Maintaining the water level in a pool is essential for the overall health and longevity of the pool.
One common challenge pool owners face is water evaporation, which can lead to various issues, such as increased chemical usage, higher energy costs, and frequent refilling.
Fortunately, there are several effective strategies to prevent or minimize water evaporation in your pool.
The first thing you should do is use a pool cover! Pool covers are the most effective means of preventing evaporation. The evaporation rate of a pool is estimated to be reduced by 95 percent with a pool cover.
It is also possible to use solar covers to heat your pool during the off-season. The cover reduces the chemical consumption and the amount of time you have to spend cleaning the pool.
In this guide, we will explore some more practical tips and techniques that can help you keep water from evaporating in your pool.
Evaporation: The #1 Culprit Of Swimming Pool Water Loss
Water-saving pools can reduce water use in backyards compared to sprinkler- and lawn-assisted landscaping.
The California Pool and Spa Association (CPSA) studied how a typical pool and deck uses one-third less water per day than a comparable new lawn.
In light of this new information, pool owners everywhere can enjoy their liquid playground without feeling concerned about the environment.
Water conservation is still essential for many pool owners, and there are ways to make your pool more efficient in holding onto water.
To determine what needs to be done about preserving H2O in your pool, you must first understand the biggest challenge.
In a nutshell, evaporation is responsible for the process. The Department of Energy suggests that up to 70% of pool and spa water loss comes from evaporation.
Evaporation will occur if the pool surface is exposed to air and wind. In the atmosphere, the water molecules are formed into a vapour after rising from the water’s surface.
As the water evaporates into mist in the chilly air, a heated pool would also lose water volume on cool nights.
Depending on weather conditions like heat, wind, sunlight, and humidity, your pool’s water level can go down by a quarter of an inch each day.
The good news is that you can cope with evaporation in several ways. We will examine how you can save as much water as possible in your pool.
How To Keep Pool Water From Evaporating?
Pool owners might be surprised to learn that water evaporates even after the sun sets and the temperature drops. We will discuss how to conserve water in this section, but our focus is only on strategies for slowing evaporation.
Cover Your Pool
First and foremost, put a cover on your pool! Conserving water with this method is the best way to go.
The pace at which water evaporates can be slowed dramatically with covers, especially on hot days and cold nights. It has been proven that covering a pool can significantly reduce evaporation by 95%!
Pool covers don’t just protect pools; they also offer other advantages. Aside from keeping the pool fuller, they maintain a much higher temperature, reducing energy consumption.
Furthermore, they keep your pool cleaner, and depending on the type of cover, they can also make it safer.
Due to the wide variety of options available and the prices that range from affordable to very expensive, a cover can be found to suit almost any pool and every budget.
An automatic pool cover that extends with a single push of a button can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Or you can pick up a lightweight solar blanket for about a hundred dollars. Floating or reeled on the pool surface, these thin plastic blankets are applied by hand or automatically.
Bonus Tip
Some municipalities offer coupons or other incentives toward the purchase of solar blankets for swimming pools. This information – and sometimes an online coupon – is available directly on the waters agency’s website.
As a matter of fact, it covers work really, really well. In addition to anything else, a pool cover can dramatically slow the evaporation rate of your pool water.
Add Windbreaks
A strong wind can accelerate the evaporation of pool water. Windbreaks are barriers placed around pools to reduce their direct impact on water surfaces.
It may also be possible to prevent heavy gusts from blowing some water out of your pool with a strategically placed windbreak. Besides slowing evaporation, this will also reduce the risk of water loss.
In addition to these barriers, there are several other types of barriers. One such example is landscaping.
For example, adding a few shrubbery rows or thick bushes can do wonders. While adding beauty to your backyard, they will also help muffle some of the blowing wind around your pool.
In addition, solid or semi-solid wood or metal fences are available. You can choose from several options, including wrought iron or chain link if you already have one.
It may be possible for you to alter it so the wind cannot pass through. You can achieve this by placing certain types of material over the existing fence.
Various visually appealing options are available for covering your fence, including nets, tarps, screens, and vinyl. Some can be custom designed with different colors or patterns to match any existing fence you may have.
Installing artificial hedges can also be a great way to reinforce your current fence against the wind. Foliage types like ferns, ivy, and focus may be seen on these durable screens.
In addition to being affordable, they are easy to install. You’ll enjoy enhanced privacy in your backyard while this faux greenery inhibits the wind’s influence on your pool water.
Reduce Water Temperature
It is easy and effective to slow water evaporation by lowering the pool thermostat. Molecular motion is faster in warm water, which causes it to vaporize quicker and floe away more easily.
Warm pools become especially vulnerable in the evening when the mercury drops; as the air gets cold, water molecules are turned into mist, which evaporates quickly.
A higher pool-water temperature overrides the higher air temperature, accelerating this process. Airborne dispersal of cool water is less prone to occur.
In other words, if you won’t use the pool for a while, just turn down the heater. In addition, if you have a spa, the extra warm water is particularly susceptible to evaporation.
Turn Off Any Water Features
Adding fountains, waterfalls, laminar sprayers to your backyard resort, and water slides with flowing runways enhances your recreational experience.
As a result, they also expose more water to the air and sunlight. Greater exposure to the sun results in an increased evaporation rate.
Be sure to pay attention to the features that spray water into the air or cascade in raindrop-style sheets of water.
Due to the partial exposure of each tiny water droplet to air and heat, they tend to evaporate more quickly. The loss of water that occurs from these types of features will be greater and quicker than that which arises from a trickling rock waterfall.
Do not let your pool’s water escape easily. The added benefit is that you will save energy that your pool pump would have to use to run these features.
As long as your pool is on when you are entertaining guests or when your family is using it, you should also turn it on!
Try A Liquid Solar Blanket
Having trouble installing a solid cover or solar blanket over your pool? A better option exists. Liquid solar blankets can help, even though they aren’t as effective as a genuine pool cover or solar blanket.
They sit on the surface of the pool as a microscopic film. Liquid blankets are lighter than water, and they are more delicate than liquid water. Several types, such as tablets, bottles, and dispensers shaped like fish, are available.
Their ease of use makes them a snap. Your pool will automatically become covered with the product’s contents once you pour or add it to it.
In the process of becoming a molten barrier, the liquid blanket traps heat and slows down evaporation. Biodegradable, invisible, and effective, this product keeps your pool’s water from escaping 24/7.
Pool owners are increasingly using liquid blankets. Their popularity has increased over the past decade.
Water’s pH and chemical balance are not affected. The manufacturers state that the product ingredients are safe, non-toxic, and do not harm swimmers.
A few versions require you to add the product manually each day, while others have automatic dispensers that work for around a month on their own.
The Bottom Line
A pool’s natural evaporation results in a loss of hundreds of gallons of water each year. Water conservation for most homeowners starts with slowing this process to ensure pool fills are only needed as rarely as possible.
Water in the pool should be kept there rather than in the drain. With this knowledge, you can decrease your pool’s liquid losses and preserve them for as long as possible.
