You’ve probably heard that you can save energy and money by covering your pool with a solar pool cover. But do solar pool covers really warm your pool? Let’s take a more in-depth look at the benefits of this essential pool accessory. What is a Solar Pool Cover? Pool water is transparent, which means that sunlight passes right through it without adding any significant level of heat. Solar covers, which are sometimes called solar blankets, look a lot like bubble wrap. They’re made of a synthetic polyethylene material that has bubbles or air pockets that soak up the sun’s heat and transfer it into the pool water. The air pockets are specially designed to insulate the pool and trap heat in the water. Most pool covers are clear plastic, however, some are black in order to further increase their ability to absorb heat. Benefits Pool covers help you save energy and keep your pool cleaner at the same time. Evaporation is responsible for almost ¾ of a swimming pool’s heat loss. Solar pool covers create a barrier between the pool water and the air, and promote a warm, humid environment, which minimizes heat loss due to evaporation. Using a solar cover can maintain your pool’s water temperature or even increase it by up to 10 degrees, allowing you to reduce your electric heating costs by as much as 70%. Reducing this evaporation also saves water, which means you won’t need to fill up your swimming pool as often. In addition, solar covers decrease the amount of chemicals you’ll need to add to the water, making your pool safer and more pleasant for swimmers. Pool covers are particularly effective in areas with dry, windy climates, weather that is responsible for a high rate of evaporation. Pool covers help to keep debris out of the pool, minimizing the money and time you need to invest in keeping your pool clean. How to Use a Pool Cover It’s a good idea to keep your pool covered as often as possible in order to minimize evaporation. Solar covers are easy to use because they simply float freely on your pool surface. Just take off the cover when you want to swim, and then replace it when you’re finishing using the pool. You can also install manual roll-up or automatic systems to make removing and replacing your pool cover even faster and more efficient. If possible, it’s a good idea not to store your cover in the sunlight when it’s not covering the pool, because this can increase its rate of degradation and shorten its overall lifespan. You can tell that it’s time to replace your solar cover when these bubbles start to fall off, or the cover starts to flake. You can expect most covers to last for about three years. Ready to invest in a solar pool cover and start taking advantage of all these benefits? Discount Pool Supply is the online leader when it comes to buying pool supplies online in Canada.  We offer thousands of products at great prices and provide free shipping across Canada!