Looking for a new Winter cover

[strangiato]

Hi All,
We have been using just a standard tarp to cover our pool for the last six years, since we got our pool replastered after moving into our current house. It's an in-ground pool and it is enclosed, so we never have to deal with wind. It does get a little bit of water on it and once the weather starts to warm, it gets a good deal of algae growth on it and then some of that ends up in the pool when we drag the cover off in the Spring.

We have decided that we would like to get a better cover for the pool and are considering the type that stretches and connects to "pop-out hooks" that are drilled into the decking. I am wondering if anyone has any brand recommendations, or things to watch out for, or anything else I should know. I'm mostly concerned with keeping sunlight off of the water so that we don't have to worry about algae growth in the pool.

The only one that I've looked at so far is the Doheny's catalog that I received last week. I know that I usually get some ads in the mail later in the season for new covers - like the one with an elephant on it - but I can't recall what the pricing is on it and I don't know about the quality of it.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[newdude]

Hey Strang !! Merlin, GLI and Looplock are the big 3. There are also several lesser name generic covers that do the same. Like anything else, some swear by the quality of the name brands, while others don't mind replacing the generic more often at a discount.

There are 3 basic saftey cover types. Completely solid, darn near solid and screen door. If memory serves, its 100%, 99% and 94%. I could be off though, its been a while. Anywho pretty much everyone agrees the screen like one is useless. The solid cover stops everything, including rain water so you will have to pump it off like a tarp. The almost solid one slows rain water greatly, but allows it to drip in slowly. At some point you'll have to drain the pool instead of the cover.