Can anyone help me with this, please. I need to purchase a foam, heat-retaining 5mm or, preferably, 6mm thick thermal cover for my indoor swimming pool, in South West France (33220), which is a rectangle, measuring 7.96m by 3.39m. I require it to be hemmed all around, to be factory-fitted with a leading edge towing kit, and to come with a roller strap kit. Easy enough to purchase in he UK at a reasonable price and to have delivered to any address there for a nominal sum. But can the various UK suppliers ship it to France? The answer is that most either cannot or will not, and those few who can and will are usually the most expensive and also want a huge sum of money for the delivery to France.
Apparently the problem is that foam covers cannot be folded without severe creasing, so have to be rolled up for transportation - rather like carpets. In my case, even for a small pool, this will result in a roll about 4m long. Apparently most couriers cannot handle a roll that long.
I have tried to purchase the item in France, where the delivery cost would actually be quite reasonable, but where the purchase cost could be up to twice as much as in the UK.
Does anyone on this helpful forum know of any reasonably-priced courier with a long enough load space, or a UK supplier who will deliver to France at a reasonable cost, or indeed a supplier in France who sells and can deliver this product at an affordable price? Or someone doing a return trip from the UK to SW France in a lorry or van with a long enough load-space and some spare room?.
Any (polite, please!) suggestions or ideas would be warmly-welcomed.
Many thanks for this suggestion. Unfortunately when I provided Parcel Monkey (online) with the details of my proposed package, their response was that none of their partners could help with this due to the combination of size and weight. I had a similar result with Shiply.
But I will eventually find an affordable solution…
I am wondering if finding a method of transport from UK is such a good idea.
This sounds like a good-quality product which needs specialised handling/transporting.
Personally, I would rather buy in France and have the French company themselves arrange the delivery - then the onus is definitely on them to make sure it arrives in perfect nick… also, after-sales service would be easier within France.
Buying cheaper in UK at the outset, might cost you a lot more in the long run.
Just a thought.
Are you able to give us a link to the product you are looking at ???
I take your point entirely, and where possible I always buy in France - I believe in supporting the economy of my place of residence!
The problem is finding a supplier of this product in France. So far I have found one only - and the price is double that of suppliers in the UK, although the delivery cost would be more reasonable.
My ideal product is the Certikin Blue Thermalux 6mm Foam Heat Retention Cover For Indoor Pools. At a pinch I might accept a 5mm similar type of cover made by Plastica - it is a little less pricey than the Certikin product, but I would rather have the extra 1mm thickness. These covers are not cheap, but the objective is to retain heat so as to reduce the ginormous annual electricity bill. I was initially advised to use a black “bubble” cover to conserve the heat, but it fell apart after 2 years and conserved very little heat in that period (but it did keep the pool hall warm without having to use the reverse air conditioner units)! So after doing my own research, I have decided upon what I want. Yes, it is a lot pricier, but I will probably recoup the extra cost in one or two years (the pool is heated and we use it all year round) from savings on electricity (we heat the water with a heat pump designed specifically for the purpose).
If you or any other SF member can come up with helpful ideas I would very much appreciate that.
Certikin, spit! I know the company that manufactures it. Certikin just market adding their markup.
I had a quote for a cover for a customer two years ago and transport cost were great. Unfortunately customer pfaffed around and the following year transport cost was considerably higher.
Black bubble cover! Oh jeez some idiot not knowing what they were talking about but that’s not uncommon in the pool industry. Black would loose more heat over night than any other cover, one reason why car radiators are black. Might gain a bit more during the day but only in the top 2 inches.
Are you telling me that the Certikin product I am proposing to buy is not good? What would be better for my purpose - i.e. heat retention cover for an indoor swimming pool?
If the Certikin product is OK, and you know the company that makes it, could I order it directly from that company?
If not, who could I buy from in France at a reasonable price?
I have tried to find an address or email address or telephone number for Certikin France, but all I get are lists of companies supplying Certikin products - and not always including foam heat-retention covers.
Certikin are a trade to trade supplier normally but in these troubled times maybe they have relented?
I don’t like Certikin, I know how badly they treated some pool companies, they re badge other products but nothing wrong with the cover you are looking at.
If you don’t mind waiting until next week when I am back in the office I can see what I can do.
