LIQUID POOL COVERS

ecosystems is in the business of helping pools maintain warmer water at the least cost.  Solar is certainly one very important way to do this.  Pool blankets or covers are an integral part of solar heating in cooler climates to help retain heat.  85% of the heat loss from a pool is off the water surface as the warmest water evaporates into the air.  In conjunction with solar or by themselves, covers reduce water loss and thus reduce heat loss from a pool or any body of water.  We highly recommend the use of a standard cover such as the bubble-type, foam or automatic vinyl.  Unfortunately, covers can be expensive, inconvenient or even impossible to use in some situations, especially on larger commercial pool or ponds.  As a result, we suggest at least the use of a liquid pool cover. 

For years we recommended the Ecosavr and Heatsavr products to our dealers.  Their manufacturer, Flexible Solutions of BC Canada were the original makers of liquid covers that use a non-toxic, biodegradable substance to add surface tension to the water molecules to reduce their ability to vaporize.  Reduction in evaporation rates can exceed 40% or more.  It was designed to reduce evaporation rates on large potable water reservoirs, fish ponds and other similar commercial environments.  In 1998 this concept was adapted to swimming pools.  More information follows or you can go directly to their website at www.flexiblesolutions.com.  In 2010, we decided to become a distributor for them due to increasing interest in, and positive feedback on, their products.  We are now offering them to our dealers to sell throughout the western states.  If you need help finding a dealer, please contact us. 

Quotes from Flexible Solutions CEO Dan O'Brien:

Our original research into the spreading of monolayer films led to products able to conserve up to 45% of water loss from open water storage and transport systems. Furthermore, modifications of the same technology allow our swimming pool products to save up to 45% of a pool's energy use on top of the water savings.

All of our products are safe, organic and biodegrade quickly into harmless byproducts. We at Flexible Solutions are proud to contribute positively to the planet with our focus on conservation and the environment, concurrent with running a successful, growing business.

flexible Solutions Products:

	Heatsavr™ A revolutionary and safe alternative to reduce heating costs and evaporation in indoor and outdoor pools. Automatic injection systems are available to make adding the product to large pools hassle- free.  How & Why It Works
	WaterSavr™ Significant evaporation mitigation in all industrial applications, including agriculture and aquaculture.
	Ecosavr™ A cute and effective way to add the Heatsavr™ liquid to residential outdoor and indoor pools. These are available through your pool retailer

Heatsavr™

• Heatsavr™ is an effective "liquid pool blanket" that greatly reduces heat loss and evaporation from your exposed pool surface.                                                               
• Heatsavr™ is made of simple biodegradable ingredients that form the best barrier currently available to slow the heat and water loss that causes high pool room humidity, and high facility heating bills.
• Heatsavr™ slows evaporation substantially. Evaporation is one of the main forms of heat loss from swimming pools and spas. Slowing it can yield large cost savings.
• Heatsavr™ will lower humidity as well as evaporation. It takes money to buy heat, and heat to evaporate water, so slowing evaporation will lower humidity as well as heating costs.
• Heatsavr™ will save energy in EVERY pool, but heat cost savings vary according to the hours of swimmer use per day, ventilation efficiency, and especially the type and cost of fuel used. The cost of energy also varies from region to region. Tests have proven that heat bill savings range from a low of 15.5% at a high use 50 meter municipal pool, to a high of 40% at a low use condominium pool.

Now available: 2004 Heatsavr™ Brochure. Please click here (2.6Mb in PDF)

 Commercial Facilities Guide to Heatsavr

 

WaterSavr™

• WaterSavr™ is a food safe powdered form of the active ingredient in Heatsavr which can be used in all still or slow moving drinking water sources.
• WaterSavr™ delivers significant reductions of free water surface evaporation, up to 50% evaporation mitigation.
• WaterSavr™ is a fine granulated product, deliverable to your site in 50lb weatherproof bags for easy handling and storage. Various application methods are possible: from simple hand dispersal to fully automated scheduled metering using local weather data to determine timing and dosage quantities.
• WaterSavr™ Powder is suitable for application to:
  • Reservoirs, up to 50% reduction of free water surface evaporation - subject to size and wind conditions.
  • Potable water storages, drinking water can be consumed not wasted to the water evaporation cycle.
  • Aqueducts and canals, deliver substantially more water to end consumer (can be seller or buyer applied).
  • Agricultural irrigation canals and ditches - reducing delivery loses, more water same purchase expense.
  • Flood water crops - applied at point of flooding, major savings w/ accelerated crop maturation.
  • Stock watering ponds - hand application, major savings through extended refill scheduling.
  • Anytime or anywhere valuable water stands or runs without rapids.
  • Any situation that requires evaporation reduction.

  To view the current WaterSavr™ Brochure (available as a PDF), please click here or scroll down to Tools and Resources.

EcoSavr™

The original solar pool cover! So easy to use: snip it, toss it, relax!

Liquid solar cover for swimming pools: an alternative to conventional solar covers.

Evaporation accounts for up to 7/8 of heat loss from a swimming pool. A single Ecosavr™ contains liquid which automatically floats to the surface of the pool and acts as an evaporation inhibitor, much as a conventional solar blanket performs, except a lot easier to use.

Our key ingredient is a non-toxic chemical called Heatsavr; it's been in use since 1991 and has a proven track record in commercial use. We packaged it to facilitate its application for the residential pool owner. Heatsavr™ is filter friendly, does not affect the chemical balance (PH, chlorine, alkalinity) of the water, will not damage vinyl liners or any other pool surfaces, and is absolutely harmless to skin contact.

How does it work?

Simply snip the fin where indicated and toss "Eco" in your pool. Ecosavr™ submerges to the bottom of the pool and as the pressure increases, the liquid escapes, rises, and forms an invisible layer on the surface of the water. It is 60% as effective as a conventional solar cover but 100% less trouble. It works 24 hours a day, even while people are swimming. Ecosavr™ will last for approximately 1 month. Then all you have to do is retrieve "Eco" and toss a new one in.

To view our current Ecosavr brochure (May 04) please click here. (Available as 1.68mb pdf document.)

Heatsavr™: How and Why It Works

An Explanation for Non-Chemists

Heatsavr™ works by slowing evaporation from the surface of a swimming pool; either indoor or outdoor. Imagine yourself or preferably your worst enemy chained to a stairmaster and expected or forced to climb. As they climb they generate more heat than their body needs to maintain a temperature of 98.6 degrees. The result is sweat. Each drop of sweat takes some heat from the body and transfers it to the floor under the stairmaster. The heat had to be paid for in the form of food and food costs money.

Your pool is very much the same. When it is warmer than the air around it or the air has lower than 100% humidity your pool sweats. Instead of sweat drops on the floor you have invisible steam escaping into the air and blowing away from outdoor pools or exhausted by the air handling system of an indoor pool. It takes fuel energy to heat the pool water and fuel costs money. And the steam/sweat of a pool is 90% of the cost of keeping your pool water warm enough to attract paying customers. Heatsavr™ is a method to reduce the steam loss per hour and therefore the dollar cost of keeping your pool warm. It does this by forming a safe invisible layer one to two molecules thick on the surface of the pool. To compare with your enemy on the stairmaster think how much faster he/she would die of heat exhaustion if you wrapped them in plastic so that they could not sweat to loose heat.

Heatsavr™ is a mixture of carefully chosen ingredients which are lighter than water so that they automatically float to the surface. They are attracted to each other so that they try always to form a perfect very thin layer over the whole pool surface. They are individually so small that they are 500 times smaller than the spaces in a super high quality filter. After a swimmer stops disturbing the water they rush to reform a complete layer because they are chemically happiest that way. And most importantly - WHEN THEY ARE IN POSITION THEY REDUCE THE SWEATING SPEED OF THE POOL BY UP TO ONE HALF. Heatsavr™ theoretically could save half your heat bill if no one ever swam in the pool and if the circulation pump were turned off. This is not likely but Heatsavr™ does achieve savings as high as 40%. Most pools will find energy bill reductions between 17% and 30%. For every dollar spent on Heatsavr™, you should expect a minimum of two dollars off your heat bill.

Pool managers buy Heatsavr™ for a variety of reasons. Saving money on their energy bills is the biggest one. Others are already using a pool blanket and find that while there are energy savings, there are also inconveniences and that staff are not motivated to use the blankets correctly and consistently. Heatsavr™'s ease of use without loss of energy savings is attractive to these operators. A small number of users who operate indoor pools are interested in reducing the humidity levels in their pool rooms. They don't mind receiving the energy savings as a bonus.