Auto Cover Color

[Blueskies21]

We're debating between colors for our autocover. It's between Tan and Royal Blue. We wanted to get the opinion of the auto cover owners out there. Here are our concerns:

The darker blue might fade

The tan might have problems with staining from leaves.

The blue is obviously darker, do you think that it makes that much difference for heat gain to have the darker color? Probably not too many people out there that have switched colors but maybe you have some concept of if the darker color matters.

Thanks!

Blueskies

 

[swimcmp]

Blueskies I have been installing auto covers for probably twenty years. Here is what I can tell you about them from my experience. The darkest blue color usually three to five years at best, they draw an extreme amount of sunlight and just don't seem to survive it well. The darker color will "help" to raise your pool temp. In shallow only pools we have seen 97 degree water in early July. I usually try to get customers to go with the lighter blues or light gray or tan. The tan shows dirt badly. The light gray doesn't show too bad. For some dumb reason we have one customer that went with dark Kelly green and it held up very well. We use coverstar brand only due to the heat welded webbing instead of the stitched webbing to the cover. The uv would degrade the stitching before the cover would be worn out and repair cost sometimes got close to replacement. Anything else I can answer for you let me know.

 

[JamesW]

One consideration is how well the color will work with the deck and surrounding area. Have you decided on decking and landscaping?

 

[Blueskies21]

That's why we're thinking tan to coordinate with the decking. Swimcmp with your experience what's the best way to keep the covers clean/extend their lives?

 

[swimcmp]

Natural chemistry makes a cover cleaner product, simple green works well, have heard of people using armor all I am a little Leary of it if you don't get it 100% cleaned it can cause foaming in the water. I have an 21*44 cover that is tan that I clean once a year for a customer and last year I told him no more. It take two people about three hours to clean it.