On a sunny day will a pool gain heat (or retain heat) better with a bubble-wrap style pool blanket on or off?
Daytime use of pool blankets
- Thread starter AZAA
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 66,489
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
A pool will retain heat with the pool blanket on if the water temperature is greater than the air temperature.
However, a pool needs to breath and get UV to burn off CC's. Otherwise you will end up with the chlorine smell. So give your pool some time without the cover on.
However, a pool needs to breath and get UV to burn off CC's. Otherwise you will end up with the chlorine smell. So give your pool some time without the cover on.
Thank you. My instinct was to take it off occasionally but I didn't really know why 
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My clear (opaque white) cover was marketed to not only retain heat at night but also allow sun through it to warm the pool during the day. The true effects of that, as small as they may be, are debatable at best. It did however seem to make a difference during the day. Many times I would notice the pool being a little warmer than the air, even on a sunny day. I think that without the cover, the daily winds would have lowered the water temp just a little faster and I was seeing the high temperatures still present even though the air had cooled down hours later. So the cover takes the wind out of the equation which may not matter everyday, but it certainly does on the breezy days.
all pools have different parameters for heat loss, even from one neighbor to the next. You have more/less shade, theirs has more landscaping to block the wind, different colors warm up different, etc. They all need to ‘breathe’ at some point and do so within a minute or two of uncovering. Even if you religiously open it every third day, at some point life will happen and you’ll end up going a week. You’ll eventually get a feel for how long your pool can go before the CCs are building up to a noticeable level. You’ll know right away when you smell it when it went too long. It smells mostly like chlorine but more musty. And it goes away so quick it’s no big deal. Once you get a feel for your parameters, just try to open it every 3rd day, or 6th day, or whatever. There were times that I went 2.5 weeks without opening and it took a whopping 3 minutes to burn off.
all pools have different parameters for heat loss, even from one neighbor to the next. You have more/less shade, theirs has more landscaping to block the wind, different colors warm up different, etc. They all need to ‘breathe’ at some point and do so within a minute or two of uncovering. Even if you religiously open it every third day, at some point life will happen and you’ll end up going a week. You’ll eventually get a feel for how long your pool can go before the CCs are building up to a noticeable level. You’ll know right away when you smell it when it went too long. It smells mostly like chlorine but more musty. And it goes away so quick it’s no big deal. Once you get a feel for your parameters, just try to open it every 3rd day, or 6th day, or whatever. There were times that I went 2.5 weeks without opening and it took a whopping 3 minutes to burn off.
- Dec 17, 2017
- 667
- Pool Size
- 36000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Astral Viron eQuilibrium EQ45
I find that heat loss during the day without a cover is usually negligible unless the air temp is a lot cooler than the water.
Majority of heat loss that I experience is overnight on certain nights (Usually when it is windy) and that is due to evaporation. The evaporation process can really drop your water temps overnight.
I tend to only use my cover (bubble wrap style) at night to minimise evaporation which in turn minimises water temp loss.
Majority of heat loss that I experience is overnight on certain nights (Usually when it is windy) and that is due to evaporation. The evaporation process can really drop your water temps overnight.
I tend to only use my cover (bubble wrap style) at night to minimise evaporation which in turn minimises water temp loss.
Yes, I use my cover at night too. I just wondered if the cover blocked the sun from heating up the water. I'll continue to use it if the outside temp is significantly lower than the water.
Thanks (Time for a new one. My "bubbles" are coming off into the water.)
Thanks (Time for a new one. My "bubbles" are coming off into the water
.)
- Dec 17, 2017
- 667
- Pool Size
- 36000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Astral Viron eQuilibrium EQ45
On the contrary, the cover is designed to aid in heating up the water rather than blocking the sun from heating the water.
You need to consider the overall effect of the cover - Not only will the cover itself heat up and transfer this heat to the water, it is also trapping the heat in the pool at the same time.
