heating pool in marginal temp times spring & fall

[Pogo]

Howdy all. We live in northern East Texas. During the early spring and late fall, the days can be quite warm. temperatures in the 80s are not at all uncommon as early as march and as late as October. The problem is, the days get too short to keep the pool warm. My wife has been wanting a solar blanket with the idea of bringing the heat up and holding it it over night. The pool doesn't get any shade and the sun passes over it on an east to west arc so it gets full sun all day. It can get like a bath tub late summer days! (but that's a different topic).

Now, I went through and read over back topics on solar blankets and opinions are all over the place! I can't draw any conclusions from those. I know my wife has her eyes on that 12 mil "space age" blanket with the blue/silver layers.

From what I have been reading, clear is what's needed to bring up heat. But, others say the darker does better at holding it in.... Considering where we are and what we are trying to accomplish, would our best bet be to leave the pool uncovered during the day and cover in the evening???

I have also wondered about crazy schemes such as running pool water through black pvc pipe to take full advantage of that Texas sun. Another is to put my old US Army surplus immersion heater to see if that could raise the temperature any.
(ps, for you civilians or more recent vets- this is an immersion heater... http://oldgrouchsurplus.wordpress.com/tag/immersion-heater/)

Any other hare brained schemes (that work! )

 

[JasonLion]

A solar blanket will raise the water temperature by roughly 10 degrees if you use it consistently. They all last about the same and have the same effect on temperature, so I recommend getting an inexpensive one. The inexpensive ones are also lighter and easier to handle.

Immersion heaters won't do much of anything. A pool needs a gigantic amount of heat to have any real temperature change.

The only really affordable kind of heat is solar heat. You might do well purchasing some inexpensive panels and installing them yourself, as long as you have somewhere to put them. Panels work best on stands, but you can put them directly on the ground if you want to and they will still be almost as effective.

 

[linen]

It can get like a bath tub late summer days! (but that's a different topic).

JL's idea of a solar heater can also help with hot water by running them at night to cool the water down.

From what I have been reading, clear is what's needed to bring up heat. But, others say the darker does better at holding it in....

The single biggest boost to pool temp that a solar cover provides is that it prevents heat loss due to evaporation at night (day too when cold, windy, or cloudy). For that, color does not matter. As for getting the most of the the suns energy during the day, clear should be better than opaque, since the sun can warm the bulk of the water and not just the cover. However, if you have great sun exposure, and if it is not windy, leaving the cover off during the day may actually heat the pool more.