CoverStar tear after less than 3 months

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trishalinn

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Apr 12, 2010
104
Perry, Michigan
We just had our 20x40 inground pool installed the very end of August. We had a coverstar auto cover installed on top and after less than 3 months it has a tear! :( We contacted the company that installed the pool and cover and sent them a picture. They said it likely won't be covered under warranty because it looks like something fell on it and tore it. However, we can't find any evidence, that this is what happened.

I'm so sick. It cost so much money and we JUST had it installed!

Any thoughts? Advice? Input? Attaching image.

IMG_0647.jpg
 
Did they not see the long tear before the square hole?? It looks like something chewed it up while it was being rolled in.

That really sucks. Hope they can come around and help.


18x36 vinyl liner ,19k gallons, Hayward Sand Filter, Maxflo VS pump, Hayward VS Omni automation, Aquarite 900 SWCG, Rheem 115k Heat pump, Colorlogic LED, Dolphin M400 robot, TF-100/K-1766
 
I'm really not sure. I hadn't thought about it maybe getting damaged when being rolled in/out. We didn't look at it closely last we did that (which was quite a while ago).

I'm just not even sure what to do in this situation? How do we get them to even consider that it might not have been something that tore it. It seems like someone should at least come out and investigate it.
 
I agree that it doesn't look like it was caused by something falling on it and tearing it. As Todd said, it looks like something dragging on it when operating.

Was there a grommet in that hole I see?

Can you post a little wider picture so we can see the rubbed area better?

If the dealer isn't any help, I'd contact CoverStar and send them pics to see if what they think.
 
Here's a couple more pictures. My husband sent these along to the builder today too and told him we really didn't see any evidence that anything had fallen on the pool. He said he'd send them along to coverstar and ask them what they thought.

I guess there isn't anything else we can do, is there? Ugh! I sure hope they'll fix this. I'll just be sick if we have to fork out a couple thousand more to replace the cover after having it less than 3 months.

pool cover 1.jpg pool cover 2.jpg
 
I think you need to do more investigating how the cover got ripped otherwise it is likley to happen again with a new cover.

Those tears are too straight for it to rip due to something falling on it. I would expect a jagged rip if something fell on it. I would look carefully for something sharp that cut it as the cover rolled in and out. It may not be a cover defect but an installation defect. So it may not be the cover manufacturer’s responsibly to replace it. Get the installer on site if necessary.
 
Contact the manufacturer. Skip the pool builder.


18x36 vinyl liner ,19k gallons, Hayward Sand Filter, Maxflo VS pump, Hayward VS Omni automation, Aquarite 900 SWCG, Rheem 115k Heat pump, Colorlogic LED, Dolphin M400 robot, TF-100/K-1766
 
Based on the tear and the markings around the tear, it seems unlikely it was caused by something falling on it, though you never know. I assume you already checked the pool to see if theres anything in there that fell through. If not, I guess it's a your word against his kind of thing.

One thing I would do is check the cover track, attachment hardware and / or the leading end of the cover. Anything heavy enough to go through the cover fabric would at least minimally affect one or more of those things as well.

It looks to me that it was getting chewed up as it opened or closed, which would indicate a possible installation issue...hence the installer hoping to redirect the cause. I agree to go directly to the manufacturer. If they tell you to contact your installer / dealer, explain that you tried but they wont even come take a look at it. They may at least pressure the installer to get out there.


Stay with it. Good luck.
 

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We'll be opening it to look at it more this weekend. We've had some snow/ice and didn't want to open it until it melted. There's supposed to be a warm up this weekend, so we'll be able to check. We'll see if by chance there is something that's in the pool that fell in. But I can't imagine what it would be. There really isn't ANYTHING in the area at all that could have fallen on it — there's not even any trees in the area that could have dropped a limb. We'll also see if we can tell if there are any issues with the track etc, however I'm not entirely sure what we're looking for. But we'll check it out to see what we can see!
 
trishalinn said:
We'll also see if we can tell if there are any issues with the track etc, however I'm not entirely sure what we're looking for. But we'll check it out to see what we can see!
Click to expand...
Look for any slight bend or irregularity in the track right by the tear. If so, that would indicate something heavy fell on the cover and pulled on the track right at that point. If not, well, it doesnt necessarily prove that something didnt fall through, but it sure does weaken that argument.
 
It looks like the cover was going over something sharp as the cover went in or out.

It looks like there might be another scratch developing to the right of the existing rip.

I would remove the lid over the roller and take the cover off the roller tube and fold it forward to check the back wall where the cover slides over.

I suspect that you will probably find something sharp.

Was the cover opened with water on the cover?

Do you have a picture of the whole pool?
 
To me it looks like there are two other lines that are scratched in the cover and can start rips. I drew a line parallel to one of the scratches.

Find out what is gouging the cover.

pool cover 1.jpg
 
I’d hypothesize that a pool toy of some type may have gotten under the leading edge bar while opening the cover and it was stuck between the cover and the dam wall top. Does anything that would ever be near the pool have dimensions that would hit the cover on those places at the same time? So maybe not something that fell on it, not that type of damage, but dragged under.

Where the hole is, is the fabric still there? Or was it chewed away or removed? Very odd situation trying to reconstruct an issue like this. No security camera footage to view correct?
 
We opened up the pool and there is absolutely nothing in the pool. No evidence anything fell in or on the cover. There weren't any pool toys in there that could have caught on it because we don't have any pool toys (and I double checked in the pool and there just wasn't even anything in the pool at all).

The cover didn't get opened with the pump or anything else on it, except maybe a few leaves.

The thing I'm baffled by - we had an automatic coverstar cover at our last house for YEARS and never had one issue with it. The cover was extremely durable. I had kids that walked across it, dropped toys and sticks on it and never an issue. This one hasn't hardly been touched!

The other thing I'm confused about is those little round holes all along the sides of the cover. We didn't have those little holes in our cover at our other house either.

We looked all along the track and didn't see anything. We tried glancing at the roller, but didn't notice anything there either (though I'm not really sure what we would be looking for).

Here's another picture showing more of the cover.
IMG_0692.jpg
 
Those holes should not be there. It looks like someone put them there intentionally, but I don't know why.

I think that the cover is getting scratched going over the back wall.

You're going to need to check the back wall for anything sharp that can cut the cover.

The water level looks too low. The water level should be kept at normal levels to prevent overstressing the cover and tracks.

Can you remove the lid over the roller?
 
The holes were there when it was installed - they are very uniform up and down both sids of the cover.

The water level is exactly where the pool builder told us it should be kept. I specifically asked, because it looked low to me too!

We removed the lid over the roller and couldn't find anything that looks unusual.

Our builder called us today and said his guy from Coverstar could come out to see it in mid-December, but we will be gone the day he can come out. I would much prefer to be around to talk to them when they come by.
 

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