Solar Pool Blankets for cold weather

[~Roy~]

I know its not that time of year but the other day I was in the pool
supply store getting some supplies for thre hot tub, and they had a
big display of a silver blue translucent bubble wrap looing material.
I know lots of folks float bubble wrap and styrofoam on their ponds to
help it retain warmth during the winter, and this product I seen said
it retains and increases suns rays efficiency up to 136% . It had a
chart comparing the typical clear type bubble wrap, a reflectorized
pool cover and this mateiral and according to thre chart it
outperformed the other stuff by a long shot.

It was available in various sizes, as well as could be ordered to
special shapes and sizes, much much heavier than the typical bubble
wraps, and the edges were all heat selaed so there wa no open cells
or bubbles where it was cut... Looking at it straight on, it appeared
to be opaque with a silver look, but at an angle it was clear, but
with a blue tint. IIRC for a piece to cover a 24 x 40 pool it was
around $136.00 . The bubbles were more hex shaped than the typical
round shape, supposedly to increase reflectivity of the solar heated
air in the cells .

MIght be worth checking into if yu have a pond in the colder climates
and no external dome or house over it.

Then again it could be like a lot of other products all hype and
little merit.

==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

~~~~ }<((((o> ~~~~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~~~~~ }<(((((o>

[Glenn S.]

~Roy~ wrote:
> I know its not that time of year but the other day I was in the pool
> supply store getting some supplies for thre hot tub, and they had a
> big display of a silver blue translucent bubble wrap looing material.
> I know lots of folks float bubble wrap and styrofoam on their ponds to
> help it retain warmth during the winter, and this product I seen said
> it retains and increases suns rays efficiency up to 136% . It had a
> chart comparing the typical clear type bubble wrap, a reflectorized
> pool cover and this mateiral and according to thre chart it
> outperformed the other stuff by a long shot.
>
> It was available in various sizes, as well as could be ordered to
> special shapes and sizes, much much heavier than the typical bubble
> wraps, and the edges were all heat selaed so there wa no open cells
> or bubbles where it was cut... Looking at it straight on, it appeared
> to be opaque with a silver look, but at an angle it was clear, but
> with a blue tint. IIRC for a piece to cover a 24 x 40 pool it was
> around $136.00 . The bubbles were more hex shaped than the typical
> round shape, supposedly to increase reflectivity of the solar heated
> air in the cells .
>
> MIght be worth checking into if yu have a pond in the colder climates
> and no external dome or house over it.
>
> Then again it could be like a lot of other products all hype and
> little merit.
>
> ==============================================
> Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
>
> ~~~~ }<((((o> ~~~~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~~~~~ }<(((((o>


Sounds like an interesting idea but I would make sure that you have some
uncovered area around the edge of the pond. You still need to make sure
the bad gasses have a way to escape if there are live fish in the pond -
otherwise they may not be live for long.


--
G.D.Smith
Harpers Ferry, WV

FOR SALE: 2003 Swee****er 22' Pontoon Boat
http://icanhelp56.homestead.com/gs_pontoon01.html

FOR SALE: 1999 Fleetwood Mallard 37' Travel Trailer
http://icanhelp56.homestead.com/Mallard001.html

[~Roy~]

On Sun, 15 May 2005 09:40:34 -0400, "Glenn S."
> wrote:

>===<>~Roy~ wrote:
snip
>===<>Sounds like an interesting idea but I would make sure that you have some
>===<>uncovered area around the edge of the pond. You still need to make sure
>===<>the bad gasses have a way to escape if there are live fish in the pond -
>===<>otherwise they may not be live for long.


Yep, I don't have to worry about such an item where i live or for my
pond, but I recall a heap of folks that took all kinds of approaches
to knocking off wind and cold air from their ponds this past winter.
I would think if there was a few strategically placed openings in it,
and perhaps a space around the end of it to the pond sides it would
probably vent any gasses just fine.

I know of one that bought a mess of small inflatible beach balls and
literallay covered his pond with them........last I heard was it
appeared to work pretty good, but he did windup putting sheet plastic
over all the balls so wind did not blow them out.......

==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

~~~~ }<((((o> ~~~~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~~~~~ }<(((((o>

[Ann in Houston]

This stuff likely will help with cold, heat, rain and even coons and
herons.BUT--- I used a more flexible version of it a couple of years
ago and within two hours, a koi jumped up and landed in the middle of
it, where he died. I wouldn't use it.

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

On 15 May 2005 20:08:02 -0700, "Ann in Houston" >
wrote:

>This stuff likely will help with cold, heat, rain and even coons and
>herons.BUT--- I used a more flexible version of it a couple of years
>ago and within two hours, a koi jumped up and landed in the middle of
>it, where he died. I wouldn't use it.

This stuff really works to keep the heat in heated swimming pools, no hype.
But Ann brings up a very good point. In good time, it will be summer and
heating our ponds will be the farthest things from our minds. ;) Now my
lily pond with no koi, hmmmmmm, maybe I can win that first lily bloom of
the year contest next year, or would that be cheating? ;-) ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

[Snooze]

"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
>I know its not that time of year but the other day I was in the pool
> supply store getting some supplies for thre hot tub, and they had a
> big display of a silver blue translucent bubble wrap looing material.
>

We used to have a similar blue bubble wrap type pool cover on our pool. It
looked something like this:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/pix/casselpool/PoolCover-m.jpg

One winter we had a few chilly nights, which is abnormal for this part of
California. The water on the top of the pool cover froze and made tons of
plastic floating flecks, because many of the bubbles broke and separated
from the pool cover. Not sure if it was because the pool cover was old and
the frost just finished the job of that's normal when water freezes on it.

-S

[Richard Tanzer]

"Snooze" > wrote in
:

>
> "~Roy~" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I know its not that time of year but the other day I was in the pool
>> supply store getting some supplies for thre hot tub, and they had a
>> big display of a silver blue translucent bubble wrap looing material.
>>
>
> We used to have a similar blue bubble wrap type pool cover on our
> pool. It looked something like this:
> http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/pix/casselpool/PoolCover-m.jpg
...

I wouldn't try it in my climate, central Wisconsin. Snow would accumulate
on the bubble wrap and defeat its purpose. Once there is about 6" - 8" of
ice plus some snow, that provides a fairly good insulator. I use a heater
to maintain a hole in the ice and a bubbler for air exchange.