mesh or leafnet for winter: pillow still needed?

[matt4x4]

I don't use a cover, but went and educated myself on them before I even got my pool.
I was warned about leaving the mesh on or in the water over the winter, actually, many people told me to remove the leaf net mesh cover after the leaves have dropped and before the pool freezes and putting a winter cover on at that time.
Reason: The mesh fabric absorbs water into the material, the water freezes and expands, essentially tearing/grinding the matrial appart - I was told that a mesh cover would only last 2-3 years before completely falling appart where it stays in contact with the water/ice.
I checked this out with the manufacturer and they also said it's for leaf collecting purposes only and should not be used as a cover for the winter, and will not warranty it if that's how it will be used.
Winter cover tarps are poly based and don't readily absorb the water around them, making them more resilient to the expanding ice.

[tenax]

good info i was curious about as well..and that was my thinking to this point..leave it on for the leave falling season only and then remove..it will still dramatically cut down the amount of debris i get in my pool in spring!

[NWMNMom]

So then the actual Micromesh WINTERCOVERS would also have this problem? They are advertised as a wintercover meant for snow/ice, not just leaves. I CAN'T leave mine uncovered without huge amounts of debris falling in all winter long; I HAVE to cover it with something. I hate the thought of the swampy water on top in the spring so the micromesh wintercovers that let the water drain through when it melts sound attractive and advertise that they are meant for that purpose. I guess these are the ones I really want to know about - anyone have experience with these? If you HAVE to cover and have ice/snow, what would you rather go with?

[matt4x4]

If the micro mesh covers are rated to do the job of a winter cover, tehn they should also be warratied.
Likely they are made of some sort of plastic less likely to get destroyed, probably flexible and stretchable enough to survive the growing and contracting of the ice it will be embedded in.

[NWMNMom]

Most of them say 8 yr warranty (I think pro-rated like most covers) Anyways, wondering if they require a pillow under the center or just lay on the top of the water? It doesn't really say in the ads - don't show pillows on them, they all show a diagram with snow on top and melting snow draining through into the pool, but they all have a 3-4' overlap so I'm guessing they are designed for a fair amount of drop (up to 18" or so?) to below the skimmer and return where it would be drained for winter.

Was hoping someone with winter conditions would have had one of these and can say yay or nay on money's worth or just take my chances with a solid poly cover. Kinda wish I had your situation, Matt, with no leaves or debris to worry about - I would just leave it uncovered -how much more simple that would be!!

[tphaggerty]

I have a mesh cover (Coverlon I believe) that we left on all winter. At times, there was about 2 feet of snow on top, other times it was 6 to 12" of ice. Our water level was initially dropped below the skimmers, but here in NY, unless you drop 2 or 3 feet, it comes back up. So we started low but by the end of winter our water was better than 1/2 way up the skimmers (good thing we had the crushable pipe blocks in place).

Anyway, the cover has heavy duty springs that allow at least 6" of travel, so that is about 12" total. The cover seemed fine, I didn't notice any loose seams or wear marks. Our cover tie downs are about 18" back from the pool, the actual cover extends about 9" back.

The only issue we had was when we opened. I had to tighten the cover in order to lift it up off the water so all of the stuff on top could dry and blow away (which it did). There was a lot of silt in the pool but very little large stuff, so the cover did its job. As for the big pillows, I have thought about putting some in, but I'm not sure that they would really make that much difference.

[prh129]

I bought an Enviro-mesh cover earlier this year which is what it sounds like you're talking about. I believe I got it from pools.com. They recommended using a pillow underneath so I bought one. This is my first winter though so I can't give you any first-hand experience. If nothing else, it should make it easier to fish out leaves and other big debris that will fall in during the winter.

Peter