The best solar pool covers in Australia

A pool cover works on three running costs at once: water, heat and chemicals. Most covers sold in Australia are made to order by area, so prices below are quoted for the same 4.0 x 8.2 m pool wherever the retailer let us price it. Prices are from Pool and Spa Warehouse, Daisy, Clark Rubber, Bunnings and Amazon Australia on 18 October 2026.

What a pool cover actually does

The headline benefit is water. The Queensland Government says a properly fitted pool cover can stop up to 97 percent of evaporation and reduce the chemicals needed to treat the water. The Northern Territory Government puts numbers on the problem: up to 300 litres can evaporate from a pool in one day, and in its example evaporation alone is about 9,000 litres a month. The Australian Government’s Your Home guide says covering the pool and lowering the water level can save up to 30,000 litres a year.

The second benefit is heat. A solar bubble blanket lets sunlight through and stops warm water losing heat to the night air. Daisy and ABGAL both claim their covers warm a pool by up to 8°C; treat that as a best case in full sun. The third is chemicals and cleaning: less sunlight on the water and fewer leaves in it. ABGAL goes as far as recommending that an automated chlorinator be turned down by 50 percent once a cover is fitted, which matters if you run a salt system (see the salt water chlorinator guide).

None of these covers is a safety barrier.

The types of pool cover

Daisy describes its ThermoTech foam as primarily a heat-retention cover for pools heated by an external source such as a heat pump. If you are spending money heating water, read the pool heat pump guide with that in mind: the cover is what keeps the heat you paid for.

Thickness, warranty and price

Thickness is measured in microns, and it is the clearest thing you are paying for, because warranty length follows it. These are the prices for one 4.0 x 8.2 m pool (32.8 square metres).

Daisy’s own table follows the same pattern: 3 years on its 250 micron cover, 5 on the 350i and 400, and 10 on the 525 range. Pro rata means the warranty pays less the older the cover is, so the last column is a rough guide, not a promise. It still shows why the 550 is our pick: it is the cheapest route to a ten-year warranty. Clark Rubber sells both the Daisy 525 and the ABGAL 550 at $25.95 per square metre, with a 9 square metre minimum on the Daisy, and quotes 2 to 3 weeks because each cover is cut to order.

If the price of any of these is a stretch, Bunnings sells Daisy’s 500um and 300um Royal Blue covers in fixed sizes with delivery included: $773.83 for an 8 x 4 m 500um cover and $393.66 for an 8 x 3 m 300um cover. The Bunnings pages do not state a warranty for this range.

Heating or non-heating

In most of the country a heating blanket is right. In the tropics, or for an indoor pool, the problem is often too much heat, and a blue bubble blanket makes it worse. Daisy’s 525TC Titanium Cool is opaque: Clark Rubber’s listing says it reflects about 34 percent of heat and light and transmits virtually zero sunlight, so you keep the evaporation and debris savings without warming the water. It costs the same as Daisy’s heating 525, $859.36 for our example pool.

Measuring and fitting

Daisy’s instructions are the simplest: measure the maximum width and length of the main body of water at the waterline, measure any step area separately, and treat an odd shape as a rectangle. Daisy and Bunnings both supply covers oversize, and you trim them on site with the pool as the template. Owners of a factory fibreglass pool can skip the trimming: Daisy will robotically pre-cut a cover from the pool model’s data for $71.50 plus GST. Above-ground pool owners have it easier still: buy the cover made for your pool. Clark Rubber sells Intex rectangle covers for 18 ft and 24 ft pools at $119 and $149. For the common 12 ft round Intex pool, the matching cover is the Intex 28012, which is listed on Amazon Australia.

Rollers

Bunnings lists its 8 x 4 m 500um cover at 17.1 kg. Daisy calls a roller essential to the life and proper use of a cover. The Hy-Clor aluminium roller is $199 at Bunnings with delivery included and adjusts from 2.1 to 4.65 m. Step up and Clark Rubber has Daisy’s UTC roller from $479 and under-bench rollers from $1,809; Pool and Spa Warehouse has ABGAL’s Arcadia from $460. Daisy’s warranty table gives its 5 Star rollers 10 years pro rata and its cheaper UTC range 5 years. For rectangular above-ground pools from 2.74 to 4.88 m, the Intex Solar Cover Reel is $279 at Clark Rubber.

The picks

The ABGAL Oasis 550 is the cover most in-ground pool owners should buy: made in Australia, 550 micron, and ten years of pro rata warranty for $787.20 on a 4.0 x 8.2 m pool. The Daisy 525 is the alternative if you want Titanium Blue or Green rather than ABGAL’s deep blue, for $72.16 more. The Daisy 500um at Bunnings suits anyone who wants a fixed size and a Bunnings receipt, and the 300um is the cheapest way to cover an 8 x 3 m pool. The AquaBuddy 500 micron is the ready-cut option on Amazon. In Far North Queensland or the Top End, buy the Titanium Cool instead. Pair any of them with a roller. A covered pool also gathers fewer leaves, which makes life easier for a robotic pool cleaner.

The one trap

Leaving the cover rolled up in the sun. Daisy says 95 percent of its warranty claims are caused by owner misuse rather than product failure, and names two causes: a cover left rolled up in direct sunlight while it is off the pool, and chlorine that is too high, either slightly high for a long time or very high for a short time. Both can void the warranty. Fit a reflective over cover to the roller (Daisy lists one from $80.16, Pool and Spa Warehouse sells ABGAL’s for $95), leave the cover off while chlorine is high after a shock dose, and turn the chlorinator down once the cover goes on.