Solar Blanket to Heat Your Pool
By Alice on
It's that time of year again, POOL TIME!!
We have had an above ground pool, built half in ground, for about 25 years.It is 16 x 32 in size so keeping the water at a comfortable swiiming temperature in Michigan is sometimes a challenge.We normally open our pool Memorial Day weekend and close it Labor Day weekend.Although it was really nice and warm last weekend, the rest of the week was very chilly and we even had a frost warning one night.
When dealing with the ups and downs in temperature you really need the help of a solar cover to warm the water up during the day and keep it from cooling too much at night.We have had many solar covers over the years and just bought a new one, a Century Solar-Cell Sunblanket.We purchased the 12 mil cover which comes with a 7 year warranty.This is our second purchase of this brand.We were very pleased with the durability of our last one and why change a good thing when you have it.
Our solar blanket serves many purposes:It gets us in the pool much sooner and enables us to use it for a longer time.Since summer is never long enough anyway and the temperatures seem to be different each year here, this means a great deal to us.Having the solar blanket on also keeps a lot of debris from falling into our pool and keeps it cleaner.Who likes to vacuum the pool all the time?Another great reason for using our solar blanket is that it helps to keep the pool chemicals and water from evaporating.Besides the increased electric bill for running the pool pump, chemicals are the next big expense.
On average a solar cover will last us 4 to 5 years (even though they come with a longer warranty coverage).We manually pull our cover off and keep it rolled up on the deck.It takes a lot of abuse depending on who is doing the pulling and folding neatly!!
We've never had any problem with this solar cover and would recommend it highly.It comes in every size and shape pool that is out there.I figure if we can make it last even four years that is only $25.00 a year, much cheaper to heat the pool than with a pool heater!!
We have had our solar cover for about 3 years and it is still in great shape.
Lucky you to have a pool! I would think this is an important piece of equipment to keep your hard earned money from evaporating! I wouldn't want to spend my time cleaning either, let's go swimming!
I'd love to have a pool but it is only warm enough here for about 3 months...sounds like your weather. If we do get one, this looks like a must have item!
Sounds like a great idea. It's too cold where I live to have an above-ground pool unless you drain it early in the fall, then cover it, and my yard is too small, but this sounds like a great piece of equipment for you!
Well how clever is this? I did not know they made these. Good job.
You are smart Alice. Using these covers does cut down on maintenance time and costs. I dread sending an hour before swimming, skimming leaves and insects out of the water, before we go swimming.
Nice to know that this generates enough heat even in Michigan to keep your pool warm.
I've never had a pool, so I don't know a lot about them - other than I enjoy them! Thanks for the info on this solar blanket.
I definitely like the concept of this product. And it is a great buy for a price of $90! Thanks for sharing.
We have one of those soft sided pools for the kids and I agree with you that it is hard to keep it warm when we have cool nights. I think I will give this a try if I can find it in Canada. It hasn't been warm enough to set up the pool yet. We had snow just last week.