An Opinion piece by John R.
When I put in a pool, the first thing I did was buy a pool blanket.
Everything I heard about them said it was a good idea. It certainly warmed the pool more than not having a blanket and it was cheap heat too. Then we also saved water, by not having to put more water in the pool all the time due to evaporation. Another Pro.
I was also told when I was sold the blanket that it would reduce chlorine burn-off by the sun, and it did (so less chemical costs, which was also a good thing).
And then, when we decided to put in a gas heater later, we found that it also saved us energy, keeping the heated water warm.
Fantastic, all sounds great, right? And it was, for the first year or so.
So why shouldn’t you buy a pool blanket?
OK, so now down to the nitty-gritty. Everyone who owns a pool knows they’re nice to look at, nice to swim in for some of the year, and hard to maintain for all the year.
The blanket was supposed to help with our maintenance, and save money, water, chemicals etc etc.
This is our story.
We bought a decent pool blanket, expecting all to go well for the reasons listed above. So here we go with the most obvious reasons.
1. It was expensive – for a large piece of plastic which apparently can be replaced with plastic wrap it was hugely expensive.
2. The pool wasn’t nice to look at any more. We bought the water-coloured one, but it still wasn’t the same as looking at real water.
3. It needed to be cleaned constantly. Dust and leaves on one side, and on the other, bubble side, was where chlorine (sodium chloride in my case) gathered.
An enjoyable task on a regular basis.
So then we get to the heating aspect of the pool blanket. And here I was sorely disappointed because I had thought that I was taking a cheap option to get some heat into my pool.
Little did I know….
4. It was basically unreliable because it was only useful for part of the year for this purpose. In winter, it was an unsightly piece of plastic that was all maintenance and no joy.
5. In summer, if it was a really hot day, the pool blanket would heat up the swimming pool so that it was too hot to get into the water! This would happen faster than you’d think was possible.
6. If it wasn’t for these two extremes, it was still over-rated as a heater, which is why we added the gas heater. The solar blanket would only take the edge off the first couple of inches of water on an ordinary summer’s day.
So, you’ve heard me talk about heating, cost, how pretty it was and what a pain in the neck it was to clean. There is more though.
7. Pool Blankets aren’t easy to take off of the pool once they are on. It became so annoying to take the pool blanket off that we weren’t using the pool when we wanted to.
That completely defeats the purpose of having a blanket in the first place.
8. Once we took the blanket off, no one could be bothered to put it back on again, because we all knew that no-one would want to take it off again. It ended up being stowed behind the shed because it was just too difficult to use.
9. Before we even stowed it away, it had started to show signs of wear and tear. Apparently, they have a life span of around 5 years (the good ones) and the warranty from the manufacturer is only a pro-rata one for 5 years, decreasing in value every year until the fifth and not covering wear and tear of course. Wear and tear and chemical damage (also not covered) are what kills your pool cover.
10. Okay, so I said there were nine. But here’s a bonus. A large plastic glob of landfill five years after a costly purchase. That’s a kick in the guts for the environment!
So my story isn’t a good one, but you may be fine with all the bad points I listed.
I just think people should know all the facts before they are sold something they only hear good things about.
John R
A note from PoolHeat: Although not necessarily in agreement that pool blankets are a bad option, we have seen on many work-sites people with the same opinions as John, so when he was kind enough to submit this article to us we felt it was definitely a good idea to post it as an opinion piece.
If you have something to say, why not attach it through our contact us page. It needs to be under 650 words and on topic (swimming pools, pool equipment etc).
