Considering Solar Cover

[perryy]

I'm considering getting a solar cover, primarily to raise the temp and extend our season. I've looked at enough sites to get a good idea of how the covers and rollers work. My concerns have to do with debris and how a cover would work related to that.
1. I get pine needles in the pool year round. Usually the skimmer and polaris get them out. If we have a windy day, I might manually skim the floating needles. If a solar cover is on and gets lots of needles on it, how do I deal with that? My impression from others on the web is that a leaf blower will not blow them off.
2. I also have a big cherry tree at one end of the pool that drops lots of leaves in the fall and a huge quantity of white blossoms in the spring (before swimming season). I'm not sure how a floating solar cover would work with either of these problems. What I do now when these occur is to manually skim once a day and let the skimmer and polaris take care of the rest.
3. Would I get most of the benefit from a solar cover if I use it just at night?
4 Does anyone have suggestions on specific products, covers or rollers?

 

[Rockcrawler]

I have a solar cover, I live in El Paso, so it heats up my water during the day as well as keeps the heat in at night, in the middle of the summer I only cover half of the pool because the pool water gets too hot.

It will also help in clorine usuage.

In the spring we get high winds here so the cover gets pretty dirty (mostly sand) I do not have a leaf problem, what I usually do if the cover has a lot of sand on it, I will wash everything on top of the cover with a garden hose towards the skimmer,(obviously I have the pump on and suction at the skimmer) so at the same time I am cleaning the cover I am adding water to the pool and keeping the sand and debris from falling into the pool.

Because I do not close the pool here, I keep the cover on year around, so I usually have to buy a new cover every two years

hope this helps

Rob

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I'll just add that yes, your biggest benefit will be heat retention overnight, also evaporation will be reduced.

If my cover is dirty, I have taken the edge of my telescopic pole (the handle side) and pushed down on the cover near the return, so that the water flows on top of the cover. I keep turning the cover, so that the entire surface is covered with an inch or so of water. I do this occassionally, especially if the FC is running higher, so that any gook that is on top of the cover can come in contact with the chlorine too....rain helps keep it cleaned off too, the pool water or rain water will run off any dirt/grime/leaves which will then go into the pool where the chlorine and your equipment take care of it. At the times when the debris is heavy for you, you could roll it up, take it out to your driveway or somewhere you could spread it out and hose it off, but I would think that would be rare...