Hi all,

I am thinking about getting a solar pool cover for my pool. I have solar pool heater and I want to use the cover to retain the heat especially during colder months (APR-MAY, SEP-OCT).

The problem is that my pool is very oddly shaped. It kind of looks like an disproportioned angular kidney. One end is narrow (about 10 ft) and the other is wide (about 20 ft).

Two questions:

(1) Due to this odd-shape, it looks like I can't really use a reel if I cut the cover to make it fit inside the pool. If I don't cut the cover, quite a portion of the cover will actually cover the ground. Worse yet, I can't really place a reel at the wider end due to the pool fence.

Would I suffer gravely if I don't buy a reel and place/remove the cover whenever I use the pool? Or would you still recommend a reel even if the cover will have to touch the ground to use it?

I don't really have a good idea about how heavy and cumbersome it would be. Looks like some people use multiple sections for easier handling.

(2) If the main purpose is retaining the heat, not generating it, will a 12 mil cover do okay? Not much price difference between 12 mil and 16 mil covers ($30 or so), but I heard 16 mil is much harder to handle especially without a reel.

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.