Liquid Solar Blanket vs. Plastic Solar Blanket

[dheld]

I have wrestled w/ solar blankets for years. The only way to make it easy for by 20' x 40' pool would be to purchase 2 reels and 20'x20' blankets. Pretty pricey. Does anyone have a GOOD qualitative comparison between blankets and the liquid blankets?

Thanks.

[chem geek]

The liquid blankets do not work well in windy conditions since the product on the surface of the water tends to get blown towards one end of the pool. However, when there isn't a lot of wind, the products do work though not as well as a bubble-type cover. Roughly speaking, you can figure that you get at least half the savings you would from a bubble-type cover, maybe a little more. They are probably about the same (in calm conditions) as a thinner safety cover which is roughly half as good as a bubble-type cover in terms of heat retention.

To put this into perspective, a pool with no solar cover at all might lose 6ºF overnight while one with a thin safety cover or with a liquid cover (with no wind) might lose only half this amount or 3ºF overnight while a bubble-type cover might lose only half again so around 1.5ºF overnight.