Solar Cover and Evaporation

[PaulR]

A cover would also help reduce evaporation in the summer, right?
California is in deep drought doo-doo, I'd like to minimize what I have to feed the pool.
--paulr
who is still persuading himself this would be a good idea

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, a solar cover will dramatically reduce the amount of evaporation.

 

[mas985]

I live in the same general area as you do and I had started out using a solar cover regularly but in the end I didn't use it as much as I would have liked. I still think they are a good idea, just make sure that you make it easy so you will be more inclined to use it. This year I may be forced to use more often.

What I found was a bigger contributor to evaporation was using solar. The higher the water temp, the higher the evaporation. Solar covers also increase the water temp and thus increase the evaporation when not in use.

 

[chem geek]

One tradeoff is getting an electric opaque safety cover (that's what I have). You would definitely use it and it eliminates evaporation whenever the cover is on, but because it is opaque you don't get the heating benefit of a clear solar cover. It is also thinner so less insulating at night. It seems that the heat loss with the safety cover is about half, but with a bubble-type solar cover it would probably cut the heat loss to 1/4 compared to no cover.

Richard