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What Solar Cover Do I Need?
Using a solar cover like a GeoBubble pool cover offers several benefits, helping you reduce running and maintenance costs and make the most of the swimming season. But with various great products out there, how do you know which cover is right for you?
Backed by years of industry experience, we’ve created this solar pool cover buying guide to help address our customers’ top queries about choosing a solar cover to suit their pool and requirements.
Solar pool covers not only offer the traditional benefits of a pool covering (helping keep debris out), but they can also help heat your pool water and prevent heat loss. Also known as bubble covers, solar covers capture energy from the sun, transmitting its heat into the water while preventing cooling from evaporation.
Covers like this can support your existing pool heating system, offering an affordable and eco-friendly method of maintaining the right water temperature. Find out more about the advantages of using the right pool cover with our solar swimming pool covers FAQs.
When choosing a solar cover, the respective cover colour and thickness are the most important things to pay attention to, as these aspects will indicate the performance and different properties of each cover.
Solar covers are most appropriate for use in the summer and during the swimming season. If you are closing your pool and seeking a durable cover, you should choose a purpose-made winter swimming pool cover.
Solar cover thickness is measured in micron (M), which is a small unit of millimetres. Most solar pool covers tend to range between 400-600M, although you may find some designed for warmer climates as thin as 250M.
Thicker solar covers will have better heat retention properties, meaning your pool heater won’t have to work as hard to get the water up to the desired temperature or maintain it there. A slightly thicker material will also do a better job at preventing harmful UV rays from degrading pool chemicals, meaning they’ll keep working at their most efficient for longer.
Solar covers with a thickness of 400-600M also tend to last longer thanks to being more durable.
Even more important to consider than thickness is the colour of your solar cover – there’s more than just aesthetics to think about here.
Is a dark blue, light blue, gold, or silver solar cover best? Your decision is a matter of what kind of properties you deem most important, with the colour of the cover playing an important role in how it will function.
Solar covers made with a more translucent material transmit energy from the sun directly into your pool. If a cover is more transparent with less pigment, it will transmit more energy/heat into the water, making it the best choice if your top priority is solar gains.
Something like the Sol+Guard 500M GeoBubble Solar Cover is a great example of this, having the perfect amount of translucency for UV rays to pass through and warm the water.
Note that if your swimming pool is in an area that gets less than 6 hours of sunlight and there is less potential for solar gains, an opaque cover might be a better choice as it will retain the heat it does gain better.
Light blue covers reside in between transparent and opaque covers, often offering the best of both worlds. These covers can help block UV rays, protecting your chemical levels while still allowing heat into your water, also retaining it.
Covers like the Blue 400M GeoBubble Solar Cover are popular options for these comprehensive properties.
More transparent covers may be considered transmission covers, but an opaque material will not transmit heat, instead conducting the sun’s energy to warm the water – this is less effective at heating water than direct transmission.
While solar gains may be slightly lower, darker and opaque solar covers are great for retaining heat in your pool. Darker-coloured covers also block the UV rays that algae feed on, inhibiting its growth while still allowing heating UV rays to pass through.
If your pool is prone to algae growth, something like the Energy Guard 500M GeoBubble Solar Cover is ideal.
Some solar covers will come with gold or silver-coloured metallic backings. These surfaces with metallic pigments can help reflect the heat into the water, further contributing to prolonged heat retention.
All of our solar swimming pool covers are supplied by GeoBubble, one of the most prominent industry leaders. GeoBubble’s innovative technology includes a robust bubble design that can help increase the lifespan of a solar cover by 25%.
The bubble design acts as an insulation layer, ensuring heat loss is kept to a minimum. We stock a range of different coloured GeoBubble covers to suit a range of pools.
Provided you invest in a good quality product, and they are properly maintained, solar covers can last up to 8 years. The cover type and thickness will influence how long your cover is likely to last. Check out our guide to find out how to maintain a swimming pool cover to ensure you can get the most out of it.
Each of our covers comes with a multi-year warranty – check the product descriptions to see what each cover is guaranteed.
Once you’ve decided which thickness and colour is right for you, all that’s left is sizing your cover. Use our solar pool cover calculator to find out what size you need.
All you need to do is fill in the width and length using either metric or imperial measurements, and the calculator will do the rest! Remember to take note of which pool shape accurately represents yours.
It is always a good idea to add a foot or two in each dimension just to be safe. A cover that is too large can be easily cut to size, while a cover that is too small cannot be fixed.
If you have a bespoke pool shape that you cannot find on our calculator, email our sales team with a diagram of your pool along with the measurements.
Pairing your solar cover with a durable cover reel will mean you can properly maintain your cover for longer and have a more convenient experience. Check out our range of swimming pool reels and rollers to make removing your cover and returning it to the pool that much easier.
Hopefully, we have helped highlight which kind of solar cover is most appropriate for your pool. To discover more top products, check out our full range of solar pool covers.
At 1st Direct Pools, we pride ourselves on providing high-quality pool equipment at excellent prices! If you have any more questions about the available solar cover, please get in touch with our expert team at 0333 900 4040.
