I review solar pool covers for a living, so you can trust me when I say that these affordable options will keep your pool warm, decrease energy costs, keep bugs and debris out, and protect kids and pets from injury.
FYI, Prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.
1. BigXwell - 1600 Series Heavy-Duty Insulating Solar Pool Cover
Highlight: Evaporation of water is reduced by almost ninety five percent.
Helpful review: I researched so many different pool covers before choosing the BigXwell, and I'm so glad I spent the extra money. Unlike those cheaper covers that fall apart quickly, this one is seriously heavy-duty, top of the line durable, and so effective at heating the pool by like eight to ten degrees, oh and it helps keep it clean. Could it get any better than that?
It hasn’t shrunk in the sun, and I waited about month before trimming it to size. Five-stars for this puppy. The cover also stays put in windy conditions and performs well in our dusty California climate. Even in 105-degree weather, the pool water, when mixed, is perfectly comfortable.
A quality solar cover like this really makes a difference and you can tell. Our last cover lasted four to five years when we took care of it well, and in Cali, this new one raises our in-ground pool’s temperature by about ten degrees in less than a day. By July, we barely need it daily as the water maintains an like a ninety degree range. It’s definitely worth the investment if you live in the mid to upper states.
I also used this cover on my hot tub. After a month without it, the cover stayed in place, and the tub really only had a tiny algae presence even with it off. Overall, I can say I love the quality of it, the weight, and how easy it is to use. And the price is a win, too.
My friend uses a similar cover for their built-in pool, and they find it super effective at keeping out all the debris and heat loss. It’s so much thicker than I expected, which to me means better heat retention and sun resistance. Also works with a roller, too. — Ray Glasson
Get it from Amazon now: $219.99 & FREE Returns
2. MidWest Canvas - Round Solar Blanket
Highlight: Limited warranty lasts three years.
Helpful review: Why don’t pools come with a cover like this automatically? I love it so much. Talk about fantastic! So easy to put on and remove, plus, it like, hovers over the water and doesn’t sink in. We first used our cover for about twenty hours before getting in. The surface water was warm, which concerned my husband in one hundred degree weather. But after stirring, the water was really not bad—kind of like a bathtub. We jumped in after the sun set and it seriously felt just like a heated hotel pool.
My pool is about twenty two feet, so I ordered the twenty four foot cover to include the space of the stairs from my deck. Keep in mind that it's round! It says so on the product page - but they have a picture of a square one. However, this is a round cover!
Overall, it’s super lightweight and easy to handle. It does the job of keeping debris out, warms the water, and is simpler for one person to use compared to standard above-ground pool covers.
It's our first cover, so I have no comparison really. I have to admit though, I’m still kinda figuring out how to use it. I live in the woods, and this has just been an ultimate game changer when it comes to keeping out all the debris that used to fall into the pool.
In terms of cleaning it, all I do is roll it up, move it to the yard, and then grab my handy dandy leaf blower and give it a good blow over to remove any debris from the trees and then I just hose it down for things like pollen. At night, I slide it back on. Seriously, it changed our pool temp from sixty six to seventy four degrees in just two days.
I went from skeptical to elated. I’m so glad we got it. Also, another option is to go with a bigger cover and then clamp it down with clips to prevent any flapping around. I did read some reviews that said it might rip a little bit, but I'm just extra careful with it, and I haven’t had any issues or anything like that. I really love it. — Robin Campbell
Get it from Amazon now: $114.99 & FREE Returns
3. Blue Wave - Solar Blanket for Rectangular In-Ground Pools
Highlight: Six year warranty.
Helpful review: I'm one of those people who's always cold. I'll get in the hot tub on a a hundreddegree day. So, imagine my disappointment when our dream house came with a pool but no heater. We considered installing one, but the cost was prohibitive, and even with a heater, we'd still be paying a fortune to run it. So, we decided to bear the cold. My only experience with a solar cover was from a friend’s pool as a kid, and I remembered it always being freezing, so I was skeptical.
After three years in the house and with two young kids, we used the pool a lot, and it was always a dreaded part of my day because it was so cold. Finally, I decided to try a solar cover. WOW, it works so well! We put it on when the temp was 75, and even in cloudy, cool weather, it raised to eighty within a couple of days. Then, during a heatwave, our pool hit ninety five degrees! We can actually go night swimming now, no more inching in and 'getting used to it.'
I've never had a solar cover before, so I can't compare, but in just two weeks, it’s made a huge difference. Our pool is average size but deep (11 feet) and not much shallow end. The 95-degree reading was taken at the shallow end, and the water temp feels evenly spread. Our pool gets full sun until about 3 PM, so I can’t speak to effectiveness in shaded pools.
The downside of solar covers is they’re a bit of a hassle to take on and off. We cut ours in half, but I might cut it more. It takes about 5 minutes to put back on by myself, which isn’t too bad. We got a pool box for storage, so it doesn’t look messy when we have guests. I plan on marking it with colorful stickers or arrows to make reinstallation easier.
Despite its appearance, this cover is a great option over a heater. It’s ugly, but we remove it for guests and prefer an ugly pool we can use over a pretty pool we dread. — Nicole Hutton
Get it from Amazon now: $189.99 & FREE Returns
4. Sun2Solar - 1200 Series Solar Cover
Highlight: Can trim it to fit any size.
Helpful review: As someone who has used pool covers for well over a decade, I can say without a doubt that this product is top of the line. You might wonder how one pool cover could be better than another.
Well, two main reasons: First, the seams are really well sealed. Trust me. I've had covers where the seams started to fall apart after just a few weeks. Secondly, it’s seriously an exact rectangle, which might seem trivial, but for someone who’s rolled up a pool cover a thousand times, I can tell you, even a slight irregularity makes the process tedious. But for this one I can roll up in maybe seventy seconds.
I kid you not, rolling up a pool cover is a hassle, but knowing you can do it quickly and efficiently makes those late midnight swims much more exciting
For those unsure about getting a pool cover, hear me out:
– Heating is easier: I've seen claims of up to a ten-degree increase, which are mostly accurate. Before using covers, my pool would peak at eighty to eighty three degrees in summer. With the cover, I can keep it at 85 (which is too warm for me, but my wife loves it). Once, I left the cover on over a weekend, and the water temp hit ninety one degrees! Had to keep it off for a couple of days to cool down.
– Less chemicals: Higher water temps usually mean more chlorine use, but the cover helps keep chlorine from evaporating, making it last longer.
– Saves on water: Without the cover, I lose about a quarter inch of water daily due to evaporation. But with the cover, it's more like a quarter inch every few days. I only lose water when I take the cover off to swim.
– Pool is cleaner: I haven't used the automatic vacuum in nearly a month. Just netting a few leaves, but otherwise, the pool doesn’t get as dirty, which overall just saves time.
So yeah, while there is an initial cost for the system, the covers last about eighteen months, and I think that’s a positive, making it a worthwhile investment. This cover specifically has been my favorite, and I’ll definitely buy my next one from the same people. — John Dunlop
Get it from Amazon now: $168.99 & FREE Returns
5. Doheny's - Micro-Bubble Solar Cover for In-Ground Swimming Pools
Highlight: Can trim to fit any shape or size pool and it doesn’t void the warranty.
Helpful review: So, yeah it’s a solar cover, in other words, it’s not gonna last forever. From my experience, the price doesn’t really matter, overall there’s going to be an age limit to these tyings. Typically, they last a year or two.
What I’ve learned is that it's easier to roll and unroll a lightweight one. Also, it sits better on my solar reel, prevents evaporation, and maybe warms the temp by a degree or two. We keep our pool at eighty four degrees, and with the cover, I don’t have to run heater as long and with it running less, it keeps the water around eighty five to eighty six—perfect. Oh, and it keeps all the annoying bugs away.
Cutting it to size did take me a couple of tries to get right. I like to keep the reel-end longer so there’s no gap where the ties connect. I also keep the rounded corners higher and find the side step works better as a separate piece than trying to roll it up with the reel. Sharp kitchen scissors work better than a knife for precision.
The material is also pretty sturdy but it does look kinda more transparent when wet. I’ve figured out that a clear cover heats the water faster than a darker blue one, and that that actually cools the water by shading it in summer. Personally, I still prefer paying a bit extra for quality, but I can’t really say that it saves money in the long run, just that each one will operate differently when you use them. Despite being slightly more opaque than I expected it to be, it’s a pretty great product.
My pool is also kind of a weird shaped pool, like roughly twice as long as it is wide, so I ended up sticking with the rectangle cover. Keep in mind, it’s quick and easy to take on and off with two people but a little tricky by yourself.
Overall, I’m very impressed with how the temp has increased so rapidly for only one fifty.
After reading some negative reviews, I ultimately wanted to provide this honest one. Oh, and in the dead of summer, I don’t need to deal with refilling the water either, and that always used to happen when it got so hot the water dried up. If you’re unsure about installing it on your own, you can just get a roller to make it easier. Either way, you’ll be happy with your purchase–I definitely am. — Denis Burns
Get it from Amazon now: $134.99 & FREE Returns
6. MidWest Canvas - Canvas Space Age Solar Cover
Highlight: Seven-year warranty, and I can swim for almost two extra months after summer!
Helpful review: This pool cover is seriously hands down the best option out there! We’ve been using pool covers for years, and this one really stands out. It warms the pool significantly and lasts a good two seasons before the bubbles start to deteriorate. Rolling it up and getting it out of the water is quite the workout, so it might not be for everyone. We usually lay it out on the driveway, use our old cover as a guide, and cut it to fit our pool. During windy days, smaller pieces can blow away, so we use capped PVC pipes to keep it in place. Now that we have a safety pool net, nothing blows away at all, oh and it’s also less prone to tearing.
The cover is so much thicker and more durable than I expected. It was easy to cut and fit to our oddly shaped pool. I cut it slightly larger, let it settle in the pool, and then trimmed it to the perfect size. It increased our pool temperature by about 2 degrees per day in April when it was sunny. In Arizona, our pool stays at a comfortable eighty eight degrees.
The only downside is that the opaque gray color shows mineral deposits from our hard water, but that’s a minor issue. I’ll store it during the summer and see how long it lasts.
It has a gray opaque top and a clear bubble underside. Our pool was at 52 degrees, and it rose to 84 degrees in just seventeen hours. It loses a few degrees overnight but heats up quickly during the day. We’re very happy with the results so far. — Cheryl Salzmann
Get it from Amazon now: $199.99 & FREE Returns
7. Sun2Solar - 1600 Series Square Clear Solar Cover
Highlight: The clear color lets UV hit deeper into the swimming pool, meaning warmer water temperatures–and heat!
Helpful review: Living in Southwest Florida, we recently experienced an early cold snap, and anyone from here knows how terrifying that is, sometimes worse than hurricane haha. Uggs boots out and no one goes in the pool! Except my family haha, especially after got this. I turned off the pool heater until the cover arrived. Not only were we wasting money heating the pool, but we were also losing a lot of water to evaporation. I even thought we had a leak! The cover arrived, and we trimmed it to fit. It’s not an easy task, but it’s definitely worth it.
The first night, we didn’t lose any water, and the temperature stayed constant. The cover is heavy-duty, and we cut it with sharp scissors. It was a bit too big, but I’m sure I’ll find a use for the excess material. We’ve already saved a lot on water bills.
The cover heats the pool using solar power, and we’re excited to see how warm it gets without using our heater. Knowing these covers don’t last long, especially under the Florida sun, we hope to get a few seasons out of it. It’s much cheaper than constantly refilling the pool and running the heater.
I’m now in my fifth year with this cover. The key is to keep it out of the sun immediately after removing it from the pool. The only issue has been sections blowing out of place in the wind, which I plan to fix with tarp clamps. The water temperature stayed around 74 degrees with the cover on. Without it, it dropped to 62. I cut the cover into sections for easier handling, and it works better than spending six hundred bucks on cover rollers. This cover really WORKS! — Charles Edwards
Get it from Amazon now: $159.99 & FREE Returns
8. Blue Wave - Solar Blanket for Rectangular In-Ground Pools
Highlight: Increases temperature by fifteen degrees Fahrenheit.
Helpful review: I’m going to give it to you straight: I’m an out-of-work scientist who manages my neighbor’s pool. To extend the swimming season and keep leaves out, I suggested a solar cover. Pools lose most of their heat through evaporation, so anything that covers the surface helps reduce cooling.
On the first day, it was cloudy and rainy, but the pool temperature still went up by one degree to 86. Swimming with cool air and warm water felt amazing. At 86 degrees, you can just go take a quick dip without that initial scream of freeze. Therapeutic temperatures are warmer, and the pool kept all the heat well, only dropping to 82 after several nights with temperatures in the 40s.
This cover acts like heavy-duty bubble wrap. We bought a twelve by twenty four cover for a rectangular pool with rounded corners and walk-in steps. I’ll trim it once I get a reel. It doesn’t blow off in strong winds, it looks good, and it’s well-made. The shipping bag doubles as storage, and it arrived in just two days at a competitive price.
The downsides? The skimmer function stops working, and leaves need to be manually removed. I recommend getting a pool cover reel because folding it up is tedious, and getting trapped under it can be dangerous. I plan to leave it under the winter safety cover to keep it off the water and ice. All in all, I highly recommend this product and I’m a new fan of the supplier, that’s for sure. — Rudy Custer
Get it from Amazon now: $149.99 & FREE Returns