Solar Pool Rings
Pool Solar Circles

What are Solar Pool Rings?

Solar pool rings are a lower cost method to warm up the swimming pool water by using Sun radiation passively. One of the commercially available products is called Solar Sun Rings. Some call them solar pool circles. They remind me of Monet’s Water Lilies, so looking at the picture you can imagine how the plastic version looks like on the surface of the pool

Shop Specialty Pool Products for Swimming Pool Heating Options and Solar Sun Rings

picture credited to amandabhslater – flickr

If you ask yourself how to warm up your pool spending as little money as possible, Solar pool rings come to your rescue. Pool circles are in essence a lower cost swimming pool cover at a much lower price. They float on the surface of the pool. They reduce water evaporation and the loss of stored pool’s water heat through radiation. The heat capacity of the water contained in the pool is high and if not for evaporation and radiation heat losses the pool could have stayed warm. Evaporation counts for loss of water, an unnecessary waste at present day water price.

The solar pool rings are disks of vinyl, transparent to light on the upper side and blue on the bottom side, they are inflated at the beginning of the season and they float on the pool surface. Some types, like the Solar Sun Rings have magnets on the edges of the disks that help them hang together. The coverage is obviously not 100% due to the circular shape and the unavoidable gaps between the solar pool rings.

Solar Sun Rings

Solar Sun Rings are the commercial brand name for the most popular solar pool circles product on the market. Bellow is a description of the product.

SWIMMING POOL SOLAR SUN RING

What Are Solar Sun Rings? The Solar Sun Ring is a passive solar swimming pool heating device made from two sheets of heavyweight U.V. resistant vinyl. The upper clear layer holds insulating air and focuses sunlight on the blue colored lower layer. The blue layer absorbs about 50% of the sunlight and converts it to heat. The balance of the sunlight is allowed to pass through for deep water heating. Each Sun Solar Ring generates 21,000 BTU per day. Rings are 60" in diameter.How Do Solar Sun Rings Work? At night the contained air acts as an insulating blanket to retain heat gained during daylight. Solar Sun Rings are equipped with six 32 Gauss magnets to improve clarity and decrease hardness of the water in your pool. The magnets are positioned to facilitate rafting. The strength of the magnets will permit single position removal but will easily separate to prevent entrapment in accidental falls.Solar Sun Rings were designed to be compatible with automatic pool cleaners. In the event the suction hose catches on a ring, the ring will separate from the raft to allow the pool cleaner to continue. Neither water nor pool chemicals can evaporate through the Solar Sun Rings two layers of heavyweight vinyl. You will save water and chemicals about equal to the percentage of the surface covered. Once the water in your pool has reached adequate temperature, Solar Sun Rings may be turned over to conserve water by limiting evaporation without significantly heating the water.Your pool requires some direct sunlight and open water to stay healthy. The open water around the raft of Solar Sun Rings and the triangle caused by the convergence of three Solar Sun Rings is by design. These open areas allow your pool to receive some direct sunlight. This sunlight will greatly reduce the incidence of mustard algae.Easily Cleaned - After removal from the swimming pool, Solar Sun Rings can be easily cleaned with a sponge and mild detergent solution.Warranty: Solar Sun Rings are warranted to be free of manufacturing defects for two years. Warranty is limited to materials and workmanship.Solar Sun Rings Features:Safety: No other floating solar cover matches Solar Sun Rings design for safety. Countless pets and many people have died because of entrapment with the one piece bubble pack covers. The primary design criteria of the Solar Sun Ring was to prevent entrapment.Durability: High quality ultra violet resistant vinyl(polyvinyl chloride) is used exclusively for durability that cannot be achieved by the inferior plastic used in bubble pack covers. Vinyl will normally outlast polyethylene 3 to 1. The vinyl used to manufacture Solar Sun Rings is not destroyed by pH fluctuation, higher than normal chlorine concentration or salt water

SWIMMING POOL SOLAR SUN RING -( SSRN , SOLAR SUN RINGS )

Limitations of Solar Pool Rings

Compared to the more expensive solar pool cover, there are some performance gaps. As I already mentioned the coverage is not 100% (more likely in the 60% range). The falling leaves and litter is collected on the rings and tend to drop into the water if the solar pool circles are lifted out (still better than the no cover at all.) However this lower budget solution can do the job reasonably well.

The Solar Circles and the Pool Cleaning System

Some Solar Rings are compatible with automatic pool cleaners. In the event the ring is sucked by the pool suction , the solar pool circle will separate from the raft to allow the pool cleaner to continue.

For Sun Rings, solar pool covers and other pool and Spa supplies needs, get Eco-Friendly Products for Pool, Spa & Home, at Specialty Pool Products!

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