Making solar cover saddles (holders) for Intex pool today.

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KazzyK810

KazzyK810

0
Jul 3, 2016
75
Davison, Michigan
I bought two 10 ft lengths of 1" sch 40 PVC, ten 1" end caps, ten 1" 90° corner elbows, and a handy pack of Oatey primer & glue for about $30.00.

I cut ten 12" pieces and five 14" pieces.



I primed & glued them all together. The 12" pieces are the vertical pieces of pipe between the end cap and corner elbows. The 14" pieces are the horizontal pieces of pipe between the two corner elbows.

 
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Bought a pool noodle at Wally World $3


Cut into five equal pieces. FYI - A serrated steak or bread knife the great for cutting foam of any kind.


Attached to post with zip ties I already had.


Accordion folded the solar cover into the saddles/hanging brackets.


It sits well below the top of the pool, so you don't see it from the other side.

I ended up only using four of the saddles/PVC built brackets. My pool is only 18 ft and four was enough to hold the cover. If your pool is 20 feet plus, you'd need five of them.
 
Very neat work - much nicer than mine.
Mine was similar design and it worked well for a year. But after a number of failures with zip ties, I'm going to make mine so it hangs over the pool. That way the edge of the pool is taking all the weight and the zip ties just kind of hold it against the edge. So you might consider some way to support the weight other than zip ties. The foam pool noodles help distribute weight and torque and provide some friction to maybe take some weight, but still it looks like the bulk of torque and downward force will be on the zip ties.
Good luck and let us know how it works out!
 
jmcdtucson said:
Very neat work - much nicer than mine.
Mine was similar design and it worked well for a year. But after a number of failures with zip ties, I'm going to make mine so it hangs over the pool. That way the edge of the pool is taking all the weight and the zip ties just kind of hold it against the edge. So you might consider some way to support the weight other than zip ties. The foam pool noodles help distribute weight and torque and provide some friction to maybe take some weight, but still it looks like the bulk of torque and downward force will be on the zip ties.
Good luck and let us know how it works out!
Click to expand...

So maybe I should add a couple more zip ties on each post?

How about taking out one of the corner elbows on each saddle and replacing it with a T connector and adding a long "leg" piece of pipe that goes to the ground for support?
 
KazzyK810 said:
So maybe I should add a couple more zip ties on each post?

How about taking out one of the corner elbows on each saddle and replacing it with a T connector and adding a long "leg" piece of pipe that goes to the ground for support?
Click to expand...

I found the zip ties always failed. Your mileage may vary :) especially the pool noodles could help.
A lot of people have them hang over the edge. Or, yes something that supported it on the ground. It looks so nice, maybe just wait and see.
 

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jmcdtucson said:
I found the zip ties always failed. Your mileage may vary :) especially the pool noodles could help.
A lot of people have them hang over the edge. Or, yes something that supported it on the ground. It looks so nice, maybe just wait and see.
Click to expand...

kplaster said:
Nice Ideal But,the zip ties will break and will not hold the amount of weight over a period of time.The holders will slide down.

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Click to expand...

kplaster said:
If it was me I would use some hose clamps.Think they would do better.

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Shhh...my dad is a retired senior cable technician. I could use new zip ties every day for the rest of my life and not make a dent in his stash ;)

I'll see how they hold up.

So far, the concept is working great! It's easy to get the cover on and off from both outside the pool (and staying completely dry) or from inside the pool as I did this evening.

My water is so warm right now! My pup didn't want to float on her Swimways dog float (which I highly recommend if anyone is looking for a small dog float), so she just swam around in circles.
 
kplaster said:
If it was me I would use some hose clamps.Think they would do better.

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Click to expand...
I used large zip ties for my PVC solar cover brackets last summer, and they held up fine through the swimming season. Some minor slippage on the frame, but overall worked fine.

This summer I decided to upgrade a bit and bought stainless steel hose clamps and some rubber gasket material. Cut the rubber into strips and put it between the clamps and the frame, and cranked the clamps down tight. So far, so good.
 
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