Oops! I did it again.......Solar overload

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JohnT

JohnT

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Apr 4, 2007
10,273
SW Indiana
Pool Size
21000
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Liquid Chlorine
Been very hectic around my house lately: Two weeks of vacation, then I got my knee mangled and spent the last week on crutches and hydrocodone. I've been caring for the pool by sending the kids out to take water water samples and then I test on the couch and tell them what to do.

During this last few days, we've experienced unseasonably cool weather. I turned the solar off and put the solar cover on Friday night because of the cool forecast. Saturday it didn't make 70 and was cloudy, and it was down in the mid-40s Saturday night. Sunday was cloudy and mid to upper-70s. Finally sunny and mid-80s today and I turned the solar back on this morning.

I'm getting around now and I stuck my hand in the water to test tonight, and I could feel the warmth before I touched the water. 92 degrees. I told the kids yesterday it was probably too cold to swim. :eek:

That's the biggest benefit I get from my solar. An otherwise un-swimmable week avoided.
 
JohnT said:
Been very hectic around my house lately: Two weeks of vacation, then I got my knee mangled and spent the last week on crutches and hydrocodone. I've been caring for the pool by sending the kids out to take water water samples and then I test on the couch and tell them what to do.

During this last few days, we've experienced unseasonably cool weather. I turned the solar off and put the solar cover on Friday night because of the cool forecast. Saturday it didn't make 70 and was cloudy, and it was down in the mid-40s Saturday night. Sunday was cloudy and mid to upper-70s. Finally sunny and mid-80s today and I turned the solar back on this morning.

I'm getting around now and I stuck my hand in the water to test tonight, and I could feel the warmth before I touched the water. 92 degrees. I told the kids yesterday it was probably too cold to swim. :eek:

That's the biggest benefit I get from my solar. An otherwise un-swimmable week avoided.
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Sounds like you at least had sun...I have lost 6 degrees because we have not had sun. I am hoping today it kicks back up. I don't put the solar cover on because it is too hard for my wife and kids to remove it when they want to swim and I am at work...Thus the reason why I got the sloar heater...The big problem is that it gets down to as low as 55 degrees at night all summer long. I am going to have to start using the cover and just let them deal with it.
 
We had highs around 80 to 83 over the weekend with lows in the upper 50's over the weekend. I put the cover on and let the solar run. Monday morning my pool was 85. I think it would have been mid to upper 70's had I not done a thing. Glad I went solar for my very shady backyard. We were in teh pool yesterday evening and the water at 88 was much warmer than the air. Very weird for July in Alabama.

92 though, wow.
 
Same here. Without the cover on overnight, we basically stand still (gain back what we lost overnight). With the cover on, a 5 to 6 degree loss becomes maybe 2, then we can move forward.

BUT, it has been difficult to stay in the high 80's this year. Last year, we easily could have hit the mid-90s. Rain in July, ridiculous!!
 
tphaggerty said:
BUT, it has been difficult to stay in the high 80's this year. Last year, we easily could have hit the mid-90s. Rain in July, ridiculous!!
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We are looking at 70s most of this week, when it's usually high 80s with humidity way up too. Very unusual summer to date.
 
Butterfly said:
Hey John,

Glad to hear you are doing better.

That 92* water sounds like it could be some really good hydrotherapy for your injuries? :-D
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You know that is not the worst thought in the world...I shattered my right ankle in the fall of 2007, after finishing up physical therapy in April of 08 I was interested in what I could do to take threrapy further...My PT gave me a bunch of exercises that I could do in the pool. Which was part of the reason I bought the pool in Jan of 08. It really made a difference after shattered bones, surgery, plates, pins and screws. I hardly ever have any everyday pain anymore...mosltly when the weather changes or I have to stand all day long which doesn't happen much. But it was great continuing therapy that I could do every day.
 
tphaggerty said:
Same here. Without the cover on overnight, we basically stand still (gain back what we lost overnight). With the cover on, a 5 to 6 degree loss becomes maybe 2, then we can move forward.

BUT, it has been difficult to stay in the high 80's this year. Last year, we easily could have hit the mid-90s. Rain in July, ridiculous!!
Click to expand...

It had been holding in the upper 70s which is good with me...I would prefer 80 or so...but The solar cover is difficult to put on because I don't have any kind of deck to help in that process. I have to get in the pool to do it appropriately. So as long as we are swimming regularly I keep it off. But the 70s and 50s for lows killed me. It was 70 this morning and already at 1 pm it was 75. so the temp comes up quickly.
 

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It's a miserable raining 64 here in lovely massachusetts today. i have had the cover on all summer here, except when we are in the pool of course. Saves me about 5 degrees per day heat loss best i can tell. Last night, the pool was 84.5. This morning the air temp was 59, pool was 82.6. Same type of weather a couple weeks ago when i couldnt put the cover on for 2 weeks (new deck being put in so the reel was in the way). I could get the pool to 85 but the next moring it would be down to 77 or so.
 
Cubby the weather here in chicago has been SOOO crappy. i live south of chicago and paid 5,000$ this year in pool liner and parts to get it rdy for a full summer of swimming and now this. Well i guess the pool at 86-87 is awesome when its 70's out.Today i was super stoked and said OMG its 85 here and zipped home. 2miles away It started to rain and drped from 85 to 70 in 3 min. I was SOOO mad i almost crashed in to the ditch.
 
Wanna trade water? Mine was 80 yesterday, but I took the cover off so the pool could breath... Probably in the low 70's now. This summer has been pretty pathetic... The pool has only been warm enough to swim twice! And that's with a solar cover I've used religously. The problem is clouds... Every day! The morning is kinda sunny, but by noon or 1pm its ALWAYS CLOUDY!!! :evil:

I can't even make enough heat from the sun to get the hot tub over 90 with this kind of weather. :evil: And that's less than 300 gal.

My "this summer sucks for swimming" rant is over now, :-D
Adam
 
I feel ya! I was looking at historical weather data on Weather Underground the other day and we haven't had a summer this crappy since 2000. We've only had 8 days at 80* or above here so far this July (that's called 'winter' in Texas, right?). My pool was 72* this morning when I left for work. My kids are planning a mutiny as we speak...

Darn this global cooling!
 
Yep, this whole summer the weather has just tanked. We are holding pool water temps around 77-81 with the cover on and solar heat because we aren't getting any darn sun! We had that hard freeze (upper 20s) June 6 that killed all the fruit trees that were in bloom and now it rains and stays cool constantly. We have had such COLD nights I can't believe - lower 40s. We need one good stretch of hot, dry weather here in the Red River Valley or our crops will be late, stunted or just ruined. We have had TOOO much rain the last 2 years.

We have managed to swim but not enough for my tastes. I'm thinking of buying a full body wet suit just so I can do laps in the colder water - lol. It won't be pretty - good thing we are in the country.
 
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