Sun2Solar Blue 4 ft x 8 ft Rectangle Solar Cover | 12 Mil | Heat Retaining Blanket for Rectangular Inground & Above Ground Swimming Pools | Sun Heats Pool | 1200 Series Bubble Heating Blankets

We keep coming back to this same solar cover every time we need a new one. It lasts about 3 seasons before starting to break down and become brittle, and we use it for one more season past that. It seems such a waste to keep throwing away this much plastic, but it makes such a difference. Not so much in warming up the water, but it really helps to prevent heat loss overnight and also saves water by preventing evaporation. It is easy to cut to fit our free form 18x36 pool and works well with a solar reel. We have tried other solar blankets that claim to last longer, but they aren't worth the extra money. Additionally, the extra weight of thicker mil plastic makes the blanket heavy to roll up and makes the reel bend down. This one seems to be the happy medium of longevity and ease of use.

Picked up the 1200 series in March of 2023. It's been on the pool summer 2023 - summer 2025. It does exactly what it's supposed to - maintains and keeps heat in the colder evenings, prevents evaporation in the warm ones. In Northeast Ohio - so this is a short-use season (May through Sept); Just started to notice the blue bubble failure and had my first edge tear during closing. 3 summers is what I anticipated to get out of this. It is not a permanent solution - you will need to buy another. We picked up a cover for it, and I think that made a difference. the prior homeowner left his in the sun and complained they only lasted one season. Note - The 1200 is heavy for a 20x40 pool - buy an appropriate reel. the 1600 is likely overwhelming. I will buy another in the winter of 2026 - this is a no-brainer for us.

Update: So this lasted 2 1/2 season. It was fine up to 2 summer...about 1/2 way on the third summer, bubbles started to disintegrate and finally the cover ripped. I did keep the cover on during the day time on 3rd summer which caused algae bloom. Learned that the hard way and should uncover it in the morning from now on. 2nd cover so far and these cover don't seems to make it over 3 years. I use a pool reel and do put them away after swim season. I had 14 mil for my cover before and used it for 3 years before I decided it needed to be replaced. I accidentally purchased a wrong size (bit smaller) that the 14 min left a bit of gap toward edge of the pool, but it was able to get the temperature above 90 if I kept the cover on for a week during summer. I decided to give 12 mil a try since it was bit cheaper, and to test out the insulation. I did get correct size and trimmed away to make it fit my pool. I put it on the reel right away to make it easier to cover and uncover. Per a recommendation, I attached retractable dog leash on one side for covering of the pool for end of the night when it retracts to covers the pool (sort of). The cover extends the swim season by warming up the pool before summer starts and keeping it warm toward the end of the season. I did notice some difference between 12 mil and 14 mil cover. Mainly weight and temperature. 14 mil is definitely heavier. But it puts more weight on the reel and heavier when pulling it to cover the pool. 14 mil keeps the temperature warmer. In So Cal, when 14 mil covers the pool for a few days it'll raiser the temperature quickly. Keep it on for a week, it'll raise the temperature of the water to 90 degrees and possibly warmer if I kept it on longer. There were nights when I left the cover off since the water was too warm and needed to be cooled off. I left the cover on during and after a rain. With warmth and not mixing with chlorinated water, I had an algae bloom that started on the cover and spread. Lesson learned, take cover off after a rain. 12 mil I've kept the cover on for a week and it hasn't quite reached 90 degrees. But I am able to keep the cover on for days when I'm not using the pool and not having to worry about getting too warm to swim. So for me I do like 12 mil better since I do not have to keep covering and uncovering on days I don't swim, but 14mil may be useful for people in bit cooler climate. 14 or 12 mil, I would highly recommend getting a solar blanket. Even in Southern California summer, water is still pretty cold (some where in 70's) but the blanket will make it much more enjoyable for everyone. I'll be more diligent in putting away the pool cover after summer to see if that will stretch the life of the cover and write a follow up

This product is GARBAGE! It lasted one season. The second season we started seeing the bubbles break and fall apart because of being brittle. It worked great the first year but at the beginning of the third season it was trashed. We never let it sit in recently chlorinated water, reeled it up when not using it and stored it indoors through winter. With a claimed 10 year warranty this is what customer service had say. My last message before advising them I was posting their response on Amazon's Review: Attached are the photos requested. Again, the link below has all the photos for your convenience. It is clearly broken on the seam. I'm not sure what a warranty might be if the product doesn't perform within two years of purchase especially if it claims to have a 8 to 10 year warranty. Their response: We have received your photos, and have had our specialists review them for warranty coverage. Unfortunately, what is shown in the photos is not covered by the manufacturer's limited warranty. This warranty only covers manufacturing defects and does not cover rips, tears, or bubble damage. The manufacturing defects covered would be true seam separation, where the layers that make the seam begin to peel apart from each other, and delamination, which is the separation of the layers that make up the solar cover. As the photos submitted do not show a manufacturing defect, the warranty claim has been denied. If you do have a photo showing one, or both, of these conditions, please submit this for warranty review. Thank you So there's clearly no integrity behind this company's warranty. ...Response from Company... After replying back to the company about how our their warranty coverage was and another request for pictures, I advised them that I had sent 29 photos and they could clearly see the damage. I stated the warranty is useless if it covers things that don't occur. I further stated that I would be spreading the word that they didn't stand behind their product/warranty. The next morning I received an email saying the warranty was approved. I paid the shipping and handling cost for a replacement. I changed my review rating from 1 star to 3. The product ought to last more than one or two seasons. And it should not be such a hassle to make a claim. Either make a better product or acknowledge claims against the warranty. We will see how long this replacement lasts. Thanks though for honoring the warranty.

Our clear cover started disintegrating this the second year of ownership. We do use it often to warm the pool in cooler weather along with the heater. I have always taken care of it, like covering it on the storage reel. The seller quickly responded to my warranty claim with a replacement so I couldn't be happier. Update: Seller says I must pay nearly $50 for shipping and handling for replacement cover. I will not submit a payment outside of Amazon due to security concerns which Rufus says not to do. After reading other reviews elsewhere I am very Leary but will report my experience here. Update: My cover was replaced and the seller worked with me quite professionally. I just installed it today. I changed my review to 5 stars from 3 based in this solid customers service in my case.

Good product. Decent 6 yr guarantee, tho not clearly shown on site & clear cover has 2 yr better guarantee.

I have a pool heater that is expensive to run, and takes forever to heat the pool. This past season I got this product (1200 Series) to see if it would work. Wow, what a difference! Some days it worked TOO well, and I had to add cold water to bring the temperature down a bit. It heated the pool quickly, and retained the heat overnight. I didn't use my heater once this past season, and I kept my pool open until the leaves started falling faster than I could scoop them out of the pool. It lasted the entire season with no issues. I did also get a cover reel and rinsed it occasionally, which I think helped with the durability. I should get at least another season out of it. Even if I had to buy a new one every year it would still be worth it in the money I save from not running the heater.

I installed this cover in November in Southern California when the sunlight isn't as direct but it's still sunny pretty much all day everyday, but the cover did not seem to add ANY heat to the pool. After I put it on, I heated the pool to 78 F with our gas heater one weekend. After a week and temperatures in the 50s at night and upper 70s in the day, the pool had cooled to 72 F. Without a cover, it would typically cool to around 69 F this time of year, so not only did the cover not generate heat, it didn't even insulate the heat that I added with our gas heater very well - maybe 30% efficiency in heat retention. The only benefit I've seen thus far is drastically less evaporation, but I'm pretty sure any cover, including cheaper non-solar varieties, would help with evaporation. Nonetheless, if I only have to top off the pool every 2 weeks instead of every 3-4 days, this cover will pay for itself in a couple of months. Utilities in this part of the country are priced comparably to gold... For now my review is at 3 stars, but I'm going to give the cover a chance to do its job in the spring and summer when it's warmer. I will also see how well it holds up. I don't have too much faith in its longevity because it's very thin, maybe a bit thicker and sturdier than bubble wrap, and the biggest complaint I've seen about solar covers is that they don't last long, sometimes only one season. Update 13-May-2019: Now that the sun is out, I'm definitely noticing a significant impact in the temperature of the water. On a hot sunny day, it will raise the temperature several degrees. We had an early season heat wave and the temperature went from about 78 to 86 in a few days. The anti-evaporation effect has always been significant, but that matters more and more as it gets hotter. A few things to keep in mind as you decide to begin using a solar cover: 1) They are, in general, a pain to deal with, especially if you have an oddly shaped pool, as I do. You basically can't use a reel unless you have a consistent width dimension, otherwise parts of the cover will get dragged over the sides of the pool and over time get damaged while the reel tries to roll the cover. That said, I found the only practical way to deal with the cover was to cut it into sections. I just do the best I can to pull up and roll the sections separately. It's an annoying chore to do every time I want to use the pool. 2) I've found that they exacerbate algae problems. The water does not breathe and seems to get stagnant even with filtering. Add a little rain, and phosphates from dust, dead bugs, and plants, and it becomes a breeding ground for algae. The cover itself is also good at picking up and fostering algae. Even if my pool has good balance and sufficient chlorine, I've found the chlorine still gets quickly consumed trying to fight off algae. 3) The cover does not keep the pool cleaner. Stuff still makes its way down into the pool, requiring a signficant vacuum job every time I pull up the cover. That being said, they significantly cut down on water and heating costs and can help you extend your swimming season. My cover paid for itself in one month. I heated the pool up to 80 in early April, and other that than I've had to do very little additional heating, and have had to add almost no additional water.

Cannot recommend due to very poor quality of material . The seams are already coming apart on day two of use. It is over priced bubble wrap.