Does having a darker color vinyl liner help keep your water warmer?

[sccm_sysadmin]

Silly question:

My current liner is roughly 10 years old and is light-blue in color. It has been 'mine' since February when we bought our house and pool, so I don't know if it was previously darker or has always been this color.

Our neighbors behind us had a pool installed a few weeks ago and their liner is a dark blue, almost a royal blue. They told me that their installer informed them the darker color would help keep their water 5-6 degrees warmer than lighter-color liners.

Is there any truth to this? We'll probably need a new liner in a few seasons and I'm wondering if this simple change could potentially keep us from needing to run our heater as much.

 

[JVTrain]

When not using a cover, yes, a darker liner cover can help your pool gain more heat due to sunlight. Not nearly as much effect as using a solar cover or autocover at night but it would help some. Exactly how much would depend on many factors (direct sunlight hours, exact color, pool depths, etc.).

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

Good to know, thanks!

 

[lightmaster]

It would also as depend on how much sun your pool gets. Think of cars, a light colored car will be much warmer if parked in direct sunlight, compared to a dark car parked in the shade.

 

[kodiak1120]

I realize this is an old thread, but I was searching this question and this came up. My (unscientific) take on it is that a darker pool liner will make the pool warmer. I guess the question is how much warmer and would be "noticeable." We have a 30k gallon pool with a dark-er liner. It's more of a true blue... not really dark, but definitely not light. Our pool also gets full sun all day. In the summer, the temps will go up to low 90s. Most people think I have a heater because in my area, most pools don't get that warm without some kind of heater. I think it's a combination of full sun and a dark-ish liner.

 

[triptyx]

Depending on where you are and how strong your sun is, it's probably a matter of a few degrees (that's just a guess).