How to disinfect solar cover

[RLT0227]

Hello All. I'd appreciate some help. I followed the SLAMing advice on the forum and was able to effectively clear my pool of a mustard algae outbreak. This was the 2nd outbreak in a month. The first time I thought it was pollen so I just used a flocculant and vacuumed to waste. The pool looked great... until it came back about two weeks later. I finally figured out what I was dealing with, cleared it, and do not want it to come back! I have disinfected everything (brushes, nets, filter, vacuum, hoses etc. Everything. By keeping them in the pool while SLAMing). Except the solar cover. I kept it off while at shock chlorine levels as to not damage it. We plan on closing the pool soon so it's not going back on the pool this year. Will a winter in my shed (Buffalo, NY winter which could be 7 months before we reopen and outdoor temps in the teens) kill any remaining algae / spores that may be / probably are on the cover? If not, how would you go about disinfecting it?
Thanks!

 

[needsajet]

Welcome to TFP! Good to have you here

If you have a place (maybe driveway, front lawn, etc.?) to lay it out in the sun, that's what I would do. Then put some diluted beach on it with a mop, brush it with the pool brush. Go with the mop again, and maybe even brush again. Rinse it off and then let it dry in the sun.

If I couldn't do that, I'd take the pool up to mustard shock level and float it on the water to kill the algae on it, for a few hours at least and preferably 24 hours, then take it off and do whatever I could to rinse it off and get it dry.

They seem to allow algae to persist even in the longest/coldest of winters. Just takes a wee bit of moisture. I lived in northern Canada and polyethylene that was folded up and stored always had algae on it somewhere in the spring, unless it was dry and stored somewhere dry.

 

[BasicTek]

I want to clean my solar cover as well I was planning on opening in the driveway and then using a pressure washer (spraying tougher spots with bleach). It got nasty in the 1st season and I too had a mustard algae issue at one point as well. If it doesn't come clean enough it was only $70 I'll get another.

 

[RLT0227]

Thanks for the advice. You're right - it's not going to dry out completely before being folded up. Never does.

 

[needsajet]

Maybe do the cleaning in spring. Might be less total work, I'm not sure. But definitely worthwhile doing extras for that horrible stuff.

Sounds like you have it on it's last legs!