Liquid Solar Blanket

[chem geek]

Yes, the isopropyl alcohol is just a carrier for the fatty alcohol, similar to how calcium hydroxide is used as a carrier for cetyl alcohol in HeatSavr. The isopropyl alcohol will mix with water and then evaporate and will not form a surface layer -- it's the fatty alcohol that does that.

[sharon]

hi from uk cant find any thing over here could i make my own may thanks sharon

For those of you who do not think the comercial brands of Liquid Solar pool Cover is very expensive, just wanted to let you know I make my own for $10.00 per gallon. You can learn more about how to make it

[Spooky]

These liquid solar blankets somewhat work. i mean they work well for the first while but then they kinda die (this example is of the fish you stick in your pool), but the kind where you pore an actual liquid in your pool EVERYDAY works better, just to let yalll know

[pool pal]

Can I use my solar cover with the solar pill, or does that use up the chemical since it floats on the top? In other words, does the solar pill chemical end up sticking to the blanket, thus wasting it. My husband thinks the cover does a better job, and I don't want to use both if it wastes the chemical.

[islandlife]

Well yes the composition of Heatsavr liquid is almost all IPA (isopropyl alcohol) .. but the active ingredient
is cetyl alcohol. The important fact is that plain cetyl alcohol is a solid waxy substance. (you can even get it on ebay) and harmless (used in cosmetics etc) - but SOLID. As such you can't easily disperse it on the top of your pool. So for swimming pools the trick is to dissolve the waxy stuff in harmless IPA. Once in contact with water the IPA floats and spreads out .. and evaporates leaving tiny molecules of cetyl alcohol near invisibly spread out on the surface. Whether there is any calcium hydroxide powder in there too I can't say. It might help disperse the stuff initially but it is not going to stay there forming a part the liquid layer - calcium hydroxide (lime) just dissolves so easily in water. So to sum up: if you want you could buy a small quantity of cetyl alcohol and dissolve it in gallons of IPA and try that out ! You certainly don't need much .
How much? well if you pour out a glass of heatsavr liquid and let the IPA evaporate (which it will do quite quickly) you'll be left with the cetyl alcohol vax .. and then you will have an idea. My guess is there is a TINY amount of the wax - but you'll see it.

[MJD]

Stearyl alcohol and cetyl alcohol at 4.6% each are the active ingredients in WaterSavr. I found this in a "Product Evaluation" for WaterSavr. I suspect mixing these two ingredients with Isopropyl alcohol would work very well, to slow swimming pool evaporation.

[solaro]

Has anyone tried adding this to a jacuzzi at night (in addition to using a cover) to minimize heat loss?

[chem geek]

I would think that a good cover would do most of the heat retention, but I suppose you could try these liquid solar blanket products to see if it makes any difference.

As for the stearyl alcohol in WaterSavr, this is an alcohol with 18 carbons while cetyl alcohol is one with 16 carbons so they are similar and would tend to form a one molecule thick layer on the surface of the water with the alcohol end sticking in the water and the carbon chain sticking out into the air. These products can work reasonably well when the air is still. They do not work very well when there is wind as this tends to push these substances to one side of the pool. They also do not work very well when there is a disturbance of the water surface so work better when the pump is off and the water is still.

[Peter D]

For those of you who do not think the comercial brands of Liquid Solar pool Cover is very expensive, just wanted to let you know I make my own for $10.00 per gallon. You can learn more about how to make it

How can I find out?

[neeliec]

Sorry to be adding to this forum so late in the game, but just found it!

Does anyone know if the liquid solar blankets work effectively with and are safe to use with salt chlorine generators?

[chem geek]

They shouldn't matter. They generally stay on top of the water as a thin film and if they do get sucked into the skimmer and go through the SWG they probably won't break down very much because they are mostly long-chain saturated organics and do not have nitrogen nor sulfur sites (nor double bonds) where chlorine would normally attack. I don't believe the increased salt levels will interfere with this product either.

Just remember that the product doesn't work well in windy environments.

[neeliec]

Thank you! That is very helpful!

[pool enthus.]

i can almost positively say it is not rubbing alcohol. alcohol would mix with the water and not stay on top. further more alcohol has a very high evaporation rate. it actually evaporates several times faster than water.

Yes that is completely true, rubbing alcohol is made of mostly ethanol though with isopropanol making it deadly to consume (pentanol is deadly to consume even in low quantities). Ethanol is the key ingredient in alcoholic which makes people drunk. This means that rubbing alcohol is not what they use because it reacts with people in a very negative way (toxic/intoxication). Water and enthanol/pentanol are also both polar and so the two compounds will mix. Therefore the compound must be a non polar compound in order for the compound to be immiscible and therefore make 2 layers. (this follows the old saying like dissolves like, think about oil and water, where oil is a non polar compound). Also, the compound would have to be less dense than water so that it will float to the top. Also the evaporation of ethanol is much greater than water due to its lack of hydrogen bonds making the intermolecular forces less strength and thereby easier to evaporate.

So therefore, the compound would have to be some kind of non polar compound with high intermolecular forces, most likely some synthetic compound or a derived chemical from a naturally occurring polymer, or something of that nature.

[pool enthus.]

Rubbing alcohol is made of mostly ethanol though with isopropanol making it toxic to consume (pentanol is deadly to consume even in low quantities). Ethanol is the key ingredient in alcoholic which makes people drunk. This means that rubbing alcohol is not what they use because it reacts with people in a very negative way (toxic/intoxication). Water and enthanol/pentanol are also both polar and so the two compounds will mix. Therefore the compound must be a non polar compound in order for the compound to be immiscible and therefore make 2 layers. (this follows the old saying like dissolves like, think about oil and water, where oil is a non polar compound). Also, the compound would have to be less dense than water so that it will float to the top. Also the evaporation of ethanol is much greater than water due to its lack of hydrogen bonds making the intermolecular forces less strength and thereby easier to evaporate.

So therefore, the compound would have to be some kind of non polar compound with high intermolecular forces, most likely some synthetic compound or a derived chemical from a naturally occurring polymer, or something of that nature.

[chem geek]

We've already talked about this earlier in this thread here. The active ingredient in these products is one or both of cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol. Calcium hydroxide is used as a dispersant (that dissolves in water) while isoproponol (isopropyl alcohol) is the carrier that evaporates.