7-year solar cover deteriorate in 5 months? little plastics all over pool

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dannieboiz

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2015
286
San Jose, CA
I started to use my pool cover in April/May, it's now sept and the so called 7 year Thermo-Tex cover is falling apart. It's ripping as I pull it and there are a bunch of little plastics from the bubbles floating around the pool.

I keep my FC @ 4% and don't cover when I'm slamming, Occassionally, I'd spike the chlorine up to 7 or 8 and let it drift down when I'm away but don't cover my pool when I know my FC is above 4ish. Anyone have this issue?
 
You are very lucky it lasted 7 years, mine usually only last 2 years but then I get the cheapest I can find. But that is exactly what happens to my covers when they fail.
 
Whoa. Boy did I read that wrong. 5 months is ridiculous. Did you get if from one of the big box stores? It could have been on the shelf for a while.
 
I ordered from Home Depot but they drop shipped from the mfg in Canada, They want me to cut off a 12x12 section and send it to them for inspection to see if it was chemical damaged or abused. blah blah I hear it could take more than 6 weeks to hear anything back.
 
LFrankow said:
I have two questions for you:
Who manufactured the cover?
How did your warranty get resolved if at all?
Click to expand...

Home Depot sell it as Thermo-Tex

Here's the exact one I have
Thermo-Tex 16 ft. x 32 ft. 7-Year Rectangular Clear In-Ground Solar Pool Blanket-2951632 - The Home Depot

The manufacture is Polyair, they seem responsive but lets see what happens. I purchased the 7 year cover hoping for it to last at least half of that then if it goes bad, toss it cause prorated warranty are imo a big gimmick . Also expect the longer warranty ones are of better quality. At this rate, I might as well purchase a large roll of bubble wraps and toss it in the pool and replace it once a season.
 

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Wow that bites. I've been buying the cheap covers instead of the expensive ones for some time now because the last expensive one I got lasted no longer than the cheap ones do anyway. I would attempt to take it to your local Home Depot, and see if you have any luck there getting your money back on it?

I agree it is a royal pain having to cut a section off, send it in, wait for a response, (which you can about guarantee their going to blame it on chemicals even if that wasn't the cause). Sadly, the warrantees on some of the expensive covers only last as long as it takes for you to make it through the site's checkout. :(. Good luck, and keep us posted on what happens.
 
Fill out a log of you test results and send it with the cover. (Maybe state the chlorine a little lower, as they likely won't be TFP'ers) maybe that would help. ?

I got the cheaper, lighter cover, after reading different threads on here. One reason is that I can "kind of" get it back on myself. If nothing else, my arms get a good workout, ha ha.
 
I just wanted to update my issue and the outcome of the warranty claim. If this happened in the middle of summer, it would be very sad since it takes at least a full month between times of sending samples to Canada and receiving a replacement back.

However, the warranty department was very responsive and keeping me up to date with my claim status. Since my cover crapped out in less than 6 months, a replacement was sent out free of charge... It's warranty for 3 year full replacement I only pay for shipping from California warehouse. After that it's prorated.

I have a clear cover, they sent me a blue one. I emailed my contact there and hours later I was told to keep the blue cover and they'll send me a clear replacement. I mean for the price they sold this cover for, the 2 replacement shipping cost probably at up all their profit but they did it w/o blinking an eye. With that said, I'm completely supportive of this company and will continue to use their product.

FWIW: I asked them did they find anything on the cover cause I certainly don't want to go through this again next year when I start using the new cover. Was told all looks good and that it could simply be UV related.

To be fair to the company, I do think I have issues with my chemical, the straps for my pool cover also failed prematurely.
 
Thanks for updating the outcome, it's nice to see a company stand by their product.

Post a full set of test results and we can offer some suggestions that might be of help.

UV will dry out and damage a solar cover if the cover is exposed to the sun while out of the water.
 
So the thing to do is to have an opaque preferably white or reflective cover you can put over the rolled-up solar cover so that it blocks the UV from sunlight and also does not get too hot. Both heat and UV are damaging to the plastic in bubble-type solar covers. On the water, it's much more protected since it's cooled by the water and air though the UV can still cause some damage over time and is part of what has the covers degrade over a few years. Chlorine also slowly oxidizes the material in contact with the water though usually that's only more noticeable at higher SLAM levels which is a reason to uncover the pool during a SLAM.
 
Glad this worked out, I tried a warranty return on a PolyAir this summer, and they denied me. I have high CYA so keep a high FC and they said it burnt the cover.

My next pool cover came from Canada also. I think they have cornered the pool cover market.
 
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