I found a product today I’ve never heard of. It’s called “Tropical Fish Liquid Solar Blanket”. The idea is it works much like a plastic solar blanket on a pool, but instead uses a biodegrade liquid that floats to the surface of the swimming pool.
There is more info on it here. (that link is to a product page which of course rants and raves on how good the stuff works)
The concept seems like it would work if the sufface of the pool was perfectly still. With only a “1 molecule thick” layer I would think the slightest breeze would be enough to disrupt the layer. But, I don’t know.
I also bought one of these. This is my first year with a pool so I don’t know what my temps would be like without it. Since the difference will probably only be a few degrees I wonder if the different outside temps and sun intensity will make it difficult to tell if it is doing anything. If you are able to notice a difference compared to your normal temps please post back. I belive it does say it takes a couple days before it starts working.
Anachronism: Another new pool owner eh? We moved into this place at the end of last summer and got to use ours for about a month before it got too cold. This is really my first season of owning the pool and working it all out along the way.
Heating the pool for two weeks last month cost us about $150 in gas. A bit much if you ask me. I’ve been looking to get a solar blanket or perhaps a few solar heating panels. I’m NOT going to keep heating it if it costs up to $250-300 a month. That’s nuts.
At the end of the summer when it was really warm (and stayed warm at night) we didn’t bother with the heater. It maintained around 76-78f which is great for me. But, it’s nice now and I want to go swimming. heh heh.
For “science”, I will relay my findings in this thread and see how this product works for me. I’m willing to give it a shot if it only costs $20 a month and traps at least some of the heat in.
I plan on not heating the pool at all for the next 7 days and recording how fast the temp drops.
I was in the pool today and didn’t notice anything on the surface, no oily film on my body. Nothing to indicate I’ve got two fishy things on the bottom of my pool dripping up a funny blue liquid.
The temp is holding at 78f in the pool. Outside, it’s somewhat warm tonight, currently 70f, but it should drop quickly later tonight…
By normal standards, the pool should be about 74-75f in the morning. I guess we’ll see.
Cool. I was wondering if I was just talking to myself. heh heh.
Ok, the first real test for the blue gunk was today.
The temp outside dropped overnight and it is 63f right now. The pool temp is acting as it used to. It went from 78f last night to 74f today. A 4 degree drop. This is more in line with what we saw at the first of may.
I suspect, because of the short heatwave, the pool temp would have acted the same way with or without the fish.
My guess, if the temp outside remains the same, the pool temp will be at 70-71f tomorrow. We will see.
I think it’s going to be far to hard to say if this product is effective at the moment.
We had another spike in heat today.
So, this will be my last “report”.
Yesterday, the temp outside was 65. The pool had dropped to 72 the night before. By the end of the day the temp was 73.
Today, outside temp was 86 and very muggy. The pool warmed up to 76f.
I’ve yet to see anything concrete on this product working. The pool temp seems to rise along the lines of last summer when it got warm. If we had some steady weather, I could better judge, but right now I don’t think I’ll be buying new fish when these run out.
Having some experience in matters of heating and insulation my first guess is that this product is going to do nothing but lighten your pockets.
If you want to do tests of any significance you will need to test the same pool with and without the product and record water temperature and air temperature along the night and see how they differ in both cases.
Sailor: That was my thought. Without stable weather outside (approx the same temp for a week or so) I can’t compare it to anything after this junk runs out.
If the pool was inside, it would be easier to record temp changes.