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Swimming Pool Covers and Materials

Swimming Pool Covers and Materials

Pool Covers

Depending on material and design, a cover serves several purposes.

Any cover prevents heat loss by evaporation and radiation, a cover will keep the pool warmer than if it were not covered.
A solar cover or solar blanket can allow the swimming pool to collect heat from the sun.
A safety cover can prevent children or animals from falling into the swimming pool.
By helping to keep the swimming pool clean and free from leaves and other debris, particularly during the colder seasons when the swimming pool is less in use, it can reduce the amount of time and electric needed to operate the pump and filter system.

Caution must be exercised when using a swimming pool cover. Pool covers must be removed completely when the pool is in use, especially if the cover floats on the surface. A child or even an adult surfacing under a cover may not be able to lift it sufficiently to get air. Suffocations and drownings have been caused by swimming pool covers only partly removed.

Swimming pool covers come in a variety of styles. Some are rigid and are lifted mechanically to form a canopy; others are flexible and can be removed manually or stored on a roller; still others are made in sections that float on the swimming pool surface.

Swimming Pool Cover Materials

Usually, swimming pool covers are made from different forms of plastic – sheet, foam, bubble, or mesh. Some are made of corrugated fiberglass panels mounted on aluminum frames.

Plastic Sheet can be clear, translucent, or opaque black. All prevent heat loss by convection and radiation. Transparent and translucent materials allow the sun's rays to heat the swimming pool water.

Plastic sheet must be anchored to the deck; it can be folded or rolled up for storage. Plastic covers come in two forms a thin, easy to handle cover for daily cover, and the heavy-gauge plastic sheets which are more for longer times the pool is not used.

Foam for pool covers takes either one of two forms – it may be large foam slabs, or blanket sandwiched between two pieces of plastic sheet. Both the slabs and the blanket float on the waves and are more efficient than plastic sheet in reducing heat loss.

The slabs are the more efficient insulators – their insulating qualities increase with their thickness. But the thicker they are, the more they diminish the heating effect of the sun on the water. It's a case of good news and bad – they keep warm water warm, but they also keep chilly water chilly.

A blanket can be rolled up or folded, but the foam slabs must be fished from the pool and stacked. Sometimes 1 or more centimeters thick, the slabs require considerable labor to install and remove; space must also be provided to store them.

Bubble plastic covers float on the water's surface. They not only prevent heat loss by evaporation and radiation, but also allow the sun to heat the water. A bubble plastic blanket can be folded or rolled up for storage.

Mesh covers made from woven plastic fibers prevent some heat loss, but are best used for safety purposes and long periods of none swimming pool use.