It is always a sad time when the pool finally has to be packed up for the winter.  Inevitably, there is always that few days after you have the pool put away where you wonder if it possibly could have still been warm enough to go for a swim. As well as those morning where a swim would be nice but it is just a little too cold outside.

Enter the solar pool cover.  I was doing some research on an inexpensive way to extend the swimming season when I ran across these covers. Basically, they are nothing more than a clear piece of vinyl with a heavy layer of air bubbles infused across them.

The vinyl allows the sunlight to easily pass through and warm the water beneath, while the air bubbles help trap the heat into the pool, allowing it to build up and increasing the heat by as much as 15 degrees in many cases — the perfect amount to make the pool swimmable in most early fall and late spring temperatures.

These pool covers also have other side benefits as well.  Because they block the water from having direct access to the sun, they actually help reduce the amount of evaporation.  This, in turn, then means that less time has to be spent refilling and re-balancing a pool.

And then, of course, you have the nice benefit that the cover helps keep a lot of debris out of the pool by simply catching it before it has a chance to fall in.

And, if you are wanting a pool heater that is more efficient then a simple cover, they make those as well.  These solar energy powered pool heaters are basically a good length of black pipe that the pool water is pumped through to heat the water.  If you live in areas where it may get colder, these heftier solar pool heaters are probably a better investment.