniture on the other. one side of a pool only has about a foot of coping . please see drone pic . should i cut in half and make 2 long sections ? or maybe 4 sections? i am really confused. my utility company is offering $75 rebate on solar cover as well.

 

[retrowave]

Hello, hope it's not poor form to resurrect this thread but this seems like a good solution for my situation. I've read everything and just want to double check a few things and see if my proposed layout makes sense.
- Any kind of "foam core" or "cellular core" ABS or PVC should float and be suitable? ABS doesn't seem to be readily available in my market; this is what I'm looking at - Charlotte Pipe Schedule 40 PVC Foam Core Pipe 2 in. D X 10 ft. L Plain End 0 psi Mfr# PVC 04200 0600 - Ace Hardware
- It should be fine to join 10' sections with couplings? Bonus points to keep the joint as far away from the center of the span as possible?
- The sizes/weights of the cover sections as depicted should be manageable by one person, assuming an 8 mil cover?
- The middle pipe as depicted will span 18' - it seems that at greater lengths at least 2" pipe is recommended for sufficient rigidity? Any benefits or drawbacks to going bigger than that (more rigid/less rolling from the larger diameter)?

My plan is to get a rectangular cover and trim to fit the whole pool and steps, then cut and install the pipes as shown. If anyone sees a better way to do it please let me know.

 

[nuttyp]

I have a dumb question. Why use pvc at all? Why not just cut the cover to size and roll it up onto a cover roller? Also, I happened to read recently about pvc susceptibility to the sun's UV light. The article suggested "furniture grade PVC" as being far more resistant to UV, whereas schedule 40 will eventually become brittle (unless it's painted).

 

[mas985]

Hello, hope it's not poor form to resurrect this thread but this seems like a good solution for my situation. I've read everything and just want to double check a few things and see if my proposed layout makes sense.
- Any kind of "foam core" or "cellular core" ABS or PVC should float and be suitable? ABS doesn't seem to be readily available in my market; this is what I'm looking at - Charlotte Pipe Schedule 40 PVC Foam Core Pipe 2 in. D X 10 ft. L Plain End 0 psi Mfr# PVC 04200 0600 - Ace Hardware

Pretty much any foam core will float. Standard PVC will sink.

- It should be fine to join 10' sections with couplings?

Yes

Bonus points to keep the joint as far away from the center of the span as possible

Not necessary. Mine were in the center.

- The sizes/weights of the cover sections as depicted should be manageable by one person, assuming an 8 mil cover?

At 18' I could manage by myself even at 12mil but, the lighter the better.

- The middle pipe as depicted will span 18' - it seems that at greater lengths at least 2" pipe is recommended for sufficient rigidity? Any benefits or drawbacks to going bigger than that (more rigid/less rolling from the larger diameter)?

Going larger than 18' might require more than one person and with the sag, it be difficult to keep off the ground. But with your pool size you shouldn't need it.

My plan is to get a rectangular cover and trim to fit the whole pool and steps, then cut and install the pipes as shown. If anyone sees a better way to do it please let me know.

That is exactly how I did it.

 

[mas985]

I have a dumb question. Why use pvc at all? Why not just cut the cover to size and roll it up onto a cover roller?

With free form pools, standard cover rollers dont always work well. They need be as wide as the widest part of the pool and take up a lot of deck space plus tend to drag the cover over the deck.

Also, I happened to read recently about pvc susceptibility to the sun's UV light. The article suggested "furniture grade PVC" as being far more resistant to UV, whereas schedule 40 will eventually become brittle (unless it's painted).

The cover is over the top of the PVC so is not directly exposed to UV.

 

[retrowave]

Pretty much any foam core will float. Standard PVC will sink.


Yes

Not necessary. Mine were in the center.

At 18' I could manage by myself even at 12mil but, the lighter the better.

Going larger than 18' might require more than one person and with the sag, it be difficult to keep off the ground. But with your pool size you shouldn't need it.



That is exactly how I did it.

Mark,
Thanks for responding. Great intel and I'll be ordering a cover today with confidence I'll be able to manage it, which was my major reservation.
So you do think my prior attached layout should work? I couldn't figure out any other way that put the pipes in the center of the cover sections at their widest points. Is it critical that the pipes go in the center or does it just take a little bit more rolling if they're not? If some offset is acceptable it seems like it might be easier to orient the pipes the same way so I'm only working from one side of the pool:

 

[BlueWRXPride]

It's not critical that you have the pipe centered. I have a large oddly shaped pool, and for one section I have the pipe almost all the way to one side and it works fine. The bigger thing is keeping the pipe at the widest point. If it's not, as you roll the cover will end up covering up the pipe which means you can no longer grab it easily to keep rolling.

Here's how I did my pool, blue lines are the pipe, red are cut lines: