Clear Solar Blanket
- Thread starter wimpy
- Start date
Clear covers transfer heat to the water during the day a bit better than an opaque cover, but they tend to not protect the chlorine from sunlight as much as an opaque cover does.
**** if you do, **** if you don't. With 8-9 hrs of sun guess i'll conserve the chlorine and go with the good ol' blue cover. Thanks.
I've had a couple of clear covers and they seem to become brittle and delaminate quicker than the blue. Not sure if its the sun burning off the chlorine under the cover and the end result is the cover deteriates.
It could be a coincidence with the clear cover not having proper UV stabilizers in it, but you may be right that the chlorine breakdown is causing more cover deterioration because such breakdown does produce hydroxyl radicals that could damage the cover. If you noticed the deterioration being mostly on the water-side of the cover (i.e. the bubble-side), then that would explain it. If the damage was mostly on the sun-side of the cover (i.e. the flat size), then it's more likely to be a lack of proper UV-stabilizers.mikespoolfl said:
All on the water side, you will see little dots floating in the water after taking the cover off (the tops of the bubbles).
I just experienced that same problem. The bubble side of my solar cover is starting to crack and I am finding small plastic pieces in the pool. Will that cause a problem? Do I need to leave off the cover until I replace it? The cover is about 2 yrs. old.
Thanks!!
Thanks!!
That's about the life span I have experienced (used almost every day, except July, in a 4 month swim season). I have yet to have one last past season 2 without those darn floating blue dots 
Are all solar covers about the same? Is there a brand that you would recommend that is a better quality?
Biggest problem is with the clear covers your skimmer will fill up with the clear bubble parts and you can't see them in the skimmer, I've had times I looked in the skimmer and couldn't see a thing. Pulled basket out and its full of bubble pieces.
FWIW: I bought a few 12' Black round covers a couple months ago to aid heat retention/slow CL loss. The water gets HOT directly under the covers, has kept the pool 70+ for about 6 weeks now.
I only went with black because they were on sale...
I only went with black because they were on sale...
Yes, if one doesn't want to go with a clear cover to have sunlight heat the pool (but at the cost of having more chlorine degrade from sunlight), then the next best choice for heating is a dark cover (such as black). However, the ideal for a black cover is for the underside (i.e. bubble-tops) to be black but for the top size (i.e. the flat side) to be clear. This way the hot flat side doesn't have to try and get its heat through the air pockets in the bubbles.
Heating the surface water isn't efficient so if you can point the returns slightly upwards to create a greater surface flow that even "bounces" off the cover, then that would work better. However, one also wants circulation to the bottom so there's really not a great option here unless one has enough returns to have some pointing slightly upward and others pointing downward for a rolling flow pattern.
In my own pool, I have an electric safety cover that is relatively thin (i.e. it's not a bubble-type cover) and I noticed that changing the color from a light tan to a dark blue has increased heating, but only a little bit. Black would heat more since even dark blue reflects a goodly amount of heat.
Heating the surface water isn't efficient so if you can point the returns slightly upwards to create a greater surface flow that even "bounces" off the cover, then that would work better. However, one also wants circulation to the bottom so there's really not a great option here unless one has enough returns to have some pointing slightly upward and others pointing downward for a rolling flow pattern.
In my own pool, I have an electric safety cover that is relatively thin (i.e. it's not a bubble-type cover) and I noticed that changing the color from a light tan to a dark blue has increased heating, but only a little bit. Black would heat more since even dark blue reflects a goodly amount of heat.
What about ladders? Does using a solar blanket mean your need to remove all ladders?
Transparent black covers (such as http://www.poolsupplies.com/covers/tran ... covers.asp) seem to be about the same cost as blue covers with the same mil. It seems they should work better than plain blue, do they? Blue might look better... but I think I'd rather the extra heat if it produces more... has anyone had experience with transparent black?
Similar threads
