Benefits of Pool Solar Covers

Solar covers are actually not at all what it sounds like. Pool covers are an important safety measure, but a solar cover is not intended to prevent someone from falling into an unattended. Instead, a solar cover - also known as a solar blanket - is a cover placed over a pool in an effort to trap in some of the warmth from the day in the pool. Solar covers actually serve a number of purposes:

• Capture the heat from the sun. Pool and spa experts have estimated that solar covers can create as much as a 15-degree difference in the temperature of the pool. This is important because many pools use electric or gas heaters to warm the pool when sun isn't able to do the job. Many pool owners take advantage of a solar cover to extend the swimming season into the fall, when it typically cools down significantly, particularly at night.
• Provides some cleaning. Although this is not a primary purpose of a solar cover, there's no doubt that pollen, dust, leaves and other generally light debris do not get into the pool because of the solar cover. However, solar covers are extremely lightweight and is not at all designed as the kind of pool cover that can block out virtually all debris or stop a person from falling into an unattended pool.
• Saves money on maintenance. A solar cover does this in a couple of different ways. First, the presence of the solar covers on the water limits evaporation. That is one of the ways that pools can lose a significant amount of chemicals that must be replaced. Also, by blocking some of the dust and dirt that requires chemical treatment, solar covers lighten the cleaning load so that you don't have to buy chemicals as often.

What are Solar Covers?

Solar covers look something like bubble wrap that floats bubbles-down in the wrap. The covers are usually made of resin or polymer and the bubbles help to capture and retain heat in your pool. Solar covers come in a variety of sizes and shapes to fit virtually any kind of pool. With rectangular pools, a solar cover reel helps a homeowner to remove and place down the solar cover each day. The reel attaches to either side of the pool deck with a hand crank on either one or both sides. Solar covers can be unrolled to put the cover down on the pool or rolled up when someone wants to swim.