- Mar 8, 2021
- 380
- Pool Size
- 17860
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Solar cover?
- Thread starter BMerrill
- Start date
Do you mean the bubble wrap material that floats on the water? If so, all of the ones I tried last at most three years. The thickness doesn't affect the lifetime much. I just buy the ones on sale.
Last summer they had more than doubled in price so hopefully it has come down some.
Go thin and cheap and consider it disposable. Not only is a thick cover alot more weight and cost, but you'll be ******* if that heavy awkwardness makes you snag / rip it on the fence/deck (etc).
Any membrane will stop the bulk of the evaporation which accounts for most of your heat loss. Seran / cling wrap would work just as well, but good luck laying that out and rolling it up.
Go thin and cheap and consider it disposable. Not only is a thick cover alot more weight and cost, but you'll be ******* if that heavy awkwardness makes you snag / rip it on the fence/deck (etc).
Any membrane will stop the bulk of the evaporation which accounts for most of your heat loss. Seran / cling wrap would work just as well, but good luck laying that out and rolling it up.
- Mar 8, 2021
- 380
- Pool Size
- 17860
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
The reel, alot like the cover itself, is its own PITA. For me, the reel was a necessary PITA about another necessary PITA.
I spent a few hundred more on a heavy duty reel with reinforced bushings. Once they start to fail it gets much harder to turn, and its a 'when' not an 'if' for any reel. . They got tight by the 3rd year anyway. The reinforced 5 inch tube needed redoing with larger bolts each season but made it through each season. The cover finally lost its bubbles on year 5 and I was fed up with both the cover and the reel and we went without.
I spent a few hundred more on a heavy duty reel with reinforced bushings. Once they start to fail it gets much harder to turn, and its a 'when' not an 'if' for any reel. . They got tight by the 3rd year anyway. The reinforced 5 inch tube needed redoing with larger bolts each season but made it through each season. The cover finally lost its bubbles on year 5 and I was fed up with both the cover and the reel and we went without.
My pool is 17'x37'. I have a reel. It is too large and bulky to fold up and remove from the pool. Some people will cut a large one in several pieces. Since my wife was going to do most of the removing from the pool service, she need an easy way to do it and that is a reel. Also it was way more convenient to store on a reel. Once summer hits where I don't need it, I move the reel to a shaded part of the yards to keep out of the way and not let the sun ruin it.
Oooooooooooooh. And you need a cover for the cover if its going to be on a reel more than a couple hours. It literally boils any water trapped in each rolled layer and is a surefire way to loose all your bubbles early.
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