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Solar pool cover buying guide

Updated: 2026-10-22

A round Intex frame and a rectangular Bestway pool take different films, and an unlabelled garden pool is harder still, because the title often prints the pool while the size field prints another figure and the thickness is missing. This solar pool cover buying guide is the short list of checks before you order from amazon.co.uk. The [solar pool cover comparison](/hub/swimming-pools/solar-pool-cover) ranks the seven listings we kept. Sizes and prices come from those amazon.co.uk pages, set against public UK pool-trade guides, with no lab test behind the checks. Entry films in that set sit at about £9 to £13, and a mid listing is about £21 to £31. Keep those bands separate from a thick shop blanket.

A round Intex frame and a rectangular Bestway pool take different films, and an unlabelled garden pool is harder still, because the title often prints the pool while the size field prints another figure and the thickness is missing.

Our top picks

tillvex tillvex 549 x 274 cm solar film

Best overall

tillvex tillvex 549 x 274 cm solar film
9.2/10about £56.79
View offer
Intex Intex 28010 Easy Set solar cover

Best value

Intex Intex 28010 Easy Set solar cover
8.6/10about £12.99
View offer
Bestway Bestway 58240 rectangle solar cover

Alternative

Bestway Bestway 58240 rectangle solar cover
7.6/10about £25.67
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What you are actually buying
  2. 2.Size, and why the title lies
  3. 3.Thickness, in microns
  4. 4.A five-point check before you order

What you are actually buying

A solar cover in this set is a bubble film that floats on the water in season. Pool Warehouse, writing about above-ground covers, puts that film on the water with the bubble side down, left unfastened, and with no one’s weight on it. SPATA names evaporation as the job of a pool cover and calls 400 micron a popular grade. That figure describes shop sheet, and it stays a trade grade here. A tied sheet does another job. It sits over the pool to keep leaves off, often with straps or a hem. Oxford cloth, a drawstring, or eyelets mark a debris cover that has borrowed the word solar. The comparison table already dropped those tarps from this set. The fork is on solar pool cover or debris cover. Choose the film when you want the water covered between swims, and the sheet when you want rubbish kept off a closed pool.

Size, and why the title lies

Measure the water. On an above-ground pool the carton size is often larger than the waterline, which is where Intex and Bestway buyers get caught, according to Pool Warehouse. Tape the surface, wall to wall, and write both axes if the pool is oval. The Intex cover in this set is 206 cm for a 244 cm pool. The sheet sits inside the wall, so the maker sells it smaller than the name on the frame. 1st Direct Pools, writing mainly for in-ground pools, says you can cut a cover that is too big and you cannot stretch one that is too small. Reject every film smaller than the frame and you reject the cover Intex sells for that frame. Listing 58240 prints 4.04 m x 4.12 m in the Bestway title. The size field is 380 x 180 cm, and that field is the cover. Section 11 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says goods must match their description, so a clash you can already see is a reason to leave. Walopola’s size field is 39 cm. KMQRDZi’s title and size field disagree. Best solar pool cover names which remaining listing fits which pool.
tillvex tillvex 549 x 274 cm solar film

Testsieger

tillvex tillvex 549 x 274 cm solar film
9.2/10about £56.79
View offer

Thickness, in microns

Microns are the grade. Plastipack says a good pool-cover material should be no less than 400 µm. That bar belongs to their own sheet. It is not a lab result on the 120 micron Intex or tillvex films here. SPATA treats 400 micron as the popular trade grade in the same sense. A 400 micron GeoBubble from a UK shop starts well above the £9 to £31 band. Where a listing prints 120 µm, that figure is the film. tillvex costs £56.79 and is still a large 120 µm sheet. Jacksons Leisure sells 200 micron above-ground films from £24.95 and warns that cheaper films are often about 100 micron. That warning is their shop line, and it is not a test of these ASINs. A 120 micron film is thinner than the grade UK pool shops call a proper blanket.

A five-point check before you order

Work down the listing in this order. A pass on one line can still fail the next. Measure the water first, because the carton diameter is the frame, and an oval needs both axes. Then read the size field: a 206 cm Intex film can match a 244 cm pool, and a 39 cm field matches no pool here. Confirm bubble film, then use only a thickness the seller printed. Stars come last. They cannot place a sheet whose sizes already disagree.

Common questions

What should I measure, the frame or the water?
Measure the water. On an above-ground pool the carton size is often the frame, and the waterline sits inside it. Pool Warehouse notes that this gap catches Intex and Bestway buyers. Tape the surface both ways if the pool is oval.
Why is an Intex solar cover smaller than the pool?
The Intex cover in this set is 206 cm for a 244 cm pool. It sits on the water inside the wall, so it is sold smaller than the frame name. Check 206 cm against your water before you treat that gap as a short delivery.
Is 120 micron the same as a 400 micron blanket?
No. 120 micron is less than a third of 400 micron. Plastipack’s line for a good cover material is 400 µm, and SPATA calls 400 micron the popular grade for shop sheet. tillvex at £56.79 is still a 120 µm film.
The Bestway title says 4.04 m x 4.12 m. Is that the cover?
On listing 58240, 4.04 m x 4.12 m is the title. The size field is 380 x 180 cm, and that field is the cover. Section 11 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says goods must match the description, so leave a clash you can already see.
Can I cut a film that is too big, and can I fix one that is too small?
You can trim overlap once the film is on the water. You cannot stretch a sheet that stops short of the water you meant to cover. 1st Direct Pools makes that point for in-ground covers. The Intex 206 cm film for a 244 cm pool is smaller on purpose.
How do I spot a tarp that has been labelled solar?
Look for Oxford cloth, a drawstring, eyelets, or straps, and for a line that tells you to tie the cover to the frame. A solar film in this set floats, with the bubble side down, and it carries no one’s weight.

Related pages

How to fit a solar pool cover

Solar pool cover

Best solar pool cover for the pool you already own

Is a solar cover a safety cover? It will not hold you

Solar cover or pool cover: which one should you buy?

Sources

Public UK sources used for this comparison. Listing prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures saved for this set on 20 October 2026.

  1. SPATA pool covers factsheet (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  2. SPATA water losses factsheet (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  3. RoSPA accidents to children (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  4. PWTAG swimming pool covers (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  5. BS EN 16582-3:2015 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  6. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 11 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  7. Plastipack use and care guide (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  8. GeoBubble FAQ (retrieved 20 October 2026)