solar cover question

[queenofmyswamp]

We have a solar cover that came with the pool and I am wondering if it really is doing any good or if we are better off just taking it off on sunny days. It is a medium blue color and has little air bubbles on one side that go against the water when it is on the pool. Do these really work better than sun alone? Seems to me that a good solar cover would be black, but I don't know much about pool stuff (yet). I don't know the brand or anything much about it.

Thanks for any advice.

Erin

 

[No P in my ool]

Take the cover off on sunny days. Use the cover at night to retain the heat gained during the day. The cover works to retard evaporation at night. You lose heat through evaporation and warm water evaporates quicker at night.

 

[queenofmyswamp]

Darn...the kids were right. :lol: Thanks for the reply!

 

[tnthudson]

Hey Erin,
Bubble side down (not sure why, but that was reiterated to me several times when I got my cover). You can search 'solar cover' and see some threads when we discussed these, but you can get a spool OR you can cut your cover (mine's in 3 pieces, plus one for the steps) to make it easier to move on/off. One post earlier shows some good ideas for rigging a cover for easy on/off.
Definitely want to cover the pool on cool evenings, and remove during the day so the sun can work its' sanitizing magic. I left mine on for several days at a time earlier this season to get the water up to temp., but too long may cause issues with cloudiness, etc.
But dollar-for-dollar, it's one of the best pieces of 'equipment' you can get, IMO. It saves my heater alot of run time in early or late season...now that it's 80s & 90s, it's in the basement until mid-late August, I hope.