Just cut solar cover to fit!

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PoolGate

PoolGate

Gold Supporter
TFP Guide
Jun 7, 2017
8,995
Damascus, MD
Pool Size
29000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Jandy Aquapure 1400
I just cut my 25x45 solar cover to size and installed it. I am doing a test and running my heater until 9:00pm tonight, turning it off, and seeing how much heat I lose by tomorrow morning. I'll post results back here!

Temp when I turned on the heater was 55.
Low tonight is supposed to be 41.

FYI: Cutting was simple. Used a nice sharp set of scissors and just laid the cover over the pool and cut the outline. I smoothed out the bubbles with the brush. All in all it was about an hour to cut.

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The cover is cut into three sections, but one is real small. I basically stretch it out onto the deck and pull it onto the pool. I use a pole with a brush attachment to move it into place and hold one section while I work on the other. I just installed it today in about 10 minutes. I fold each section at the seam. The two larger sections rolled up are about 5' in height and very manageable. I store them out of the sun in a shed. I'm on my third year with this cover and still looking good.



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Meadow said:
@Rancho,
1. What's your feedback on your solar cover?

2. Does it really work as advertised?

3. Do you really need to cover the entire water surface?

Sorry for the noob questions but I'm on the fence.
Click to expand...

In our climate (I'm about an hour away from you) it is well worth the investment of $100-150, even if it lasts about three years. It adds 10-15 degrees of heat to the pool during swimming months. I put it on today for the first time this season and saw a temp increase of 4 degrees in just a few hours. Water temps from May to October range from 82-90 degrees and more if you leave it on everyday. The cover will also decrease FC losses during the day and heat loss during the night. I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to cover the whole pool, but you would likely see a decrease in effectiveness.

Cons:

It is a bit of pain to put the cover on and take it off. A reel helps but then you gotta find a place to store it out of the sun when its not in the pool. I like being able to take it off and stick it in a shed out of sight.

It is a bit challenging to get a good daily look at the water, especially with a dark bottom like mine.

Mike.
 
Thank you so much Rancho.

I'm sold and just ordered mine. I'll buy more if not enough to completely cover our pool. Yeah, I'm aware of the cons but I just couldn't justify the cost of the alternative solar collecting panels. I'll definitely keep it in the shed during off swimming season.

@Poolgate... not trying to hijack but I'll be following this thread. Wanna hear your feedback as well. :cheers:
 
So the results are in!

Temp when I turned on the heater around 6pm was 55.
Low tonight is supposed to be 41.

I shut off the heater right at 9pm. It had just flipped to 61 when I did that. So I got 5 degrees in around 3 hours.

I looked at the temp at 9:30 and it showed 60.

Temp when I looked this morning at around 8am - 59

So I turned on the heater (8am) and less than 1/2 hour later it was again at 61.

So I have to conclude that I lost almost no heat last night. The drop in temp from "just" 61 to 59 was most likely a circulation related drop. So as soon as the pool was cranked back up to full speed, the heat went back to 61.

I am very pleased with these results and will keep my heater on all day!

Also I think this will not be a problem to remove by myself. I put it on by myself before it was even cut. I got the 8 mil plastic so the entire cover could be carried by one person. I'd say it was maybe 30-40lbs at the most (dry).

We'll see when I take it off but my plan was to just fold it as I remove it and stuff it in a deck box and not use the reel. I'll see how that goes.

This is the one I got btw in 25' x 45'. I ordered Wed and got it Sat.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N9Y2DYJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

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