Solar Pool Blankets: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

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1:00Welcome to the Pool by podcast show. In this episode, I'm going to talk to you about solar pool covers and our bubble covers, however you want to call them. Their effectiveness, especially as we head into the winter months. And also some aspects of it that you may not consider or think about. And I'll go over all the kind of things that you should know about the solar pool covers. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support. For me, I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmypoollearning.com. First, I'll start by saying that you really want to invest in a high-quality solar pool cover or pool blanket everyone refer to it. I call them solar pool covers or bubble covers, whatever they have a little bubble holes underneath.

2:00Because if you get a low-quality one, which I've run into, the thing starts falling apart. You have blue speckle particles all over the pool, floating on the surface, getting in the skimmer, getting into the pump basket, getting into the filter. It's a real mess. So just be aware that there are some low-quality ones out there. Get it from a reputable website or retailer. And pick up a good quality one. Also, in the same respect, they all wear out over time anyway. So after two or three years, you may start to see some deterioration and some particles in the pool. But I noticed that the really low-cost, cheap ones, they tend to do that within the first three or four months and they're real mess. So really, when you're buying one of these, quality does matter. Let me talk a little bit about the color of the solar pool I don't think it really makes a difference what color you get. I think the dark gray color is supposed to retain more heat in the pool.

3:04And logically, I think it may do that. But the blue covers are extremely common. I think the blue ones look a little better because it kind of matches the color of the water. That's why most of them are blue. They want to give you the thought that, yes, your pool is covered. But yeah, still pool is blue. These things are not aesthetically pleasing. There was a point here in California where we're going through a severe drought, I think three or four years of like three inches of rain every year, where the state almost, I don't know how close they were to doing this, but they almost mandated that every pool have a solar blanket. Because one thing that they do do is they lower the rate of evaporation, which is a good thing. The water doesn't evaporate as fast with the solar blanket on top. And therefore, the thinking was since the pool is covered, you could actually not add as much water and conserve water.

4:08In fact, I think they started this program off with a rebate. They would give you $100 to buy a solar cover, or $100 towards a solar cover. And this was how they first started it. So a lot of customers on my pool route went out and bought these solar covers. Now, if you do a pool service, you may not appreciate the solar blankets because they're a big hassle. And there's a lot of kind of confusion, like, do I uncover it? Every stop, do I cover it back up? You know, without a real, these covers are really hard for one person to move off the pool. So if you do have customers that have these solar covers, there are a couple of hard and fast rules you should implement. Number one, that they have your service, the covers should be off the pool and rolled up. That's kind of something that you need to really discuss with the customer because you don't have time to pull the cover off the pool. What I tell the customers this, and this is a logical way of getting them to remove the cover

5:08for you, I say, you know, when I service your pool, the cover should be off the pool because if I take it off the pool, a lot of stuff that's on the cover will fall into the pool and make it really messy. I won't be able to clean the pool effectively because of this. So if you could take it off the night before my service day, and if I'm not going to be there, or if I'm going to switch days, or be on vacation, I'll let you know so you can leave the cover on. But if I don't, if you don't hear from me every Wednesday night, can you please take the cover off so I can service the pool on Thursday morning? And kind of get that through the customer that you're servicing the pool, and they can wait until they're even going to take it off their pool. But you're not the one that's going to be taking the cover off the pool. There is a lot of truth to the best statement, by the way, because it is messy when you take it off. There's pollen on top, there's leaves, there's dead bugs, and they're going to get all over the place. It's better if it's off the pool. All that gets a chance to fall down or get sucked into the skimmer, and then you'll get there and clean the pool. Now, as far as putting the cover back on, you don't do that either.

6:11The reason why you don't do that is because I use this kind of excuse for that. When I clean the pool, I actually add chemicals to the pool, and it's safer for the cover, and it's the longevity of the cover. Once I add the chemicals, you should leave the cover off for at least two hours after I add the chemicals. That way it doesn't do any damage to it. And that's true. There's a lot of concentrated chemicals. Sometimes you add to the pool, and you don't want to cover damaged. Also, it's really hard for you to put it back on by yourself. A lot of times, you have to drag it over to the side, unroll it, and the cover is dirty. So what I like to tell the customer is, I really don't want to put the cover back on, because sometimes the cover will have dirt on it, or leaves on it. So it defeats me cleaning the pool, because when I put the cover back on, all that goes back into the pool. So I'd rather leave it uncovered after I service it, and then you can hose off the cover, do whatever you want to do with it, and put it back on the pool. They are really messy.

7:12They do get a lot of pollen and allergy forming on top. It's not something that I'm saying here. It's the truth. They get a lot of dirt on top. So they do make the pool dirty when you put it back on. So it's better if you don't do that that way. When you clean the pool, the customer can see that you cleaned it, serviced it, and then they can put the cover back on, whatever they feel like doing it. Now, what if they have a wheel, a cover on a wheel? I like these. These are really convenient, but these reels are also not that great either. They're not made very robust, I should say. I haven't run into a reel with like I'm saying this, steel handle. Actually, I've seen those. They're really expensive, and most customers don't buy those. They buy them with the plastic parts, and these covers are really heavy, especially if they're wet underneath from the water. So as you're rolling these up on the reel, depending on how big the pool is, the reel is getting weak into every time you're doing this. And eventually, the reel is going to break, and it happens all the time. Usually, you're the one who's un-reeling it on the pool,

8:16and it breaks on you. So the same rule applies with these covers that are on reels as well. To the customer, on Wednesday night, can you roll the cover for me so that I can service the pool on Thursday morning? The reason I don't want to do that is because it takes me time. Second, there's liability involved. If I were to unroll it and I broke the reel, I would be liable for it, and I would have to replace the reel for you. So I don't want that liability, so can you unroll the cover yourself at night, and I'll do it the next morning? Plus, all the stuff that's on the cover will go into the pool, and have a chance to settle down. If I do that, why I'm there for the service day, a lot of the stuff in the debris, doesn't have a chance to settle down to the bottom, and so the pool is going to be very dirty after I service it. So please do that. Now as far as covering it up again, same thing. I put chemicals in the pool. You don't want to drag. It's hard to actually pull the cover off the reel as one person on one side anyway,

9:17but you can get the pool messy again. So use that same rule with the reels, as with the bubble covers, they have to, that are on the pool without the reel. And the pool by podcast show has teamed up with UPA to bring you affordable, reliable, liability insurance, starting at just $64 a month, get up to $2 million in coverage, and the members of my coaching group get an even lower rate, protect your business and your peace of mind, sign up with UPA today by clicking the link in the podcast description. So let me talk about some of the benefits of the solar covers, because there are benefits, of course. They're not just something that's irerton for pool pros. They do benefit the customer. They do keep the pool a lot warmer. The heat stays in the pool overnight, because the cover is kind of retaining the heat. And so you'll find that these pools that are covered

10:18are good five, sometimes even 10 degrees warmer in the summertime. The sun's actually beating down on the top of them. The solar cover is getting really hot, and that's when it cools off. The cover is still protecting the hot heated water from being affected by the colder air at night. So yes, they do make the pool hotter. So that's a great benefit, because then the customer can use the pool longer, or they won't have to use their gas heater as much with the cover on there. So that's one benefit that I really like about the covers is that for the customer it keeps the pool, let's say 85 degrees most of the summer for them, and they're happy with the cover on there. It also helps with the chemistry and the pool to maintain the chlorine level, because it's covered, that means that the sun's UV rays aren't actually burning off the chlorine. So you're going to find that you're not adding as much chlorine to these covered pools. Now one thing to keep in mind is that some algae can form and underneath the cover, because you know the algae like shade, shaded areas of the pool,

11:19and so algae can form under the cover. So make sure that you brush the pools very thoroughly every week when the pool's uncovered, so that algae doesn't have a chance to form on the walls. But you're going to really like the fact that it holds the chlorine really well when it's covered. So you're going to use a lot less chlorine and the covered pools, that's what I found out on the covered pools on my route, is that using less chlorine and the chlorine holds better with the pool covered. So that's another added benefit of having the pool covered. And then of course, the one I mentioned earlier and why in California was going to mandate these covers at one point, which I'm glad they didn't, because they're kind of the bane of pool service pros for sure, is that the appaporation is really stopped or slowed dramatically with these covers on the pool. Now of course, it's got to be done correctly, so you can cut the cover to size. You know, if the pool is a free form pool, you would have the customer order an oversized cover.

12:21I wouldn't be the one cutting the cover. I customers ask me to cut it all the time, but I'm always thinking liability and you know, me holding the bag at the end of the day or the hot potato. If I cut this cover for them, they're the shape of their pool, but I make a math mistake and I cut it two inches too short and there's like a two or three inch gap, then they're going to be like, hey, you cut the cover too short, you have to buy a new one for me. So I don't do anything that would involve that kind of problem or liability. So the customer wants to cover, they buy it. Do I deliver covers? I do not deliver covers. These things weigh a ton in the box. They got to pick up their own cover and do all that. I'm not going to do that for them. And besides that, you don't want any kind of, you don't want to be the person in the middle. Like if you were to buy the cover at your supplier and bring it over to their house, and then the cover starts deteriorating after six months, then you're the one who gave them the cover, basically they bought it from you. And now you have to do all that warranty work and it's a mess.

13:23Customer wants to cover. They can order from Amazon, they can order from Leslie's. You're not going to put it on the pool for them. And you're not going to cut it the size for the pool. But you should tell the customer that these are much more effective when all the water is covered. Now it's actually on the coping. It's fairly effective like that. In fact, I prefer when they don't cut it to fit directly in the pool and it's floating in the pool. I prefer them to have a reel with the cover on that reel. And what I do in that case, I'll get some bricks from Home Depot, whatever. And I'll strategically place these bricks on the cover that's on the coping. Now in a really windy day, this is not going to work at all. But if it's not too windy, I'm not talking 50-min or a winds. These bricks strategically on the cover really help keep the pool really clean. And so I really like to have a customer, if they have a rectangle pool with the cover, have it go over each side about eight inches. And that way, I can drag it all over the pool.

14:23And then you can strategically put eight bricks or 10 bricks on the cover so that it stays on top the pool entirely. This keeps the pool really clean. And I like this better. But not a lot of customers like it, but I like it. A lot of customers will cut it to fit the pool, which is fine. If they want to cut it to the shape of their pool, so it sits in the pool, that's perfectly fine as well. But make sure there's no gaps or big areas. Because then what happens is all the debris will kind of settle right there. Plus it's not going to have quite the effect if it's not covering all the water in the pool. There will actually be a complete cover to have all the benefits that I mentioned. I mean, it's not going to be that dramatically different in heat. But for all purposes and tent purposes, if you have a solar cover, you want the water, most of the water to be covered by it. Of course, the last question and you're going to ask this, well, what happens if the customer forgets to take the cover off or unroll it? That's a good question. And that's something that happens all the time.

15:24So as a courtesy, the first time that happens, I'll actually take the cover off and go through the motion of doing that. The reel is a little bit tricky. I don't really like using those. Because again, the light bulb of you breaking the handle is not new if you break it. It's like the customer would be like, hey, it was working fine last week and you broke the handle. So if it's covered with the reel, I'll leave it on and I'll tell the customer, I put the chemicals in and I cleaned the pool, the best I could with, I brushed the pool underneath the cover, but you forgot to unroll the cover. But if it's a solar blanket that's on the pool, I'll go through the extra effort just for that day and take it off the pool and put it, pile it up on the side. I'll clean the pool the best I can and I'll tell the customer, I believe you forgot to take the cover off last night. I took it off as a courtesy. But the next time that happens, you know, just so that I won't have any liability of tearing the cover. Again, you can make your own decision. You can even just leave it on the pool just because you don't want to be responsible for tearing the cover because I've torn some before taking them off the pool myself. It's kind of like a two-person job,

16:25technically, for the best results. So you can either do that or you can just have the customer, I checked the chemicals and I brushed the pool and I cleaned the best I could and call it a day at that point. It's always good to have an automatic cleaner underneath the cover. I tell the customers that if you're going to put a solar blanket on your pool, you definitely want to have a suction side cleaner underneath there because you can't really see what falls in there and there may be things that fall in the stain the pool. Also, this is going to keep a lot of the stuff that falls off the cover when you take it off to go swimming. It'll pick all that up during the week. So an automatic cleaner under the cover is definitely a must for sure. It doesn't really affect the cleaner. You would think that since it's on the cleaner hose is the weight of it. It would stop the cleaner from moving in the pool. But in reality, I really haven't run into too much trouble with the cover impeding the automatic pool cleaner underneath the pool. So an automatic cleaner definitely is a must as well. And just keep those hard and fast rules that you don't want to cover the pool. They uncover it. You don't cover the pool backup. They cover it.

17:26Just use the things I mentioned here. And it always kind of just at the end if they kind of are like questioning those things, liability would be the last thing you want to use. I don't want to be responsible for tearing the cover if I take it off and tear it. Or if I unroll it in the real breaks, I'll be responsible for that. So for the liability aspect, I don't want to do that. And just kind of have these rules in place so that you're not taking the cover off and putting it back on every week, which is a real pain and a real pain point. So if you can eliminate that, the solar blankets aren't terrible. They're just something that you have to deal with. And again, they do have some really good benefits for the customer on their end of it at least. They're looking for other podcasts. As you can find those at my website, slingholelearning.com. Click on the podcast icon. There'll be a drop-down menu of over 2000 podcasts there for you. If you're interested in a coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at pulgancouching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have a good year, weak and God bless.

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