Freezing Temps, would black plastic sheeting help?

[Awp14]

Brief rundown of what I’m doing..

I insulated and tarped my equipment before the worst weather came. Small incandescent lamp in there. Checked last night and the enclosure I made was 32 degrees when the outside air was 10 with wind chill at -6.Pool water is down to 38.

And now what I want to do...

Assuming my power stays on and I keep everything running..I’m wondering, should I cover my spa (slightly raised with waterfall into pool) with black plastic sheeting? Would that help or hurt. I’m thinking it would attract any sun and warm up that section at least.
Please let me know if I’m not considering something and this would be a bad idea.

 

[Newdude]

I’m thinking it would attract any sun and warm up that section at least

If it was floating on the surface like a solar cover it would behave exactly like a solar cover. It would retain about 5 degrees of yesterday’s warmer weather, which is still way below 32 degrees and of no consolation.

It’s certainly not gonna hurt anything, but it won’t be of any noticeable help.

 

[Awp14]

If it was floating on the surface like a solar cover it would behave exactly like a solar cover. It would retain about 5 degrees of yesterday’s warmer weather, which is still way below 32 degrees and of no consolation.

It’s certainly not gonna hurt anything, but it won’t be of any noticeable help.

Thanks!! Sun is coming out here so I just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be making a mistake.

 

[Newdude]

No mistake at all. Just no real gains either. Whattayagonnado

but hey !! Keep em coming. They said the first person who put chocolate chips in cookies was crazy, and look how that turned out. Maybe it takes a Texan to solve our cold winter problems up north.

 

[Awp14]

No mistake at all. Just no real gains either. Whattayagonnado

but hey !! Keep em coming. They said the first person who put chocolate chips in cookies was crazy, and look how that turned out. Maybe it takes a Texan to solve our cold winter problems up north.

Hahaha yeah we’ll see. The sun is out now, spa is covered, I’ll update tonight if the pool is still at 38.

 

[AndyTN]

As already stated, it would do very little with these extreme temps. Also, if you were trying to trap the sunlight to warm something up, you would want a clear tarp vs black. There is a reason greenhouses are clear and not black. A black tarp would absorb more solar heat than silver or white but it would have to be touching the water and have very minor effect.

 

[Awp14]

So far the pool water has risen 1 degree ha! It’s 12 degrees outside. Pool is now 39. I don’t know if it’s the sun doing the work alone or if my black plastic sheet is helping, but it does feel hot to the touch.

Edit: One hour later it’s up to 40.

 

[senex]

Besides the solar heating, a cover of any kind will reduce evaporation, and evaporation is a strong cooling process.

I covered my pool with a blue tarp and the water temp rose from 33 to 36 on the sunny day, even though air temps were below 25. On the cloudy days, my water cooled off much slower when tarped. Next cold snap, I'm tarping for sure when the water temp gets below 45.