[krazzyred72]

Originally Posted by longton52

Glad to hear the move went smoothly. Congrats. I wondered if not having jobs would make the rental process difficult, but I guess not.
Yes, work is hard to find. (since you're in Summerlin, the Williams Sonoma call center is nearby and hiring for the holidays. As well as Zappos call center downtown)
Good luck!

Thank you I will look into both of those.

[OmegaSupreme]

solar covers ($50 at home depot work well enough), but wont do much good in winter

i use my pool through october with the solar cover

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by AA702

A solar cover will help you keep the heat in at night but they are a pain in the butt to remove and put on.

I tried out a tip I saw on troublefreepool.com and cut mine into strips. I cut it right along the seams into 6' wide sections. It's worked out very well. The pieces pretty much stay in place all the time - except for a little water along the seams you wouldn't know it was cut. And the 6' wide pieces roll up and store easily. A roller is not an option for me since the pool is an irregular shape.

The solar blanket I bought at NPS didn't even last one season. I bought one on Ebay, which was cheaper, even with the LVVWD solar blanket rebate, and it looks like it will last a few seasons at least.

[AA702]

I bought my cover from Ebay also and it has lasted me a few years already and its still good. I use a roller and it keeps the pool around 85 up until it gets into the 50s at night. If you heat the pool with a gas heater and leave the cover on, it will keep the heat in for a few days as long as we are still getting good daytime heat (80's).

[tiger08]

Solar heating is great but not so good when the nights are cool, cant get mine warm enough during the days now.
Gas is expensive, heat pumps are a nice efficient way to heat a pool and if I had 2500 bucks, I'd have one right now.

[Relaxo]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

Probably the most common is the solar system where the water is pumped up to your roof and goes through a series of panels to warm. This works but only when your pump is on and you can pretty much count on the system leaking at least every couple years. You have to empty the system in the winter. The best this system usually does is a few degrees warmer than the air. It is not enough to keep your pool swimable year round.

Just some data points based on 5 years in my home:

• I have a 30,000 gallon pool and 16 panels on my roof. It's only effective May through September. I easily keep my pool at 90 during the summer. I've set it higher (95) and it's just too warm. I'm pretty sure I could keep the pool at a 100 if I wanted to. If I was okay swimming at lower temps, it would probably be useful late April through mid October.
• I have leaks every year. I normally spend about $500/yr repairing it. I also run the pumps almost 24/7 since I like to swim at odd moments (I run the pumps at 3300 rpm when solar is active). It's probably in the range of $30/mo added cost due to the higher rpms and added run time.
• I drain mine in the late fall, but I do have a Pentair system controlling the pool and it has a freeze setting that will start the pumps if the temperature gets too low. It's likely sufficient but I'm a belts and suspenders guy.