Safety Cover

[mak104]

I'm thinking of getting a safety cover for my 24x44 vinyl pool. I live in Pittsburgh so the winters are rough. I need something relatively self sustaining because I go to Florida for the winters. My brother lives close by so he can occasionally check on things. Money IS a factor.. Opinions?

 

[JVTrain]

Loop-loc is the cadillac in quality AND pricing and usually have to go through a distributor. There are some other good brands like GLI. I'm a fan of mesh style safety covers. They do allow dust to go through with melting water, but I'd rather have that water melt in the spring and go through the cover rather than worrying about all that weight, especially in a heavy snowfall year. They are also lighter in general so easier to install and remove and tend to last a little longer. Solid covers with mesh drain panels are a good compromise too. Use the search box for "safety cover" and you'll find several threads with good discussions as well.

Good to be thinking about the winter cover now, although sometimes there are more sales as fall approaches. Whether those sales are much better than normal prices, I'm not sure.

 

[mak104]

I'm finding 25x45 in stock but no 24x44. Would a 25x45 just be 6" bigger on each side? Can I use one?

 

[JVTrain]

I don't see why not. Your anchors just might have to be a little further from the pool edge.

 

[Griswald]

I bought the Arctic Armor brand and aside from being half the price of a Loop Loc, it works just fine. The straps for the anchors can be adjusted quite far, so a 1 foot bigger cover shouldn't cause any problems.

 

[mak104]

The sales people are saying that I can't use a 25x45. Is there reinforcement at the pool edges or something else that would make a 25x45 not work?

 

[JVTrain]

The only place there is extra reinforcement is if you have a cut out for steps. Then those inside corners have a double layer square to help it hold up to wear. Otherwise if the pool is a rectangle with no cut outs, I have a hard time believing 6 inches on each side extra is unacceptable.

 

[Honey Badger]

I would recommend even bigger than 25 x 45. I have seen covers pull down concrete walls before. That only happens when there is a leak and the pool drains for some reason but I would recommend anchoring at least a foot in to the concrete all around the pool. That said a 25 x 45 would work. There would be a chance that that it could break out some concrete. There is no reason that the mesh can't be bigger than the pool. It sounds like you might have someone trying to sell you a custom cover for more commission.

 

[Griswald]

The cover will be 18" larger all around and you will need another 18" for the anchors.

And I can't believe any cover could exert enough pressure to "pull down concrete walls". Heck, the springs would unwind long before concrete would break.

 

[Honey Badger]

Sorry, I have seen a safety covers break coping when placed too closely. I have seen auto covers pull down pool walls


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[Griswald]

Sorry, I have seen a safety covers break coping when placed too closely. I have seen auto covers pull down pool walls


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That would be a concrete problem, not a cover problem. Concrete can hold between 2500 and 4000 pounds per square inch in compression and between 300 and 1000 pounds per square inch in bending. There is no possible engineering way that a thin nylon strap bolted into a 3/4" diameter x 2" deep brass anchor could ever cause a concrete wall to break. Heck, the anchors pull-out force is much lower than any force that could hurt the concrete.

As far as breaking coping, the anchors need to be 18" away from the edge of the pool. That's a lot of concrete to move to break the coping.