Spring has finally arrived, and many pool owners are itching to start the swimming season, but the pool water is still too cold! A pool heater can heat up your water so that you can start pool season early, but if you don’t have a heater or want to save money on energy costs, a solar pool cover is a great option. This handy guide will help you select the best solar pool cover to suit your needs.

Why Choose a Solar Pool Cover?

There are many benefits to using a solar pool cover on inground and above ground pools alike.

Solar Covers Save Energy

In today’s world it is important that we all do our best to conserve energy and reduce heating costs. What better way to do so than with a solar pool cover? Solar covers raise the temperature of your swimming pool by harnessing the power of the sun. Industry-leading Doheny's solar pool covers allow more of the sun’s UV rays to penetrate directly into your pool, increasing your pool’s solar energy absorption by up to 25% — no electricity needed. During the day, a solar pool cover collects the sun’s rays. It then acts like an insulating solar blanket to keep your pool water warm. 75% of a pool’s heat loss is due to evaporation. With the solar cover acting as a barrier between your pool water and the air to reduce evaporation, heating costs can be reduced by up to 70%!

Solar Covers Conserve Water and Pool Chemicals

Each day, our pools are constantly losing water and chemicals through evaporation. A Doheny’s solar cover helps lower your pool chemical consumption by up to 60% and prevent your pool water from evaporating by up to 50%. This can save you big money over the course of the season.

Solar Covers Keep Debris Out

This one is pretty obvious, but any type of pool cover will help prevent debris such as sticks and leaves from collecting in your pool. This means less work for you! So why not choose a solar pool cover that will warm your pool water and keep it clean at the same time?

Solar Covers Are Easy to Use

Doheny's solar pool covers are lightweight, pliable, and easy to put on and take off. Doheny's solar pool covers are extremely easy to use — just throw them across the water when you’re not in the pool or use a solar cover reel. Our solar pool covers work with both above ground and in-ground pools and come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes.

How To Choose a Solar Cover

  1. Measure Your Pool

    • If you have a standard size round pool, oval pool, or rectangular pool, choosing a cover is pretty simple. If your pool is an irregular shape or size, make sure that you choose a cover that is as long as the longest part and as wide as the widest part of the pool. It is easy to cut the pool cover with scissors to fit exactly to the shape of your pool, without voiding the warranty.
  2. Choose a Transparent Cover With Air Bubbles

    • Doheny’s Clear-Tek Solar Covers are transparent, allowing the sun’s rays to penetrate and heat the water, unlike many reflective solar covers. The air bubbles in a solar pool cover improve the transfer of heat to the water. Doheny’s solar pool covers have twice as many bubbles as the standard solar cover, so they are twice as effective at heating your pool. Made from super durable, UV Stabilized Polyethylene, Doheny’s pool covers look like a heavy-duty bubble wrap for your pool.
  3. Select the Color/Thickness

    • Doheny's carries clear and blue color covers in a variety of thicknesses to suit your needs. Choose a thinner cover for less heat retention, a thicker cover for more heat retention.
      • Doheny’s Blue 1600 Series Solar Cover is lightweight and offers excellent heat retention. The thickness is comparable to a competitor 8 mil cover.
      • The next step up is the Blue 2400 and Clear 2400 Series. These offer even more durability and heat retention. Thickness is comparable to a competitor 12 mil solar cover.
      • Finally, Doheny’s highest performing solar cover is the Clear 3200 Series, offering the most heat retention. Comparable to a competitor 16 mil solar blanket.

Solar Reels

Using a solar heating blanket is a snap with a pool solar reel to help you out! No matter the size of your pool, whether you have an inground or above ground swimming pool, a solar cover reel makes it easy to instantly cover your water in-between swims. Not only can a pool cover reel system make it easy to quickly cover or uncover your swimming pool, but it discreetly rolls and stores the blanket when not in use. A reel is also important to help align the blanket correctly and prevent sagging.

A high-quality solar reel system makes using a solar pool cover much easier. They come in automatic and manual crank models to suit your space and budget. Automatic cover reels are easy to operate but are a little more expensive. Manual cover reels are more affordable but take some arm strength to turn.

Solar Cover Alternatives

Solar Sun Rings are another option. These alternatives to solar covers can be removed individually for easy handling. Simply purchase enough to cover 70-80% of the surface area of the pool. When the water is heated to the desired temperature, solar rings can be turned over to prevent water evaporation without raising the pool temperature further.

Solar Sun Squares generate and transfer solar heat to the pool water as well as prevent heat loss and water and chemical evaporation. These 5x5 squares are purchased individually and are easy to store and handle.

Solar Balls are a unique alternative to a solar cover. Simply place a pierced solar ball in your skimmer basket and a liquid is distributed that lasts for a month. One ball covers 12,000 gallons and helps reduce water evaporation.

Your swimming pool is all about having fun in the sun. With Doheny’s Pool Supplies Fast you can have fun while utilizing the sun’s rays to heat your pool. Depending on where you live, the sun’s energy can raise your pool temperature 15 to 30 degrees, and powerful heat from the sun is also 100% free. The simplest way to add solar heat to your swimming pool is with solar pool covers. For more information call us today at 800-574-7665 or check us out on the web at doheny.com.