The Pros and Cons of Various Safety Pool Covers

Pool safety covers are great at keeping things out of your pool that don’t belong in there, like dirt, leaves, winter snow, and even small children and pets if you get one that’s heavy-duty enough!

You still have plenty of time before you need to need to cover your pool for the season, but in case you’re planning ahead and are checking out your options so you can be prepared when the time comes, we’ve covered (get it?!) the three most popular safety pool covers on the market and have explained the pros and cons of each so that you can make the best choice for your pool and family!

Standard Winter Covers

• Pros: This option is great for the very basics: keeping out sunlight to mitigate evaporation, and keeping out debris so you won’t have a constant mess on your hands or a swamp when it’s time to reopen your pool.
• Cons: Standard Winter Pool Covers are made of a tarp like material, and therefore tend to only last for about 3 seasons maximum and can hold very little weight which can be dangerous if you have pets or small children who may try to wander across the cover. This type of cover is also prone to water buildup and will require pumping to keep it from caving into the pool.

Security Covers

• Pros: Vinyl Security Pool Covers made of vinyl that will keep your clean pool water in and rainwater and debris out while Mesh Security Pool Covers keep solid debris out but allow rainwater to pass through so water cannot pool on top of it. Both of these options can support more weight than Standard Winter Pool Covers and look almost like trampolines with the material stretched flat across the pool and attached to anchors within the concrete by spring-loaded straps connected to the cover. A Vinyl Security Pool Cover will should last you about 6-10 years while you can expect a Mesh Security Pool Cover to last for about 10-15 years.
• Cons: Much like the Standard Winter Pool Cover, a Vinyl Security Pool Cover is going to require a pump to remove any water that accumulates on top over the cover. These pumps will need to be adjusted often and will probably only last you about 2-4 years. Meanwhile, since a Mesh Security Pool Cover will let in rainwater and snow, your pool water will be murky upon opening and it’ll probably take about 2-5 days to get everything cleared up and balanced out again.

Automatic Covers

• Pros: Automatic Pool Covers are not only keeping out debris, but they also act as solar covers!
• Cons: There are a few things that can go wrong with Automatic Pool Covers. First, the actual cover itself is made of a vinyl material that tends to break down after about 5 years and will need to be replaced, which is an expensive task on top of an already expensive investment. Next, these covers are so good at trapping heat that they can make your pool water too hot to enjoy — we’re talking 95°+ — if used in the Summer. Then, there’s the issue with weight; these covers are supposed to hold up to 2,000 lbs., which is great if you’re worried about pets or children wandering across the cover, but heavy loads of snow have been known to make these covers cave in. Finally, since Automatic Pool Covers rely on so much machinery (motors, tracks, pulleys, the actual cover, etc.), there’s a lot that could go wrong. It’s fairly well known that once your Automatic Pool Cover has been in use for about 3 years, you can expect frequent breakdowns that may even keep you from being able to use your pool at all!

If you need help picking out the right safety pool cover for your pool, give us a call at our SC location at (864) 676-9400 or our NC location at (828) 687-8080 and we can help you make the right choice! Or, if you’ve picked out the right cover and need help installing it or getting it in place, schedule service online!

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