Which winter cover should I get??

[adl6009]

I knew there had to be a few informed opinions out there somewhere
I am leaning towards the safety mesh cover because 1. They look nice and clean in the backyards I have seen them in. 2. They are supposed to provide a layer of safety against accidental or unauthorized entry. 3. I have been told they are easyto put on and take off.
I am worried about them because of the overflow potential. Do you have to pump out the pool thru the winter? I guess the water in the skimmer isn't a big deal as my skimmers as yet haven't been destroyed. Will the thing I screw into the skimmer port protect a skimmer FULL of water??
I am glad Tredge said he installed his own, I am kinda on a do it myself kick right now.

[bryjen]

Heres my 2 cents. Our inground pool was installed last summer. It came with a solid safety cover (blue). They lowered the water level about 12" below skimmer when they winterized it. The cover also came with a pump that automatically pumped water off cover when needed. When we opened the pool in april after 5 mo's of being covered the water was just as blue as the day we closed it. My neighbor has the mesh cover and everything seems to go thru it. His water is never as clean as mine was, and during winter is when the stains have come.

[billk]

This wont work. I thought about doing this but my bro in law did go ahead with this method and he was sorry. It doesnt work like you think it would.

What happened when your B-I-L tried it?

[MaxxFusion]

The biggest problem was that water still would sit on the cover but since there was not one pillow just in the middle the water would sit mostly to one side. He had to keep a close eye on the water levels. Luckily we had a mild winter so the water didnt really freeze much and he was able to pump it off.

I on the other hand used the one big pillow in the middle and my water evenly spread around the pool.

Frank

[billk]

The biggest problem was that water still would sit on the cover but since there was not one pillow just in the middle the water would sit mostly to one side. He had to keep a close eye on the water levels. Luckily we had a mild winter so the water didnt really freeze much and he was able to pump it off.

I on the other hand used the one big pillow in the middle and my water evenly spread around the pool.

Frank

But in my case, the pillows would cover the entire surface of the pool. I can deal with water collecting on the cover, that's easy enough to pump off. It's the leaves that I'm trying to avoid. I'm hoping that this setup will allow the leaves to dry and blow off, or be blown off by a leaf blower, and not have a chance to settle on a cover that needs to be pulled out of the pool.

billk

[MarkC]

While I do get worms in the pool I don't get leaves under the mesh cover. The person with the solid cover and automatic pump does sound nice though. I did get something that must have laid in the pool all winter because I opened and noticed a small stain on the bottom.

[stualden]

I knew there had to be a few informed opinions out there somewhere
I am leaning towards the safety mesh cover because 1. They look nice and clean in the backyards I have seen them in. 2. They are supposed to provide a layer of safety against accidental or unauthorized entry. 3. I have been told they are easyto put on and take off.
I am worried about them because of the overflow potential. Do you have to pump out the pool thru the winter? I guess the water in the skimmer isn't a big deal as my skimmers as yet haven't been destroyed. Will the thing I screw into the skimmer port protect a skimmer FULL of water??
I am glad Tredge said he installed his own, I am kinda on a do it myself kick right now.

We have an Anchor Industries mesh cover for our 23x41 kidney-shaped. It looks very good (straps are on the underside) and is relatively light and easy to put on / take off (but still a 2-person job). Quite a bit of junk falls through over the winter (Eastern PA, lots of trees around) but one thorough spring vacuum takes care of it. Overflow has not been a problem because I leave the cleaner line (which comes out slightly below the tile line) open and it acts as a drain to the woods behind. If I can, I try to brush a heavy snow off the cover; otherwise it pulls the cover down to the water until everything thaws, but so far no damage (have had the cover for 6 years). I always put something crushable in the skimmer and have not had a problem in 15 years (knock on wood).

We considered but rejected the solid "safety" cover (also Anchor), which comes either with a mesh panel in the center or with a pump that sits at the low spot on the cover. Besides being much heavier (harder to handle) and somewhat more expensive than mesh, I didn't like the idea of all the debris piling up right under the mesh panel (although that might be okay) or having to remove the pump during freezing conditions (according to the instructions). If it weren't for that freezing problem, I think the solid cover with a pump would be ideal for my conditions. Mesh is certainly ideal for warmer, tree-free conditions.

[Tredge]

I knew there had to be a few informed opinions out there somewhere
I am leaning towards the safety mesh cover because 1. They look nice and clean in the backyards I have seen them in. 2. They are supposed to provide a layer of safety against accidental or unauthorized entry. 3. I have been told they are easyto put on and take off.
I am worried about them because of the overflow potential. Do you have to pump out the pool thru the winter? I guess the water in the skimmer isn't a big deal as my skimmers as yet haven't been destroyed. Will the thing I screw into the skimmer port protect a skimmer FULL of water??
I am glad Tredge said he installed his own, I am kinda on a do it myself kick right now.

Not sure what you mean by an overflow potential....I didnt touch mine all winter and in the spring it looked just like when I put it on.

I drained below my skimmers and left somthing crushable in them, no problems. The thing you screw into the skimmer port works....so does an empty bottle of eq size.
This year I dont plan to drain at all and cover the skimmers with a cover that keeps water out even when the pool is full.

Leaves were no trouble at all and I have 3 huge oak trees surrounding the pool.

[bryjen]

We considered but rejected the solid "safety" cover (also Anchor), which comes either with a mesh panel in the center or with a pump that sits at the low spot on the cover. Besides being much heavier (harder to handle) and somewhat more expensive than mesh, I didn't like the idea of all the debris piling up right under the mesh panel (although that might be okay) or having to remove the pump during freezing conditions (according to the instructions). If it weren't for that freezing problem, I think the solid cover with a pump would be ideal for my conditions. Mesh is certainly ideal for warmer, tree-free conditions.

The pump we use with our Anchor solid safety cover has freeze protection.

[shadowman]

I have only weathered two winters with our inground vinyl and a mesh safety cover. The first year I carefully winterized it, draining below the skimmer and everything. We had more than our usual winter rainfall and I had to run the pump to drain the excess several times. Last winter I decided to forget the winterizing and take my chances with freezing. It worked out OK but I think I will open it earlier next year to try to get ahead of the algae. I kept some chlorine in it but it was still green on the bottom when I uncovered it. A few jugs of bleach and some vacuuming over a few weeks and it cleaned up nice. A lot of dirt and sediment, maybe decomposed leaves, kept settling out. I'm sure there are pros and cons for both covers but they all mean work of some kind.

Good luck!