Oval Swimming Pool

Your Guide to Saving Money on Swimming Pool Heating

Keeping your swimming heated can cost a pretty penny – especially these days when we are all looking to cut our energy costs and leave less of a carbon footprint. The following guide will explain how affordable solar pool covers can go a long way in doing just that. It will also outline the available design features they come in, so that you can make the most of a cover's solar heating potential.

Introduction to Solar Swimming Pool Covers
Also referred to as solar blankets, these types of pool covers are an economical and effective way to use the sun's energy to heat your swimming pool.

Generally resembling bubble wrap, solar pool covers are either clear, silver or blue in colour. They're comprised of thousands of tiny air pockets that transfer heat from the sun into the swimming pool and also trap the existing heat in the water. This means that more heat is added to your swimming pool while less heat is prevented from evaporating. All in all, you will not be losing nearly as much heat and thus you will not have to run your swimming pool heating system as much as before.

You can in fact increase the temperature of your swimming pool by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit by using swimming pool solar covers. Also, reduced evaporation means less chemical loss which, in turn, results in you needing to spend much less money on replacement chemicals.

The Different Types of Swimming Pool Solar Covers
While all pool solar covers do the job in providing savings on your heating system and reducing evaporation as described above, not all solar blankets are the same in design or effectiveness.

Thickness
Swimming pool covers come in different grades of thicknesses. While choosing a thicker one will cost you more, ultimately it will also offer more energy savings because it will provide greater heat transference and insulation as well as extra durability to make it last longer. To give you an idea on this, the most common solar swimming pool covers are 8 mm, 12 mm and 16 mm.

Colour
Colour is also an important factor in the effectiveness of solar pool covers for swimming pools because while all covers prevent more or less the same amount of water and chemical evaporation, they do not all offer equal heat transfer in terms of capturing the sun's solar energy. Blue swimming pool solar covers tends to be the most popular choice, however it is clear covers that block the least amount of sun and thus offer the most amount of solar heating. The figures prove this - blue covers normally block about 20 and 40 per cent of the sun's solar energy while clear solar blankets only block somewhere between 5 to 15 per cent of the sun's energy. For the most enhanced heating ability, you would have to go for solar pool covers with a silver coating as they reflect added heat back into the swimming pool.

Choosing the Right Cover for Your Swimming Pool
The type of swimming pool you own also plays a vital role in which type of solar cover will best be suited to your needs. Firstly, the type of solar pool cover you would use depends largely on the shape and size of your swimming pool. If you have a standard rectangular or round swimming pool, it should be no problem to find the right cover fit to match its exact dimensions. If however you have a kidney-shaped, oval or custom-shaped pool, chances are you will have to have a cover designed to fit its individual measurements. The good news is that this can be done easily – most solar pool covers can simply be cut with scissors to fit your pool, so you will merely need to buy a cover that is big enough to cover the entire pool and then shape it yourself to snugly fit the pool's shape.

Secondly, do you have an above ground pool or an in-ground pool? While this factor is less important with regards to the actual cover, it plays a vital role in the type of reel you would use to unroll it. Solar pool reels for in-ground swimming pools normally have wheels so they can be moved around on the pool deck without any fuss. When it comes to above ground pools however, the reels are typically designed to be mounted to your pool's top rail.

Conclusion
Swimming pool covers bring the benefits of reduced heating and chemical costs, lowered water evaporation rates plus an extended swimming season. Since they are also highly affordable, they're highly recommended as an effective energy saver for all swimming pool owners.

About the Author

Jim Smythson is a retailer of swimming pool covers.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.