Solar & Thermal Covers

solar gain - heat retention

swimming pool bubble sheets

For Swimming Pool Covers

please read on.

For Spa Covers

please click here.

Heating an uncovered swimming pool is like throwing money away

A cheap solar blanket will recoup its purchase price in a very short time, cutting energy losses by 50% to 95%, and helping to extend your pool season. About 80% of heat losses are by evaporation. At night an uncovered pool may actually waste more energy than it gains during the day. Even if you only used a pool cover overnight you could still save over 40% of your annual heating bill.

We recommend you have a rectangle of the maximum length & width of your pool, even for shaped solar covers. The solar cover material is easily cut on site with a sharp pair of scissors. If you prefer factory shaping this is +15%.

All our discount prices include VAT - any size solar cover made to order pro-rata - lowest solar cover prices in the UK

Light or dark, translucent or opaque - which is best?

There is something of a debate going on regarding the pros and cons of opaque and black covers versus covers that let light through. The answers actually depend on the physics of a given situation.

If you want a cover that warms your swimming pool water like a floating solar panel

then you definitely need to let the sunshine through. Think about it like a greenhouse. If you black out the glass, are things inside going to get hotter or cooler? Sure the top surface will warm up, but the heat from the sun will not penetrate far. This is not the same as colouring the walls darker, when they will indeed absorb more heat - if you allow it to get that far.

A clear cover lets the most sun's rays through, but a tinted cover keeps more of the heat in, and a cover with a slightly reflective underside coating holds on to even more of the heat that gets through. And don't forget aesthetic considerations. It's not worth spoiling the look of your pool over minor differences in performance.

Our blue-silver 400 micron solar covers are the best all round value

In our opinion. But no cover is much good unless you try to keep your pool covered as much as possible when it's not being used.

Surprisingly, a thicker material creates only fairly marginal improvements in solar gain. The thicker membranes are more to do with helping swimming pool covers stand up a bit better to wear and tear, because of their greater mechanical strength.

Where do we recommend a black or opaque bubble cover?

Over pools in places like France or Spain, especially when you're away for much of the year. This is because by keeping light out an opaque cover reduces the growth of algae that turn swimming pool water green. Think of plants in a glass-house again. If you black out the windows, they will die or at least not grow well.

Also for indoor pools, where solar gain is not an issue. A black or opaque cover makes a cheaper alternative to superior insulating foam covers. But even indoors, a blue or clear cover may look prettier! A good halfway house would be one of our mid-priced mesh-backed bubble covers.

Caring for your cover

Our solar covers are so good at capturing heat from the sun that they will overheat themselves if they are not protected from the suns rays, when they are off the pool without the swimming pool water to take the heat away. This is most serious when the cover is on a reel, as each layer heats the one underneath, and the whole bundle is so well insulated that the middle can heat up like an oven! Damage by UV rays will also be increased. So keep the rolled up cover in the shade, using the solar protection sheet provided for example.

Avoid leaving the cover on immediately after giving your pool a shock treatment. Leave it off for an hour or so until the chlorine is well mixed in, because strong chemicals will gradually perish the material. Do not use in pools where the temperature is constantly over 29 degrees.

Bubble covers can be damaged by freezing water, so use a proper debris cover when you shut the pool down over the Winter.

Solar Cover Tow Kits
DIY Tow Kits	£121.587
Factory Fitted Tow Kits	£172.674

Solar Cover Sun Rings

A page on the subject of swimming pool solar coverings would not be complete without mentioning this idea - rather weird and gimmicky, but probably quite lucrative for its inventors. We prefer the tried and tested methods ourselves, especially since, at our discount prices, proper covers and winding reels can actually work out less pricey. Quite frankly, we find these strange objects a bit lurid and fiddly. But maybe we are just being a bit old fashioned! They are made of vinyl, just like Li-Los, and also require inflation by mouth and have a tendancy to blow away, both when on and off the pool. But we know they are heavily hyped and therefore quite a popular impulse buy. If you are interested we can offer them at less than anyone else A fully inflated "flying saucer" solar cover is about 5ft (1.5m) wide. Numbers required: round pools - 12' 3, 15' 5, 18' 7, 21' 10 oval pools - 19'x12' 5, 23'x12' 7, 30'x15' 13, 33'x18' 16 rectangular pools - 20'x10' 6, 24'x12' 8, 30'x14' 15, 32'x16' 16, 36'x18' 22 and 40'x20' 26

• package-builder
• Contact
• Prices
  • above ground pools
  • sinkable pools
  • inground kits
  • covers
  • heaters - conventional
  • heating - alternatives
  • other equipment
• Spas
  • portable
    hot tubs
  • swimspas
• Accessories
  • pool covers
  • pool heaters
  • other equipment
• Swimming Pools
  • inground pools
  • above ground pools
  • sunken above ground pools
  • splasher pools
• Home