Its time to start thinking about barbecues, baseball, and spring time! And with that comes the desire to fire up the swimming pool. These days you can help warm your pool and help your wallet with solar pool covers. Lets talk about five cool things about these products:
1. They Extend the Swimming Season A pool cover that converts sunlight into heat can heat the water by as much as 10 degrees when exposed to full sun. These means that you could start swimming earlier in the year and stop swimming later in the year. These covers absorb the heat from the sun and keep the heat within the water from escaping. Just like insulation on your home, a cover like this is a must-have.
2. They Can Save you Money Using the sun's energy to help heat your pool can ultimately save money on your energy bill. Even if you don't want to extend the swimming season, or if you live in an area that is cloudy in the spring and summer, a sun cover can help. By trapping the sun's free rays, your heater won't have to use as much energy. Most people find that a sun cover pays for itself in just a couple seasons.
3. They Are Very Durable At first glance, a solar cover looks like a gigantic sheet of bubble wrap. But they are surprisingly resilient. The space-age material that they are made of was developed by NASA. The material acts like a one-way street, trapping heat from below and transmitting heat from above.
4. They Are Easy To Use These covers are used basically like you would use any other cover. They roll up on a reel at the end of the pool, or can be taken off and folded by hand. The materials that they are made off are very lightweight and much of the extra thickness they have is actual air trapped in the plastic bubbles.
5. They Are Very Affordable This of course is the best part. These covers can often be found for less than $500. Even complete systems with reels, rollers, and covers can be had for less than a $1000. If you couple this with the fact that you save energy and you get to enjoy your pool for a few extra weeks and maybe even months, its practically a no-brainer.