Solar cover roller recommendations

[mknmike]

I was hesitant to buy a roller for my solar cover, but now see that this is a daily activity of installing and removing the cover. Reinstalling is not so bad. I can unroll and unfold by myself, but with my current method of rolling a folded top (capturing debris on the cover intentionally) really requires a second person to help be fold it over. I can run around the pool by myself 100 times to make the folds, but it’s much quicker with a helper. Once folded into a 3-4 foot wide section, I can roll it up myself. It’s just a hassle. Then I need to move the chairs and pipe with the cover out of the pool area.

IMPORTANT: We don’t really have room to store a roller inside the pool fence. It would need to be moved out every day, perhaps into the driveway. So a roller on wheels would be ideal.

The pool is about 15.8’x28’ and I’ve got a (stained) clear 3200 cover from Doheny’s which squirrels have already started chewing through. I currently have it a little larger than the pool to be able to fold up the edges which is nice to capture debris and water and push it to the skimmer or scoop it out instead of having it dump into the pool water below. That’s another benefit of folding the cover before removing it. I can roll above the pool it moving all water / debris to the sections of the cover still in the pool. Then when I get near the end and debris starts flowing out the end, I just pick up the cover and toss it over top of the roll, then dump the water on the ground instead of into the pool. Without folding, I don’t think this would be possible, but if I’ve got the cover on for shorter and shorter periods when overnight temps might stop dropping below the pool water temp, I won’t have the cover on as long. So less debris. More every-day usage. I guess that could be short-lived with it being June already. Come August, we will probably have cool nights again, and then in September when the kids are back in school the novelty will have worn off, and I will appreciate the cover capturing debris.

So will a roller make my life better? One more thing to store.

Do other unground pool owners use a roller for their solar cover?

Maybe I should have bought a more lightweight cover, one that’s more transparent and folds up more easily.

Opinions?

Picture: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202306 ... 949abb.jpg

[img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230602/68dedd3d51815292ce54b57743949abb.jpg[/img]

[mknmike]

Here’s another picture of what I’m working with, and with the cover on. The fence may be hard to see, but it’s very close to the pool, which is why a roller would need to be moved out. There’s a decorative fountain at the far end. I guess if the roller only touches the ground wider than 16’ apart, then it could straddle the pool deep-end and maybe even stay in place while the shallow-end is enjoyed where there’s a kick-board on top of the bubble-cover).

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202306 ... 6c8512.jpg

[img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230602/3d3a2f2dda2e6f21ada8e69f906c8512.jpg[/img]

[mknmike]

This 18’ one looks like maybe it could straddle the pool. I’m not really loving the yellow colors though.

VINGLI 18 Feet Pool Cover Reel Set Solar Pool Cover Reel for Inground Swimming Pool, Aluminum Solar Swimming Inground Cover Blanket Reel (Upgrade) https://a.co/d/7CrGPOf