5 PACK - Solar Sun Rings SSR

After reading numerous reviews and debating whether or not I wanted to buy something that seemed overpriced, I ended up buying a total of 15 rings. I was hoping that it was worth paying more than twice the price of a bubble cover for the ease of taking it on and off the pool. Well, here is my opinion on the whole matter:The rings are easy to inflate but you can’t overinflate them or else they won’t sit flat on your pool. Then they would either blew onto each other, blow off of the water, or bows enough to resemble a “taco shell”, with the slightest wind. These rings are WAY overpriced and more resemble cheap blow-ups that one would buy for $3.00 to float around the pool on, not the $25-$30 each you’re gouged for. I read many reviews that a large ratio of these rings get holes in them either immediately or soon after purchase. So far I have only had 1 out of the 15 do this. I haven’t taken the time to try and patch it yet so I have no opinion on the patch kit.Here is GREAT NEWS! ……..Yes, my water IS warmer. These rings DO seem to do what they’re intended to do, provided that you can keep them on top of the water. Considering their price and material and that they blow around too easily. I would only rate these rings with 1 star. But I have discovered an INEXPENSIVE HOME-MADE ANCHOR that is simple to make and that truly works to hold down your solar rings in light winds.Follow these instructions to construct Home-made anchoring kits (and you can thank me later).1. Purchase a roll of ½” black flexible drip irrigation tubing and ½” barbed x 1/2” barbed couplings (not 90’s), enough for all the rings you need.2. Cut off a section of the tubing approximately 12’ 6” long.3. Insert a coupling into one end of the tubing section.4. Place the end of this tubing at a downward angle into your pool water, displacing all air out of the tubing until completely filled with water (it shouldn’t float if full of water).5. With both ends submerged in the water, connect the other end of the tubing to the coupling.6. Place the anchor onto the solar ring.The total cost of these anchors was about $30 for 15 rings. It was worth the additional investment to get them to stay on my pool.

These do work very well. They do not prohibit the skimmer from working so you don't have a big dirty mess like when removing a full pool cover. They also do help to keep the heat in. I don't think the sun heating really works best. But they are so much easier to remove and put on than the full size cover. I highly recommend them. We hang them but the reinforced holes so storage is not much of a trouble. Do not try to rinse then fold and put away. I did that last year and they were a moldy mess. I cleaned them and now we hang them up.

We bought a couple of these packs because we didn't want to deal with a solar blanket in our pool. Some of the rings didn't hold air correctly and we were always blowing them back up, obviously had some slow leaks. Also our pool is not a standard size, it's a 12 x 26. So the rings didn't cover the surface of the pool completely. I can't say they were useless as they did keep the heat in the pool somewhat. But when we switched to a solar blanket there was a huge difference. The blanket worked much better and I think we will be getting rid of the rings. They were very expensive (about $25 a ring) and I think too expensive for the benefit they provided. Granted they might have worked better if they covered more of the pool surface but there's no way of knowing.

I bought 15 rings total for my 12' x 30' pool at a total cost of about $350. They covered about 85% of the pool, but after using them for two consecutive spring seasons I saw no noticeable raise in pool temperature compared the same time during the previous 8 years I had this pool without the rings. I'm sure they do raise the temperature a little, but I did not notice any significant change, so they are definitely not worth the money. Plus, the magnets in them that are supposed to hold them together are too weak and the wind blows them all over the place (including out of the pool), so you are constantly having to re-position them. Plus they are very difficult to deflate and store at the end of the season and then re-inflate the next year. And worst of all was that after two years and a total of about 4 months worth of total use, they started growing dark brown algae everywhere inside them and they looked horrible. So I sadly put all 15 of them out by the curb in the trash today.

I'm giving this product 4 stars because it does perform as described. I immediately saw about a 5-8 degree rise in temperature in my pool, which was impressive since it is a light bottom pool in a temperate climate with only direct sunlight for the first half of the day.I'm docking it one star because they are kind of a pain. They don't hold their shape very well, so all it takes is a stiff breeze to fold them over on themselves. The magnets that hold them to each other work fairly well, but all it takes is one loose end. They have the added benefit of keeping debris out of the pool, except of course if you're not careful when removing them to use the pool, at which point most of the debris will fall into the pool. As such, I would recommend removing them well in advance of using the pool to allow your skimmer to do its job.Gets the job done, but may be too much of a hassle for some people.