I just put a 12 ml solar cover (my first cover ever) on my pool about 5 days ago. I live in Florida, so while it is miserably hot & humid here every day, we haven't had much sun during the past week. We have been getting sun in the am from like 8-11 or 12 noon, then clouds the rest of the day. Also, it's been raining every night since I have been using the cover. My question is this; the day I added the cover, the temp was 82 degrees, today I checked the temp for the first time in five days and was shocked to see that the temp was STILL 82 degrees...had not moved up even 1 degree. Could the rain water and lack of sun be causing the pool water to stay the same? I was so excited to use this cover because I thought "finally, pool water that is pleasant to get into"...so disappointed.
Solar Pool Cover Not Heating
- Thread starter ebeth916
- Start date
A solar cover doesn't heat the water much, it prevents heat loss due to evaporation. Without sun and getting rain, I'd say it has done a good job holding the temperature. Without it you'd have probably lost several degrees.
Do you have a screen lanai? They have a tendency to keep the sun/heat out. Without the solar panels our pool stays right at 80 even with the bright sunshine.
We just got our first solar blanket this year as well. We have sun all the time and what I have found is the top 4 - 6 inches of water gets super hot when the sun is out and no clouds. I've turned my pump on and seen the water temp spike to 105+ dregrees. Then it cools down to about 90. So in my case the solar blanket is doing a good job of heating and also retaining that heat at night. I would say your weather/climate is slowing down your results. Did you put the cover on with the bubbles down?
In reply to everyone:
Yes, I do have a lanai (which I cannot stand!!) & bubbles are facing down. Today we finally had a sunny day ALL day and no rain and the temp moved up a degree (83 now) so I guess the weather really has had an impact on whether that temp rises or not. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same kind of weather as today, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. To Shane1, you guys don't get much rain in AZ, is that right? Lucky!! =)
Yes, I do have a lanai (which I cannot stand!!) & bubbles are facing down. Today we finally had a sunny day ALL day and no rain and the temp moved up a degree (83 now) so I guess the weather really has had an impact on whether that temp rises or not. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same kind of weather as today, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. To Shane1, you guys don't get much rain in AZ, is that right? Lucky!! =)
ebeth916 said:
Not to much rain around here, just lots of blazing sun
Here is a link to a site that has graphs to show what you can expect from solar in your region http://www.h2otsun.com/index.html. Scroll down on the left side and click the "What you can expect in your region" link and pick "Florida" then what ever city is closest to you. It looks like you should be in the 85 degree range so you're not to far from the norm.
I live on the other side of the Phoenix valley from Shane1 in Mesa. Lots of sun around here.
I bought a solar cover earlier this year and it made a rather substantial difference. I also added solar heater and the combination of the two was impressive to say the least. I've had water temps in the mid to high 80s since March.
As said above, the solar cover did help but mainly held in the heat but it didn't actually produce much of a temperature change. I added a few solar heaters and woohoo. A warm pool.
I like to keep the pool about 86 or 87 and even though it's been in the low 100's here in Arizona with the overnight lows in the low to mid 70's the last week or so and even with those temps, my water wants to lose 4 to 6 degrees at night. With the cover, I lose about 1 degree by morning.
The solar heaters heat during the day, the solar cover keeps that heat in the water.
I bought a solar cover earlier this year and it made a rather substantial difference. I also added solar heater and the combination of the two was impressive to say the least. I've had water temps in the mid to high 80s since March.
As said above, the solar cover did help but mainly held in the heat but it didn't actually produce much of a temperature change. I added a few solar heaters and woohoo. A warm pool.
I like to keep the pool about 86 or 87 and even though it's been in the low 100's here in Arizona with the overnight lows in the low to mid 70's the last week or so and even with those temps, my water wants to lose 4 to 6 degrees at night. With the cover, I lose about 1 degree by morning.
The solar heaters heat during the day, the solar cover keeps that heat in the water.
Hey Shane, thank you so much for the link to that graph...very interesting. I've actually been trying to find something like that. It does say that it's based on CA observations, but I'm hoping that where the temps might be off a little due to the rain that we get that CA does not (thus making my pool water a bit chillier), the colder nights in CA that we NEVER get will make up for and sort of balance it out, you know what I mean?
If I can't get this pool temp up to 85, which was my goal, I will definitely consider getting some solar panels. I wish I would have had the cover on the pool all through this past spring (which starts in the middle of February here) because I really believe I would have seen more of a difference in the actual pool water temp rising because our springs in FL are super sunny and hot. We get very little rain or clouds and our outside temperatures just soar. I guess that's why so many people want to come here on vacation in the spring.
If I can't get this pool temp up to 85, which was my goal, I will definitely consider getting some solar panels. I wish I would have had the cover on the pool all through this past spring (which starts in the middle of February here) because I really believe I would have seen more of a difference in the actual pool water temp rising because our springs in FL are super sunny and hot. We get very little rain or clouds and our outside temperatures just soar. I guess that's why so many people want to come here on vacation in the spring.
The good news is, not only will the cover keep your pool warmer, it will reduce your costs chlorine costs substantially!
It's up another 2 degree's putting it at 88 degrees today...I'm convinced that once I stopped getting that rain every night, I was finally able to move up in temperature. Unfortunately, with this being Fl, our rainy season is just about to come on us in full force. We usually don't see the start of the "everyday rain" until the middle of June, but it seems like the rainy season may have started a bit earlier this year...BOO! Hopefully I can keep the temp where it's at through the summer.
Don't complain about the rain, we need every drop we can get!
The lakes around here are 6-8 feet down right now.
The lakes around here are 6-8 feet down right now.
Uh, o.k....ANYWAYS!!! Thanks to everyone who had some great info. about my pool for me!
You'll find you'll be able to maintain heat much better as well, even on days you can't get production. On sunny days, I tend to see a 2-3 degree increase. The pool is still required to build on that heat to get production day over day, so the more you can leave it on, the better you'll get your temps up and be able to maintain - especially at night.
I noticed yesterday that it was up to 90 degrees...that is as hot as I want it to get. So what should I do at this point? Should I remove it?
I was thinking I could remove it during the day and then cover it back up at night, but that is a lot of work for me as I do not have a reel and I am taking it off and putting it on by myself.
I was thinking I could remove it during the day and then cover it back up at night, but that is a lot of work for me as I do not have a reel and I am taking it off and putting it on by myself.
I leave it off during the day and put it back on at night. However, I have a reel which makes it much easier.
I cut mine in half to make it easier to deal with as I dont have a reel either. It helped quite a bit. Another thing cutting it in half did was allow me to leave one half of the cover on and stow the other half away for the hotter months. So far this is giving me temps around the 94-96 degree range. To hot for me but the wife likes it warmer. In another week or so both covers will be off for the summer and it will be a battle to keep the pool cooler.
Yes, I actually already cut mine in half when I first got it...it's still hard to put on and take off by myself...I'm such a girl.
Shane1, when do you put your cover back on? Do you loose any warmth while it's off for the summer?
Shane1, when do you put your cover back on? Do you loose any warmth while it's off for the summer?