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Consumers Energy arrived on day 8, right on time at 8:30am, along with Underground Specialties, the trenching company. They got right to work, running the 90 feet of pipe we needed to hook up the heater. At 11:30, they called and said they were done. I arrived home as Consumers was doing the final hook-up of the gas line. We lit the heater and began warming the pool. The water temperature was 72 degrees. I arrived home at 5:45pm and was amazed to find the water temperature was already 80 degrees. I found out later that it wasn't 80 degrees throughout the pool. The crew arrived to install the solar cover retractor. Unfortunately, they do not make a 33-foot retractor, so we opted for a 28-foot model mounted off-center. After installing the unit, I had to get in the pool to attached the retracting straps to the cover. In hind-sight, I should have turned off the pump as the water flow kept rotating the cover. Because of that, the straps are not perfectly aligned. Regardless, the retractor does the job.
The water was quite warm...until I stepped into the 5-foot deep area, where it was still quite cold. I later discovered the 7-foot deep area was even colder. Retracting the cover is now a 1-person job. It rolls up fairly easily. Putting it back on, however is another story. There is just too much cover material to easily flow out on its own. It looks like we will need one person in the pool and another cranking the retractor. Still, it is much easier than doing it by hand. I swam around a bit to mix the water and balance the temperature out. By tomorrow, we should be fully warm. It was getting dark by the time I was done, so I tried the underwater light. It does a nice job illuminating the pool. I was surprised as it only one light and this is a huge pool. I will attempt to get a night photo soon. |
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Please read my disclaimer. This page last updated on Sunday, August 19, 2001 08:57:56 PM
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