Above ground solar cover reel for a 30' dia. pool

[BarefootRob]

Well, last year I tried something different when our old solar cover reel broke in the middle of the span across the pool. I was posting in this thread.

Well, after a season of having the cover cut into 5 foot wide sections, and rolling each section up individually and removing them individually, I found it really time consuming. I am thinking of going back to a roller, however again at 30' dia., my options are really limited. We ended up needing to throw away our old solar cover after last season, as it was falling apart, so now would be a great time to get a new reel.

As you can see in one of my attached picture, I had the old reel going across the center of the pool, and was winding up the cover starting at the widest part. I see some diagrams of using a shorter reel, like maybe for a 24' wide pool, and having located away from the center of the pool, which would mean needing to fold in the "sides" before rolling it up, so the cover would fit on the shorter reel. Does anyone have any experience with this method? Doesn't that damage the cover where it gets folded, shortening the life of the cover?

Does anyone have any good recommendations for a reel for our 30' dia. pool?

Thanks,

 

[YippeeSkippy]

 

[ghall6292]

I, too, tried the "reel thing," and found out that it wasn't. Too flimsy in construction to begin with, but probably would be easy to fix by completely re-engineering it and replacing most of the materials with something more stout. Maybe the designers felt that since solar covers float, they are no heavier than air! Who knows...

I installed the cradle system that YippeeSkippy shows in the photo and I have been mostly happy with it.

It takes one person about five minutes to remove it and fold into the saddle as you go. I think the grandkids sometimes get a little over-anxious pulling it off over the top rails (who would have thought, right?) to remove it, and this results in some premature wear on the solar cover. But in reality, I am going to quit buying expensive thick covers with longer (mostly useless) warranties, and go with the cheapest ones I can find. Even the good heavy ones hardly ever make it three years, and the lightest cheapest ones always last for at least two. The price difference is major.

When done swimming, hopefully you have two volunteers. One person gets on each side and begins to pull it back onto the water. My grandson and I can completely cover the pool and be out of the water is about 30-45 seconds. By myself it takes about a minute and a half.

One last thing... if you cover the folded-up solar cover while it's in the cradle, it can buy you more life by simply not letting it bake in the hot sun. I'm gonna try cutting an old bedsheet into strips and sewing them back together in one long skinny strip.

Good luck with whatever you go with!

 

[MommaHuffman]

View attachment 393125

When I first saw this I thought, wow, what a great idea. But then I realize how heavy the solar cover is and would never want that much weight hanging on my rails and/or walls. Just my thought.

 

[phonedave]

I have a center reel on my 27' round. It is aluminum tube, about 1/4" thick walls, maybe 5" in diameter.

It has held up pretty well for the last 3 years. It spends the winter with the full weight of the cover on it. I store it on two "landing" posts off of the pool in the winter, with the solar cover rolled up on it, and the whole thing wrapped in tarps, like a giant, blue, burrito.

My old issue was that the sections are held together by inserting expanding rubber plugs into hole you drill (you crank down a bolt in the plug to expand it). After two years they deteriorated. I just cross drilled the tubes and used stainless bolts and nylocks and it works just fine.

It does deflect slightly in the middle, but not enough that I worry about it.

I used to use the saddle holder that others pictured, and I find the reel much easier.

This is the one I have, I don't know if they make a 30'

Doheny's Deluxe Above Ground Solar Pool Cover Reel System, 28 ft

Advanced Operation & Heavy-Duty Construction At An Unbeatable Price.This one person, easy to use Deluxe Above Ground Solar Pool Cover Reel System has an innovative design that makes it easy to roll up above ground pool solar blankets. This system accommodates solar covers up to 12 MIL.Fits...

www.doheny.com

 

[Jamie Languedoc]

While shopping for a solar cover for our 30' round pool I found a brand new 20x40 rectangular solar cover on Facebook Marketplace that someone was giving away for free! (They were sent the wrong size and rather than the company paying the return shipping, they told them to keep it and sent them the correct size.) Anyway, since it was free I figured I could try to do SOMETHING with it. I brought it home and cut it down to 20x30 to cover the middle 20' of my pool and cut the remaining 10 foot section down into two 5' sections that I trimmed to fit the rounded edge on each side of the center section. I then found a used 24' reel for $50. I mounted the reel onto two 4x4 posts we installed just behind the pool, with the height of the reel being about 3 feet higher than the pool itself. I attached the end of the 20' center piece to the reel and then made the hand crank PVC pipe roll up thingies for each of the two 5' sections on each side. I'd love to have a 30' reel for the new cover I'm about to purchase for the upcoming season, but the 30' ones are really hard to find and SUPER expensive. I also don't like the fact that it would have to sit over top of the pool in order to roll onto it, I'd prefer to keep it back behind my pool instead. And, folding the sides in to fit a shorter reel sounds like it would be more trouble than lifting the 2 side pieces on the PVC I have right now, so I will probably end up cutting the new cover into the 5/20/5 sections again so I don't have to fold the cover at all. Had I not started with a rectangular cover in the first place I don't think I would've ever thought about cutting the cover down the way that it is now, but it actually works quite well.