Solar cover disintegraging!

[PKGuy]

I am having my solar cover (blue bubble type) shed NUMEROUS pieces of plastic every time I remove it. My strainer is full of little round blue plastic pieces and I can get some on every pass of the net. It is only two years old and was the middle of the road price-wise. Anyone else ever experience this and how do I get a good one next time?

 

[Richard320]

Same experience here. UV light makes it disintegrate.

I have no idea where to find a good one.

 

[mpacheco72]

Mine did that. It was in my sand filter, the bottom of my pool, everywhere.

 

[kplaster]

Mine will usually last about 3 yrs..Just got a new one..I got the past 2 from Lowe's Hardware.Got it for less than $100.Get them cheaper on the internet.Have found to that the higher your fc is the more they will dry out.

 

[britinusa]

We got ours from pool geek, 3 years and its still nice and rubbery!

 

[LauleaHere&There]

Mine go pretty quickly, but our pool is open year round, with a lot of solar radiation.

My first cover (8mm blue) fell apart after about a year and a half. I upgraded to one of the clear, heavy duty (expensive!) ones (diamond pattern) and it fell apart in about 6 months. We have decided to just buy the super cheap ones and replace as necessary, since price and thickness don't seem to add longevity.

Edited to add: Also, the lighter-weight covers are available through Amazon, and I can get free shipping. Which is a big deal for us here in the rural Hawaiian Islands.

 

[judy_schuster]

My first cover was a middle of the road blue bubble style - lasted 4 years at which time the bubbles became dry / brittle and were crumbling. I replaced it last year with a higher mil, clear, 8 yr. warrenty more $$$$ bubble cover purchased from a swim supply catalog. The first 1/3 of the cover that would be on the outside of the roll when rolled up on the roller fell apart this season.... dry / brittle and huge ipeces would rip off when pulling the cover across pool. Tons of small pieces everywhere too. I didnt get a second season out of a higher quality cover ! At first I was screming mfr. defect / rip off . Turned out that in previous years I had large oak trees that shaded my previous solar cover / reel. Last year I had them cut down cause they were dropping too much tree debris in the pool. As a result my solar cover reel was no longer shaded. Secondly, I thought the flimsey white cover that came with it was junky so I bought a roll of heavy duty clear plastic like u would use for a kid's slip and slide. I covered the reel/solar blanket during the winter with it. Good idea gone wrong ... Sunlight on your solar cover when it is NOT in the water will deteriorate it rapidly ! That is what causes it to dry out, become brittle and fall apart. When the solar cover is not in use, it must be kept in the shade or covered with a white (for same reason u wear white clothing in the summer) protective covering. Doing this will greatly extend the life of the cover. Not doing this can cut it's useful life to less than one year. Unbalanced/poor water quality levels will deteriorate the cover as well. After adding shock or other chemicals to pool, keep the cover off the water for a few days for the chemicals will likewise deteriorate the quality of the cover.

 

[PKGuy]

Thanks for the info about keeping it out of the sun. That makes sense.

I bought a clear 16mil one locally.

I have also heard about the "chemicals" causing decay of the bubbles. But what I don't get is: if a cover is soaking in pool water 8 to 12 hours at a time in somebody's pool with a chlorine level of 9 due to their CYA level, how would my level of additive chlorine to get to 5 cause decay of the cover?

I always just took this advice about removing the cover from the pool when adding chlorine to the pool as the cover supply people doing their own "CYA" (cover your @$$) for their lousy product.

 

[chiefwej]

I bought an inexpensive blue tarp that I toss over the reel after the solar cover is rolled up on it. It protects the cover from UV which is what it destroying them. He tarps are cheap and will make the solar covers last indefinitely.