Over the years my family has suffered from a little know disease –COLD POOL ITTIS. It is rare but seldom fatal. Its main symptoms are blue lips, shivering and the chattering of teeth. We were able to keep it at bay except when my family was using our swimming pool. For some reason we all suffered relapses as soon as we went for a swim. For years we searched for a cure. Finally it hit us, if we warmed up our pool we could cure COLD POOL ITTIS once and for all.
First we tried pruning the trees in our yard. It didn’t help. We thought about adding a heater to our pool, but have you seen the prices on those, plus installation, plus gas. Ouch! After hearing my kids complain about how cold our pool was at our local pool store I was introduced to Down Under Solar Pool Covers.
Seems Solar Pool Covers can actually help cure COLD POOL ITTIS. For years I thought they were just a roll of bubble wrap and more of a nuisance than anything else. Turns out that the right solar cover can not only warm up or pool, but reduce maintenance too.
Solar covers need 3 things to be effective. First they have to have small air bubbles in the cover. When it comes to bubbles, size does matter. The smaller the better. These “bubbles” actually help you keep the heat you built up during the day from evaporating out of your pool each night. This means that your pool will start each day a little warmer than the day before.
Second, the cover must have UV protection. Without UV protection the cover will not only break down due to the sun’s rays, it will be limited in its heating ability. Solar Covers that have the most “carbon black” in them fare the best. Not only do they last the longest, they offer the highest heating capacity. In fact Australian style covers are ranked the highest because of their high level of carbon black.
Third, they need to have a low profile. Covers with low profiles are not only easy to transport, they are easy to use. The easier the cover is to put on and take off the pool the more you will use it. The more you use it the warmer you pool will be. Goodbye COLD POOL ITTIS!
The only remaining questions is Bubbles Up or Bubbles Down? That’s simple – it is always bubbles down. The Surface tension causes the bubbles to act like miniature suction cups and keep the cover in place even on the windiest of days. The smooth top of the cover makes it easy to remove any airborne debris that lands on your solar cover. Just take your garden hose and spray the debris into your skimmer- it keeps your pool clean and beats vacuuming.
You can filter your pool, run most automatic vacuums and even chemically treat your pool with a solar cover on. They only thing you can’t do is swim – so make sure the cover is removed before you let any swimmer in. With our new Solar Cover we have a new disease – HAVING FUN IN THE POOL ITTIS