Solar blanket, round round we go...

[gcfishguy]

Short story...my solar blanket starts turning in the pool about 5 minutes after the pump is turned on. (it's a plain round solar blanket, no straps, reel, etc) It's not spinning fast enough to make you dizzy or anything, but at around one full revolution per minute.
From what I understand, the eyeball should be aimed away from the skimmer....water comes out the eyeball, goes counterclockwise around the pool, making almost a full trip around and ending up at the skimmer.

Now, short of aiming the eyeball straight into the center of the pool, I cannot aim it in such a way that the blanket doesn't want to spin. It's fine now, because we're not using the pool yet, but once I put the steps in, the blanket bunches up on the handrail pole because it's trying to spin around and leaves a fair amount of the pool not covered.

I like the whirlpool effect, because any leaves and pine needles that fall in get collected in a blob on the bottom, dead center, about 2' across. Makes cleaning it out easy...

So....while the solar blanket is on, does the pool water need to do the whirlpool thing for the skimmer to do its job? I'm thinking no, since it can't skim anything that lands on the blanket, right? (D'uhh...)

I also want to cut a slot in the blanket so the handrail pole will fit into it, allowing the blanket to lie nice and flat over the entire surface of the water.

So, here's what I think, and please tell me why I'm wrong....
While the blanket's on, I'll point the eyeball at the center of the pool to keep the thing from spinning, and when the blanket's off, I'll move the eyeball to where it should be, so the skimmer can do its job...

Thoughts?
And, if the eyeball is aimed at the center of the pool, will I get proper filtration? (turn over all the water and so on..?)

 

[MikeInTN]

I wouldn't worry about re-aiming the eyeball. Although the skimmer is only catching stuff that comes off of the solar cover, the water is still doing it's whirlpool swirl, pushing any debris towards the center of the pool. Just make a cutout for your handrail, and you should be fine. I've got a cutout in my solar cover for my pool steps, and that keeps the cover from spinning, and it doesn't bunch up at all.

 

[wmshay6]

I have the same problem. Now when I put the eyeball into the socket in the spring, I still point it to create the whirlpool, but I also aim it DOWN towards the bottom slightly. The current still sweeps the dirt to the center, but the surface water is less likely to rotate and the cover stays put.

It takes a little trial and error early on, but once it's set right, I'm good for the season.

 

[gcfishguy]

I know I tried aiming it down more than at first, and I still had the same thing happening....I finished the installation late last summer and only had it running a couple weeks, so I didn;t have much time to experiment with everything. I'll try pointing it way down and hopefully that will smarten things up.

Might have something to do with the fact that it's a 21' with a 1hp pump...not that it's too much pump, but it would move the water more than the same pump in a 24', for example.

A co-worker bought the demo pool from a dealer that was changing their showroom around....everything was normal size except the pool and liner. So he's got a 1hp pump with an 8' pool. Says he feels like a turd in a toilet if the pump's running while he's in there. haha
But, he gets just as wet as everybody else, and likely turns the water over in about 5 minutes. Funny..

Anyway....thanks!!!!!