Swimming pools blog

2 responses so far ↓

• 1 Neva Marjory // Mar 22, 2006 at 1:54 pm

  My current solar cover is now in it’s fourth season and is falling
  apart. My dogs also chewed about 6 feet off the end of it over the
  winter. I’m hoping that it will make it through the end of the
  season so I don’t have to store one over the winter, and maybe I’ll
  find a bargain in the off-season.
  My first summer, I did not have a reel, and it was a major pain to
  take on and off (20 x 40 rectangle). The next season, I bought a
  reel on casters, which worked ok, but with some problems. First, it
  tended to ‘roll along with you’ when covering the pool. To fix that,
  I built two open-ended “boots” to slide the stand into. This kept
  them rock solit in place, but also allowed the cover to be wheeled
  away from the pool. The biggest problem I’ve had is with the clips
  that came with the reel to attach the cover. They are small, clamp-
  on holders at the end of nylon leads. I’ve had several gusts of wind
  that have blown the cover out of the snaps and off the pool. I
  
  bought several alligator tarp snaps from Lowes yesterday, and plan to
  try them out on the old cover this weekend.
  My daughter is also a lifeguard/pool manager at several local pools.
  They have started using the liquid solar covers, and they swear by
  them.
  I feel for the people trying to regulate temperatures, one way or the
  other. I like my pool brisk and refreshing (80 - 82F); my wife won’t
  get in unless it feels like a 30,000 gallon bathtub (90+).
  Kirk

• 2 Neva Marjory // Mar 23, 2006 at 9:23 am

  Hi Peter,
  Mine’s a 12×24 oval….
  What I did was purchase an extra rail bracket so that
  when the cover is completely reeled in, I can swing
  the unit to the straight side of the pool. This way,
  I don’t need an extra person help me remove the unit
  from the rails and put it back when done.
  The remaining response is mixed in below with your
  questions….

  As mentioned above…its oval….
  The main brackets are anchored where the first straight
  rail starts right after the last angled rail on the oval.
  I can provide digital pictures if I’m not explaining this
  well.
  
  I’m not exactly sure if I’ve seen a tapered pool, so your
  situation may be different.
  The reel stays stationary as is rolls up/deposits the cover.
  The ladder is a small obstacle, but at that point, I’ll
  guide the cover with my hand so that the cover doesn’t
  bunch up when it hits the ladder.
  I believe I mentioned that I taught my “pseudo-niece” how
  to uncover/cover the pool….she’s not that tall and can
  easily guide the cover past the ladder.
  I will insert one caveat though….
  I rigged a plastic clip and some nylon rope to the
  short end of the cover.
  I may have installed the setup incorrectly (though
  I believe I followed the directions to the letter),
  but the short end of the cover doesn’t unroll to the
  correct side of the reel.
  So, when the short side starts to expose, I walk to the
  end of the pool where the short side is and gently pull
  on the nylon cord to get the short side started.
  Then, I come back to the reel and continue on my merry way.
  All this happens in less than 3 minutes now.
  It only took me 1-2 times to get my procedure down and
  I wouldn’t be without a reel ever again.
  A good friend of mine has the same reel on a much larger
  pool (I don’t know the dimensions) and the does what I
  do, but without the extra bracket. He just rolls up the
  cover, removes one end from the bracket, and swings it
  to sit over the edge of his oval.
  This may not be the best situation for a pool with
  very active swimmers (read: KIDS! LOL!), but he has
  two children and seems to work out nice. Our pool
  is basically a “get wet” pool, so there is no chance
  of anything being knocked over/off.
  I inherited this pool 7.5 yrs ago and this is the 2nd season
  with the new dark blue on top/black on bottom cover.
  I’m thinking the original cover lasted approximately 9
  years. It was the translucent light blue cover, but
  the bubbles started to disintegrate, so we decided to try
  a darker cover to see if we could retain a few more degrees
  of heat.
  I’m going to assume that cover life greatly depends on
  your location and weather pattern. We’re hot, though
  humid, so I’m suspecting we may get a few more years
  use out of a cover than someone in an arid climate.
  I could be wrong and I often am!
  Sorry for the brevity…..
  Tom D

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