Best Pool Cover? Solar Pool Cover Testing

Want the best pool cover? We tested blue covers, clear covers, black covers and no cover to see which cover works the best to get your pool warm and keeps your pool warm. I recommend 12-16m covers
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[@robinfischer5008]

Have the blue and I am extremely happy with the performance. Thank you for your time, the test was very helpful!

[@hummervs3278]

Thanks for trying it. Doing a week long test would show the best - multiple days of heating up and cooling down will prove over all winner

[@billcampbell9886]

A few years ago, I had a 10-foot inflatable pool, I purchased the matching pool cover to keep out bugs and debris, but the cover sagged in the middle, especially after a rain, so I made an X, using $1 pool-noodles from Dollar Tree and placed an inflatable O pool toy at the center of the X. This made the center of the cover higher than the edges, causing rainwater to run off. It also created an air gap between the pool cover and the water, which on sunny days, proved very effective at warming the pool water to several degrees above the ambient air temperature. BTW, the inflatable pool proved to be very cost effective. The pool cost less than $60 and included a pump to circulate and filter the water to help in keeping the pool clean, and the cost of the pool cover was less than $15; I used the pool for four summers, storing it through the cooler months.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

That’s an awesome DIY! We had a similar pool years ago, we live in the desert so pool is a necessity, between the pool and the leveling sand I might’ve spent $100, best hundred dollars I ever spent.

[@demetriusevans2730]

That’s a good idea thanks

[@LoriAlexander-h9l]

I have a pool 26 years have had nothing but problems with the Doheny clear cover. Only last one season. Seams split. Blue for me!

[@jeffreybrinkerhoff3395]

Would love to see you do another test, starting with 80F water (or about) in all the buckets, then cover them (except control) and leave out overnight on a cool night. That would give us a better idea of which is the best at retaining heat. A final test would be interesting too - start all again with just hose water, and leave them out for several days and nights and see what they average out to over several days. (Measure final temp in the morning of like the 4th day).

[@BringTheBeaver]

Fantastic job! Thanks for doing what the rest of us didn’t wanna do lol 😂 Really appreciate it!

[@harryhoesch3793]

Always wondered why no one came out with a cover with white on one side and black on the other.. You answered that. Thanks

[@joarandrehansen]

What we aim for by covering the pool is to stop the evaporation by "sealing" the water in.. What the pool covers gains in heat during daytime is of less interrest than it's ability to keep heat from escaping overnight. I belive that the bubbles' main job is to keep the cover afloat, not so much "isolating" the water. For that, you'd need many layers, and the liner will loose the same heat regardless. The heat loss is mostly about evaporation. Heat is stored energy. Evaporation, when water turns to vapor, takes energy. This energy is taken from the stored heat-energy in the pool. I think your test is a bit inconsistent, due to the different sizes of bubble-cutouts (Some covers well, some don't). Otherwise.... A great video...! An experiment (i have tested myself): You are on a beach. You did not bring a cooler for your soda (or beer), and you want to cool it down. How...? Wrap the can tight with wet paper and put it in direct sunlight, The water in the paper will evaporate by using the heat-energy from the can. Result: The can gets colder. (This works great on metal cans, ok on glass bottles, but does not work well on plastic bottles). Greetings from Norway........

[@DoItYourselfDad]

I definitely agree with the evaporation issue, but I do think the bubbles provide insulation as well, air (trapped) is an excellent insulator so the bubbles do provide insulation as well. I would be interested in what the difference in heat loss would be between a piece of plastic, and the same thickness of plastic with bubbles.... another video maybe?

[@DavidWilliams-rm4jb]

Wonderful info, thank you. I'm looking at options for a replacement and I 've used blue bubble covers for the last 20 years. Thanks to your research, and a little bit of investigating myself, I'll opt for a clear cover. I'm less concerned with having micro bubbles vs. regular size (and I really appreciated your info. on how much heat was lost overnight by each type), but durability is a more important factor for us these days.

[@garyb5796]

Good Show, Good to Know!! We have the blue one on a 16000-gallon inground since July '22, it's the beginning of November now. They Really Do help to Save Water, On Windy Days Big Time! When we first covered the pool in in the beginning for a couple weeks the water went up to 96 degrees, she said the manufacturer says you to remove the cover when it gets to 90 degrees so we did and I watched the pool water drop 2 inches in 4 hours, you could see the steam coming off the water. That was the last time we took the cover off. August I figured out a way to fight fire with fire using a White Tarp spaced up over the blue cover 3 -4 inches and attached to the deck with sheet rock screws in the cracks of the bricks and strong nylon string, it dropped the pool temp 10 degrees to 86 in 3 weeks and that was when it was still pushing 105 - 110 degrees days and 70 to 80 degree temps at nights September October here in sunny southern California. Just 1 Chlorine Tablet in the turtle floating in the spa every Two Weeks. I used a couple 2x4s under the blue cover to space it up where the water returns from the spa into the pool so the water can still aerate for a healthy pool. The white tarp was used temporarily to cover about 60% of the blue solar cover to get the temperature down to 70 degrees today

[@DiggerDan87]

So happy the KZbin algorithm brought me here just bought a pool getting all excited 👍 really well put together

[@DoItYourselfDad]

Glad to have you here! Good luck with that new pool!

[@daydreaminginventor-k8957]

Testing after a few days for say a week will be even more helpful , since it mainly work over a summer and there is no worry that the water will be too hot ,

[@CraigLong]

Black covers don't let any light in so algae can't grow. A thick black bubble cover might work in the winter when you don't want to heat the pool. What do you think? Pool covers that don't float are often under water unless you stretch them tight. I used to cover the bubble cover with a winter cover and that kept it from sinking somewhat.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

A black cover would definitely cut down on algae but I’m not sure it would heat the water as effectively…. Maybe worth another test.

[@LynnVallières]

Ok got it! Now if you could figure out a way to keep the cover from tearing where cuts are made to accommodate an above ground pool stairs and ramps would be great!

[@anitashaw9090]

Thank you very much. You answered all the questions. Now I can go and buy a cover and know what I'm talking about. Thanks again.

[@anniebranziko5060]

Hey there! What an awesome video. What type of blanket safeguards you the most when it comes to evaporation? My husband and I are tired pf topping off our pool every three days due to CA sun/temps. Any help is appreciated. Cheers to you.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

All of these are pretty much the same when it comes to evaporation, but they make a huge difference

[@Serenoj69]

I have two cover. One is a translucent one (day and night) and a black one for during the night to have a double insulation and also for holidays to prevent too much algae from building up. Whether is remains sense though...

[@Mark-s8r]

How did you compensate for the fact that the two outside buckets are more exposed to wind/cold air, vs all the buckets in between the two outside ones? Your outside two buckets tested the coolest of the series, and the ones in the middle that were partially insulated/wind blocked from the elements were the warmest.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

The entire thing was done within my walled in courtyard, there is little to no air movement within the courtyard unless it’s extremely windy, which it wasn’t. I also aligned the buckets up in a fashion that they would get the same amount of sunlight.

[@jenesuispluslameme]

Thank you!!

[@alexarnoldy]

I was going to say the black, then I realized that the sun is going to heat that up, but not the water more than an inch or so below it. I'm going to watch the rest of the video now to see.🙂

[@juice9767]

Might be Crazy but can you do a test on a double layer for overnight heat retention? I'd assume 2 layers in the daytime would probably work against itself as to heating the pool 🤔

[@vanessay.4892]

Great test. Thanks!

[@DoItYourselfDad]

Thank you!

[@arharshalpatwardhan1452]

Very professional way to test it ..

[@bodeine454]

We don't currently own a pool now but are interested in getting one soon but I remember years ago I swam in a pool that had one of those solar covers on it and I couldn't believe how much warmer the water felt, it made swimming so much more enjoyable but my question is how long does it take one to heat an average size above ground pool, say like a round 24 ft above ground pool, to it's full potential?

[@DoItYourselfDad]

It’s really hard to say how long, it’s going to vary by air temperature, how sunny it is, etc, but, in hot weather I can pick up 3-5 degrees a day with mine.

[@bodeine454]

@@DoItYourselfDad That gives me an idea anyway, thanks.

[@MarkTerzigni-qp3nz]

Using a percent is not the right way to measure...whichever bucket is warmest is likely to show the most heat loss as a percent. In short the rate of heat loss (transfer) is a function of temperature difference...so if it is 50° out and one bucket is 80° and the other is 60° you'll get more loss out of the 80° bucket especially when expressed as a percent...

[@johnswimcat]

If one is comparing percentages one would have to work from absolute zero. -273°C? Interesting test though, I Iike videos comparing performances.

[@IvoryS2012]

That's not always true, especially when you take fluctuations in humidity and pressure. So he's doing it right for his situation.

[@michaelsalcido3736]

Thanks for your efforts.

[@IvoryS2012]

The clear is the worst! I put it on my 18 foot, Intex XTR round pool and it lights so much light in, it created an algae bloom and it took me 2 weeks and its still not completely clear. But it lets in so much sun and traps a lot of heat, my pool stayed at a minimum of 85 degrees daily in North Carolina.

[@bodeine454]

I just watched a video about a guy that made a round copper wire shape, about the size of a cap or hat and placed a bunch of copper pipe elbow fittings over the wire and he swears it really helps keep algae away. He just drops it down into the skimmer.

[@IvoryS2012]

@bodeine454 wow that's terrible. But at least we tried it. I did learn some things from this experience.

[@jolzmann]

Geometrically the size of the bubble doesn't matter, the area covered is the same if all the circles are even, so micro bubble or oversize bubble have the same % of area covered

[@vincentcoelho]

Temperature matters but the real test is how long they last. I´ve purchased one of those two months ago and it is now falling apart. In the morning there will be a bunch of little plastic dots on the water because they are coming off. In other word they are a POJ and there is no where to run. The best thing to do is to purchase a regular over size tarp and throw over your pool so at least you don´t pay 50 bucks for a weak cover that will deteriorate in a little more than a month.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

Sounds like you either bought a junk cover, or are over chlorinated your pool. I live in the desert where the sun frys everything and I can get 2-3 years out of a cover.

[@asbjrntuxen1641]

It would be interesting to test 2 identical buckets with 2 identical pool covers, but one of them has a black garbage bag in the bottom. would this do any difference?

[@billpleskach6807]

You got 74.5 on the micro-level at your overnight test and you claimed it didn't do as well that was your highest temperature for overnight I don't get it

[@con.k]

exactly what i was looking for👍

[@aufseeserfamilyvideos7447]

Can you add a cover with an aluminum or silver coating to the test?

[@marthaclark8671]

Black for heating it up!

[@Z0N0X]

and dies in the sun and leav alot of smal plastic dots in the pool

[@emixam101]

only thing i dont understand here is micro bubbles. why if the bubbles are smallers they are working better? weird.

[@bodeine454]

I think his idea is because there's more of them per area, in other words more of the smaller bubbles per square ft rather than less for the larger bubbles.

[@emixam101]

True, make sense, thanks ​@@bodeine454

[@LubaLuba1]

When you say regular do you have dimension because in the past they had real big ones and the ones you're using but can you tell me dimension of blue and the clear one that did good over night?

[@DoItYourselfDad]

Are you referring to the diameter of the bubbles>

[@SolarProjectsSweden]

Good to know 👍 Thanks

[@abbybrothers9888]

Thank you for such an informative video

[@DoItYourselfDad]

Glad it was helpful!

[@BobbySue1930]

What about chlorine levels? Clear would not be a good choice???

[@DoItYourselfDad]

Sorry, Im not understanding the question?

[@mountainmusika]

@@DoItYourselfDad she means will chlorine levels go down faster with clear cover.

[@goudhaantje3569]

Algea are my problem. Blue for me.

[@davidcausi1370]

Great job.

[@wd229]

My ingound pool is 14 by 22. Would one 8 foot blanket help much with the temperature? I don't want to be messing with a huge blanket and my pool is kidney shaped.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

Probably wouldn't help much, you're still gong to be losing a lot of heat at night. When I had my larger pool I had the cover cut into two pieces to make it easier to deal with.

[@wd229]

@@DoItYourselfDad Thank you for the reply, but I should have been more detailed. I live in So California and my inground pool is 3' 5' 3', 10,000 gallons, its more of a volleyball pool I find its not the air that most determines the pool temperature, but the ground temperature. The reason I asked was; a friend uses a half dozen of the solar flower rings to help heat their pool and she swears by them. $180 for 6 and the biggest complaint about them is air leaks/durability. I don't need to raise the temperature 5 to 9 degrees, usually just 2 to 4 degrees and at $180 its almost a wash using my gas heater. I'm going to try this 16-mil 7ft x 7ft Hot Tub Bubble Cover Floating Spa Blanket for $60. Water evaporation is a non issue in California anymore. I'll get back with you.

[@YeCannyDaeThat]

Would like to see this with geobubble.

[@micheleblackburn2345]

Awesome thanks

[@tomrone1978]

how about liquid pool covers

[@TheRealJWert]

Black

[@chrisasst]

Ever test the liquid stuff?

[@DoItYourselfDad]

I havn’t yet, may have to give it a try one of these days

[@millywatts3141]

The black one.

[@craigfulton7961]

Is it bubbles down or bubbles up

[@DoItYourselfDad]

bubbles down

[@akaria930]

Now do micro bubble 16 vs 12 vs 8 mil

[@phillipthomas3520]

You need to have all the buckets at the same starting temp to accurately measure heat loss. You also want to make sure they are completely sheltered from any wind as that would cause more heat loss in the end buckets compared to the middle buckets.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

They were in my walled in courtyard.... very little air movement.

[@privatejoe4029]

Great controlled test... However, I think you miscalculated your overnight data... After the overnight test you measured the Doheny Micro Bubble at 74.5 deg which was higher temp than all the rest, ie, it lost the least amount of heat ! You calc'd that it did not perform as well ?? This was the the one you had your money on 😅you should have won 😊 !! Thanks you for the testing, this is very good and interesting data !

[@snikwahjets]

The worse insulation was actually Leslie's living 19.4% Then Micro bubble was 18.93% Harris 16mm 18.88% Control was 18.12% Black was 17.15%. But percentage decrease is not a fare way to measure performance since the best covers start hotter and more to loose. Go with just the temperature. That's what you will feel.. Silver backed coating would be interesting to see it reduces radiation and reliability of each type would be interesting too

[@repete0122]

@@snikwahjets I came up with the same results as you on the calculations. Don't 100% agree with the percentage decrease comment, but, along that line of thinking, the most accurate way to test cool down would be to get all the buckets to the same temp first (say 85 deg) and then checking them all in the morning.

[@jazzzman1000]

@@snikwahjets This is correct and matches my % change math (Finish-Start/Start). Using this method would indicate the black lost the least heat at 17.15%. As you stated, the starting temps were all different, so this "analysis" is invalid. However, you could take the average high temp (minus control) (90.74) as a starting point, which yields the Micro Bubble as best with 16.24% drop followed by Harris 16mm with 16.44% drop, Black 16.84%, Clear Leisure Living 16.94%, Blue 17.54% with a Standard Deviation of 1.3 degrees. This is probably closest to reality and shows the insulation differences to be relatively small. With these assumptions it seems price would be a factor.

[@rosieraya8528]

Great 😅

[@nancyblake7425]

Well..... You actually stired the first couple but only shook your arm a little for the rest. I would like to see an actual fair test done

[@DoItYourselfDad]

You can clearly see I edited out the stirring of the last several buckets to not waste the viewers time.

[@nancyblake7425]

I can clearly see your arm go in and stir the first couple and then clearly see your arm go in and wiggle... So even if you changed to a stir after the wiggle, you did not do that for the first ones so again I would love to see a test that is the same for all buckets. I'm not being mean to you I'm just wanting actuate information 😊

[@DoItYourselfDad]

@@nancyblake7425 You see the cut in the video, in the subsequent buckets I cut out the stirring of the water. I do this, and similar things in a lot of videos so I don't waste the viewers time watching me do repetitive things.

[@jameszulawski9910]

the red buckets make this whole test pointless.. unless your liner in your pool is red. Light blue liners are the norm for most pools, but when I got a new one, I bought what they had, a dark blue, and my pool has never been warmer.. Put a red bucket and a blue bucket out and see which gets hotter... An "ideal" test would be light blue buckets with different covers, then the same test with dark blue buckets, maybe even white paper on the outside of the buckets.. I can tell you, the results will surprise you more than you think. The cover performance changes with the pool liner.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

The variable here is the cover, not the liner or pool bottom. Im well aware color of the bottom of the pool will effect heat, but here with all buckets the same color your point is moot and the data still stands.

[@jamess5415]

Must be nice to be able to afford an outdoor pool. We’re struggling to afford ramen.

[@DoItYourselfDad]

It is....

[@MrFuentepj]

But you can make comments on your smart phone.

[@teresalee7495]

Black