Coverpools Save-T3 out of square issue

[jberns]

A few years ago I had a in-ground pool installed with a Coverpools Save T3 undertrack style cover. Since then I noticed that at least twice a year the two sides of the cover go out of square by 3 to 6 inches when the cover is opened. I believe this is due to expansion and contraction of the ropes, however I think the installer did something wrong with the adjustment systems.

The book says to make adjustments by slowing down the side that comes in faster using the two sets of brake pads that touch against the sides of the rope reels. However, for some reason my ropes also have rope stops installed on them (see photo) which are adjustible and limit the ultimate travel of each end of the cover when it's fully opened.

I have a feeling that the installer did something incorrectly. From what I can gather online, you are either supposed to have the rope stops OR the brake pad system, not both. This system also has a slip clutch installed which starts slipping as soon as the first rope stop hits the pulley.

The only way I've been able to successfully make adjustments is to re-position the rope stops. Should these rope stops even be on there at all? I don't understand why there needs to be rope stops, brakes, and a slip clutch. The cover should just come up to a hard stop and then slip. Something just seems wrong here and I'd like to hear what the folks on this board think about it. Thanks!

 

[CPS Reno]

It's up to the builder to use rope stops on these systems. They are basically another safety device from covers being used incorrectly. But, if you are correct that your worried about the cover un-covering your pool crooked, it's not the ropes. The ropes are used to cover your pool, un-covering is all done with the roll up tube that's in the box. Covers can be very tricky to get to cover and un-cover straight most of the time. Mine is 52' long and almost never un-covers straight, there's just too much fabric and things move when it's working.

 

[jberns]

Thanks for the response. I can see your point that the tube is rolling up the cover, but I was under the impression that the ropes are actually what pull in the cover?? Or at minimum the rope pulls the cover back from the "front" and the tube is pulling from the rear. Anyway, the setup seems strange to me because there's only so much spare rope on the reels, and I'm concerned I'm going to get to a point where I run out of adjustment room!

 

[CPS Reno]

As long as my customers understand how the cover works AND they know not to hammer the cover in fully open/closed positions, we don't use the rope stops. The clutch is plenty to keep things from breaking.