When it comes to closing your pool for the season, there are a few tasks that you must complete to ensure that your pool stays healthy while it’s closed. You’ll end up cleaning the water and the pool, add some water chemicals, and do a couple more things before finally covering your pool – but are you using the right cover?
When your pool is closed for the season, the best option for you is to utilize safety pool covers. It doesn’t just protect your pool; it prevents children and animals from falling into or getting trapped under a non-safety cover.
There used to be only two choices: solid or mesh, but now there is a third option – hybrid safety pool covers. This hybrid version combines the most desirable features of solid and mesh covers.
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Safety Pool Covers
Once you’ve properly put on pool safety covers, big tree limbs could fall onto your pool, and the cover would support it and make sure that it doesn’t get into your pool’s water until you’re able to get rid of it.
How do you pick out the best safety pool cover for your needs, requirements, and pool? Below you’ll find five tips on how to buy safety pool covers for your pool.
Purpose & Climate
Before you start shopping for safety pool covers, you need to know what purpose it will serve. If you want to keep your pets and children safe, mesh safety pool covers are a great choice. If you don’t have pets or children, you might want to only protect your pool from debris, leaves, and from winterizing.
The best safety pool covers will depend on where you’re located. Ideally, it will be suited to withstand the climate in your location. If you live somewhere with a harsh winter, mesh is a great option. If you live in a warmer climate, solid or automatic safety pool covers will help slow down the rate of evaporation from your pool.
What Size Safety Pool Covers to Buy?
You should measure your pool from the inside edge to inside edge to know the diameter of your pool. Or you can do length times width dimensions of your pool if you have a rectangular one. Most safety pool covers will have a built-in overlap that will fit a certain sized pool even after you’ve lowered the water level for winter.
For instance, a 16’x32’ safety cover measures out to 18’x34’. If you have a freeform pool, you should purchase a rectangular cover that will fit the longest length and the widest width. Any extra material can be folded underneath or cut.
What Kind of Pool Cover to Purchase?
Safety pool covers tend to cost a bit more than the standard winter pool covers, and the installation can be a bit more labor-intensive. However, the cost and extra work are ultimately worth it.
If they are properly stored and maintained, safety pool covers can last longer than regular covers, plus they’re strong enough to keep animals and children out of the pool. There are two types of safety pool covers: solid and mesh.
Solid Safety Pool Covers
Solid safety pool covers are long-lasting and durable and are designed to withstand snow and winter debris. They also keep sunlight out of your pool to prevent algae from growing.
The only drawback of purchasing a solid safety cover is that it’s solid, so there’s nowhere for melted snow or rain to pass through, which means that you’ll have to have a pump to keep excess water off your pool cover.
Mesh Safety Pool Covers
Mesh safety pool covers keep the debris, such as branches and leaves, out of your pool. They are also incredibly strong. They are held in place by a bunch of heavy-duty straps, which means that they are firmly anchored in place throughout the winter.
Plus, it can hold thousands of pounds.
Mesh safety pool covers won’t keep the sunlight out of your pool, but some offer some sun protection to inhibit algae growth. Another great thing about mesh safety pool covers is that water and melted snow can pass through it, so there’s no need for a pump.
Hybrid Safety Pool Covers
Hybrid safety pool covers combine a small section of mesh with a series of vinyl patches. This type of design allows safety pool covers to drain excess water off the cover, like mesh, while also blocking out U.V. rays and other contaminants, like a solid cover.
What Grade of Safety Pool Covers to Purchase?
With most products, safety pool covers have a Good-Better-Best grading system for the quality of pool covers. There are five grades of winter safety pool covers. On one end, there’s economy, which is used as a disposable pool cover, usually with an eight-year warranty.
Then on the other end, there is a polar protector cover that generally comes with a 20-year warranty. In between, there are three other types of safety pool covers, each with different strengths and durability.
Stick to Your Budget
When you’re searching for the perfect safety pool covers, you need to know your budget. There are so many options on the market, but they vary in prices from inexpensive to extremely expensive. Knowing what you can spend makes it, so you know what range to look at to find the safety pool covers that have fit the requirements you’ve set.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know these five tips on how to buy safety pool covers, you’ll be able to rest assured that you’re purchasing the best one for your pool. Knowing your budget, the purpose, the climate of your location, and the kind of safety pool cover that you want are all important when shopping for safety pool covers.
If you go shopping before you figure these things out, you won’t know what you’re looking for and what will work best for your needs.
