Solar cover

[Kyleig]

So this might be a stupid question....I am a new pool owner, AG 18ft 52in round with skimmer, 1500 gph pump, tried to put it in my sig but it says not supported on mobile, and have learned tons from this excellent site. But my q is, do solar covers help keep chlorine in the water? Only reason I ask is I have my water all balanced cept for TA and for the last two days my Fc has not changed, I have no tabs in the filter and have not added any bleach. I think it's safe to say I have nothing growing in my water, had all the same numbers last night. But I keep the cover on its all the time.
Numbers are...
Fc-7.5
Cc .5
Cya 50
Ph 7.2
TA 210

Thanks for all the helpful info all over this site

 

[chiefwej]

If a pool is clean and no algae or organics in it, yes the cover will help maintain FC levels. It helps by keeping the sun from consuming chlorine and also keeps things from getting in. Basically like keeping something in a sealed bottle vs an open glass.

I know that, if I leave a solar cover on mine I have to turn the SWG down or the FC gets very high.

 

[Chuppa3]

Keeping the solar cover helps maintain chemicals because he sun directly doesn't hit the pool. Taking the cover off heats your pool in the daytime better but burns more chemicals.

To keep heat take cover off during day sun and on at night.
To save chemicals and chlorine leave cover on!

 

[Kyleig]

Excellent, good to know. My water actually seems to be warmer when I leave the cover on anyway.

 

[phonedave]

I believe that my cover makes the pool hotter if I leave t on during the day, as opposed to taking it off.

Maybe if it was a very still and extremely hot day, it would be different. But the air temp is near or below my water temp right now (at the surface under the cover). So the cover is insulating the hotter water from the cooler air. If I circulated the water, it might be different as well.


-dave

 

[KirkMc]

I had to take my solar cover off and leave it off earlier this month. With it on, the air temp was around 96-98 while my pool temp was over 100. Now keeping the cover off the water temp stays around 92 while the air is over 100.

 

[Casey]

It's not good to keep the cover on all the time. The pool needs to breath or you will get a CC build up and the sun needs to burn that off.