It's always something! Cover isn't closing..

[amfrench]

Hello everyone!

Second summer as pool owners and getting discouraged that something always seems to be breaking.

We've had a slow closing cover since we opened about 2 weeks ago. Today it refused to close at all. Upon investigating, we've narrowed down that it seems to be this piece...

The far left metal piece (of the metal cylinder), where the middle piece should be catching, has slowly gotten worn down. Not only is the middle part too far away and not catching it at all, but if we can manually get it to catch it often "slips" away.

Is this something we can tackle? Is it hard? Expensive? Should we be calling a pool store? I don't even know what to call any of this, or what words to use so obviously I have no idea where to start...

Thanks in advance for your help!
Alexa

 

[Arizonarob]

Hi Alexa, hang tight (it’s the weekend) and I’ll ping a member that’s good with auto covers.
@JamesW
In the meantime, what brand of cover is it? Take some more pictures of the cover and assembly. (Look for manufacture labels)

 

[santacruzpool]

I have a different brand of cover (mine is Cover-Pools).

But from what I can see, and you have explained, it might be something I can help you with.

Is the shear pin (roll pin) inside the slot in the center of your cams still intact? From the photo you posted it looks like it still is, but I am not familiar with your cover type. It does look like the cam plates are a little worn which could cause slipping. The motor and/or cam plates may not be aligned correctly and that is why they are not engaging all the way.

I would look at that a bit closer as it can certainly cause the problems you are experiencing. The center part of the cam should slide over to either cam easily - if that is stuck and not moving over completely to engage with the mating part of the cam plate then that is certainly a problem. When you open it shifts to one side, when you close it goes to the other side. The shear pin is designed to safely "shear" off it it gets stuck to prevent other items from getting damaged by the force of the motor.


Here is a blurb from another website on covers and various problems:

Motor turns, but cover doesn't move?
This situation could mean that the shear pin has broken. Most cover owners become familiar with replacing shear pins, which are meant to break when stress on the cover reaches high enough levels. It could also mean that the motor is out of alignment and the cams are not engaging each other. This could mean that the leading edge is out of alignment and binding, or It could also mean that your rope or spring has broken.