Solar Pool Cover Comparison: PLN 30/sqm Foil vs. Bubble Foil - Efficiency, Cost, & Best Uses

Question

Hello.
The bathing season is about to start so I decided to create a thread about solar foils to cover the pool.
Do any of you use such foil?
With what effects?
I will add that such foil is quite expensive.
How does solar foil for the price of about PLN 30 / sqm compare to ordinary bubble foil?
Is the film's job to absorb sunlight or just keep the water warm at night?
Thanks for all the answers.

bestboy21 · Answer

Store quote Made of bubble wrap, the sun heats the water in the pool through the cover, and provides thermal insulation on a cold night. You will get a similar effect if you stretch an ordinary foil over the water surface, but for it to work, it would have to be tight (around), the construction of the solar foil is such that it works on the water, the sun heats the air in bubbles (as in the inspection on the plot) and the heat is given off is into the water. If you seal the pool with a normal foil around (so that it does not touch the water surface), it will be the same as solar foil only in the macro scale, not micro ;) Much less comfortable, but the effect is the same. ps Normal bubble wrap has too small bubbles and a lot of heat will escape through it (better this ala inspekt in my opinion).

andrz6 · Answer

A'la inspekt is out of the question, the pool is concrete with dimensions 8 x 4. I know from practice that placing anything over the water is almost impossible. There are also bubble foils with thick meshes, about 2 cm in diameter. Basically whether this solar film is made of some special material that absorbs rays (something like an absorber in solar systems) or is it some ordinary fake and it is made like ordinary bubble wrap for packaging.

bestboy21 · Answer

It works on the principle of floating inspekcików there is no space technology there ... and the absorber does not differ much from the inspekciku, mainly by its name The NRC foil is already more complicated ...

andrz6 · Answer

Let's summarize:
Solar foil for PLN 30 / sqm is the same as ordinary bubble foil for PLN 30 per roll of 50m?
I also came across construction insulation foil. it is a bubble wrap with a layer of aluminum foil acting as a screen. What to think about it, if you spread the screen towards the water surface?

bestboy21 · Answer

There will be some performance difference but definitely not worth the price and that's it.
The foil with a screen towards the water makes no sense, the sun will heat the air in the bubble, then it has to give the heat back to the water, and this screen will not change anything else, it can even accelerate the heat transfer at night.

andrz6 · Answer

This is not about absorbing rays through the foil, because after reading your posts I already managed to determine it. The best ray absorber is probably water itself. It is now only a practical cover for the pool for the night.
a) specialized solar foil
b) regular bubble wrap
c) bubble wrap with a layer of shielding aluminum foil
d) other (?)

bestboy21 · Answer

e) polystyrene cut to measure (or in several pieces) f) a bag of pinkpong balls ;) Either cut off the water from the air or reduce this contact to a minimum, the second option is easier and more convenient. If you bought these black pinkpongs and poured them (as much as you can), you will have an almost solar pool

andrz6 · Answer

Let's not be serious ... A practical way to isolate the water table.

bestboy21 · Answer

You can insulate about 85-90% of the mirror surface with pinkpongs, and when they are black, they will absorb much more energy than water. There is nothing funny here. You also don't have to roll up and unfold every now and then.

_jta_ · Answer

The pool water cools down as a result of: (1) evaporation, (2) thermal radiation,
(3) air heat transfer and (4) heat conduction through the housing.

* To effectively reduce (1) the pool should be covered with foil - it does not have to touch each other
with water, but there should not be a large space between the water and the foil.

* To effectively reduce (2) an infrared reflective film is needed
- it is possible for metallized foil. On top of that, the water is a bit malicious:
It absorbs little visible light, but emits infrared very well;
the absorption of visible light can improve the dark bottom of the pool.

* To effectively reduce (3) airflow and contact must be restricted
thermal air above the water with the surroundings - maybe bubble wrap, but not like that,
which has bubbles on part of its surface, and one which has bubbles everywhere; they do not have to
be very small, e.g. several cm in size; if a significant part
the surface of the foil will be without bubbles, the air will be released on this part
heat through the foil to the outside and fall to collect another portion from the water.

* A (4) does not depend on the foil covering the pool, but on the insulation made when it was
under construction - it is rather difficult to improve anything in this matter.

saskia · Answer

jta, correct yourself. Add a little hush to your statements. you should add that the foil should reflect the thermal radiation of the water, i.e. the foil from the water side. The beams also work both ways, so the direction of heat transfer would be useful.

andrz6 · Answer

The pool is in the ground about 150 cm down. The bottom is not lined with polystyrene under the floor for obvious reasons - about 50 tons of water. The side walls are lined with polystyrene from the outside.
I mean such a foil: http://strona.centerplast.pl/oferta/folia-paroizolacyjna-aluminiowa-pecherzykowa/3/24

technikabasenowa · Answer

Insulating the bottom and sides is not necessary and not profitable (in practice)
The greatest losses are through the surface - covering at night and with an unused pool reduces the heat loss of water and water treatment chemicals.
I have already seen many inventions from various types of foil, usually I end up with the purchase of a normal solar foil - they can last up to 10 years

andrz6 · Answer

Are you suggesting that solar foil, which costs about PLN 30 / sqm, keeps heat better than insulation bubble foil? If so, how does it work? Not that I am clinging, but I want to know what this foil is better in and how it works.

technikabasenowa · Answer

One piece of advice for you has cost me a warning

(as you saw, they went to the trash with a comment so that I would not water down - a substantive argument)
Tomorrow, when I am at work, I will send you the data

andrz6 · Answer

After all, it is about a discussion and not about launching a topic that you did not set up yourself, which also irritates me. I just want to know if something costs a lot of money that's what I need before I spend it. That is why there was a question about transformers and now it is about foil. What is solar foil in it that ordinary bubble foil does not? Is it made of some special ray-absorbing foil? What is the fact that it insulates the water table better at night?

telecaster1951 · Answer

It is blue, so it absorbs the complementary color. It is not made of some kind of cosmic material. Ordinary LDPE with additives.

_jta_ · Answer

It may be that one such foil is plain LDPE, and the other is coated to keep the heat - you need to ask the seller (and check if it is credible). Besides, the arrangement of the bubbles is important.

Solar Pool Cover Comparison: PLN 30/sqm Foil vs. Bubble Foil - Efficiency, Cost, & Best Uses

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