Retrofit Auto Cover - Anyone Have One & Do You Like It?

[poolboy234]

Hi all,

I have a 30,000 gallon in-ground pool, built about 20 years ago. Within the past few weeks, I've had two neighborhood teens go for a swim in the middle of the night, two dead field mice found in the skimmer, and a small dead frog. Motivated by all this, I came across automatic covers, which have many benefits beyond blocking unwanted humans and animals.

My main concern is the aesthetics. The on-deck, aluminum tracks seem unsightly, and will take up valuable deck space for chairs, loungers, etc., when the cover is closed. And then there's the bench, which could be an eyesore. I'm still leaning toward it, but my wife is worried it will ruin the look of our pool area. Anyone have one and have any thoughts, suggestions, photos?

Thanks!

 

[mknauss]

Let's give this a bump.

Most auto covers are installed when the pool is built. They are good for safety, but can become a significant maintenance item.

 

[FSDpool]

my cousin has a pool with the retro-fit cover, it seems fine to me. They have huge family parties almost every weekend. The rails pretty much disappear but they're surface mounted on the deck.

My cover was build with the pool, it's a little cleaner, but I wouldn't hesitate to at least talk to a cover specialist to get their thoughts on your situation. The covers seem to last ~6 - 8 years, motors are small maintenance issue (had mine rebuilt and then I replaced it a few years ago).... so maintenance, cost might be ~$200-300 per year average when the replacement cost is divided over the expected lifetime.

 

[poolboy234]

my cousin has a pool with the retro-fit cover, it seems fine to me. They have huge family parties almost every weekend. The rails pretty much disappear but they're surface mounted on the deck.

My cover was build with the pool, it's a little cleaner, but I wouldn't hesitate to at least talk to a cover specialist to get their thoughts on your situation. The covers seem to last ~6 - 8 years, motors are small maintenance issue (had mine rebuilt and then I replaced it a few years ago).... so maintenance, cost might be ~$200-300 per year average when the replacement cost is divided over the expected lifetime.

Thanks! Do they have a bench and is it just a plastic white color or something custom? I guess if the goal is for the cover to not standout, the bench shouldn’t be anything loud.

 

[FSDpool]

Theirs goes into the ground, like mine; the only difference between theirs and mine is my track rails are under the deck, their tracks are on the deck. My pools a rectangle, theirs is a little more free form. I looked for pictures real quick but didn't see anything

 

[randytsuch]

We had a manual safety cover installed around 25 years ago when first kids was a baby. Didn't have room around the pool for rails, so had to get a semi manual one, would have loved an auto one with rails.

Also installed a redwood bench with a motor. This year we have been in backyard remodel mode, and changed out the redwood for trek decking. Looks so much better.
It did look nice for a long time in redwood, but we never maintained the wood so it deteriorated over time.

We now use motor and spool for a solar cover since we don't need the safety cover anymore.

Randy

 

[Wolfepack88]

Hi all,

I have a 30,000 gallon in-ground pool, built about 20 years ago. Within the past few weeks, I've had two neighborhood teens go for a swim in the middle of the night, two dead field mice found in the skimmer, and a small dead frog. Motivated by all this, I came across automatic covers, which have many benefits beyond blocking unwanted humans and animals.

My main concern is the aesthetics. The on-deck, aluminum tracks seem unsightly, and will take up valuable deck space for chairs, loungers, etc., when the cover is closed. And then there's the bench, which could be an eyesore. I'm still leaning toward it, but my wife is worried it will ruin the look of our pool area. Anyone have one and have any thoughts, suggestions, photos?

Thanks!

We have surface mount and the deck box as our fiberglass pool with the imbedded spa wouldn't work with an undermount track. The tracks are there but we pay no mind to it and the water stays very clean (no debris, no dead animals and 100% safety) and it retains the heat (I haven't used my heater since the first week of June). If you have room they can put the cover in a recessed box if you want to cut into your decking (not sure what you have). We don't mind the deck box. The safety, the retained heat, virtually no evaporation and clean pool make it worth it. We know when we cover the pool nobody or no animal is getting in the pool. Left for two weeks of vacation and came back to perfectly clean pool and never had a worry about kids hopping a fence for a swim!!

Btw you can also customize the deck box to match say a a trex deck material or something like that. Bottom line, if senior management doesn't like the aesthetics then you might has well scrap the idea as nobody wants to hear that for the next decade!

 

[Wolfepack88]

Here is how ours looks.

 

[poolboy234]

We have surface mount and the deck box as our fiberglass pool with the imbedded spa wouldn't work with an undermount track. The tracks are there but we pay no mind to it and the water stays very clean (no debris, no dead animals and 100% safety) and it retains the heat (I haven't used my heater since the first week of June). If you have room they can put the cover in a recessed box if you want to cut into your decking (not sure what you have). We don't mind the deck box. The safety, the retained heat, virtually no evaporation and clean pool make it worth it. We know when we cover the pool nobody or no animal is getting in the pool. Left for two weeks of vacation and came back to perfectly clean pool and never had a worry about kids hopping a fence for a swim!!

Btw you can also customize the deck box to match say a a trex deck material or something like that. Bottom line, if senior management doesn't like the aesthetics then you might has well scrap the idea as nobody wants to hear that for the next decade!

Thank you and you sold me! And my wife liked your photo! Few followups if you'd be so kind:

1) any reason your tracks aren't mounted flush against the edge (which in my case would be coping) of the pool? Not sure if I should do it that way, or like yours where there's some space between.
2) are your tracks white and not aluminum/silver? If so, didn't know that was an option
3) do you find the pump annoying that has to run every time it rains (and be removed when not in use and the pool needs opened)?
4) I was quoted $24K to do this; do you think that's unreasonable? It's a 30,000 gallon, 18x36 rectangle pool
5) unrelated and not to hijack my own thread, but how tall is your aluminum fence and does it keep deer out (if you have deer there)?

P.S. - big Steelers fan and love your Lambert photo!

 

[Wolfepack88]

Thank you and you sold me! And my wife liked your photo! Few followups if you'd be so kind:

1) any reason your tracks aren't mounted flush against the edge (which in my case would be coping) of the pool? Not sure if I should do it that way, or like yours where there's some space between.
2) are your tracks white and not aluminum/silver? If so, didn't know that was an option
3) do you find the pump annoying that has to run every time it rains (and be removed when not in use and the pool needs opened)?
4) I was quoted $24K to do this; do you think that's unreasonable? It's a 30,000 gallon, 18x36 rectangle pool
5) unrelated and not to hijack my own thread, but how tall is your aluminum fence and does it keep deer out (if you have deer there)?

P.S. - big Steelers fan and love your Lambert photo!

1. I asked about flush to coping and they said no it doesn't go right to the edge. Our's is cover pools you can look into the install directions about that.
2. The tracks are silver. Probably looks white in the picture.
3. Pump is not annoying and works great. If you have space to blow to the yard you can skip the hose and go with the CoverBlast adapter and it will shoot the water like 15ft. See pic below. Since we have an imbedded spa we have a second pump with that on it in the spa. Just be sure you have an outlet near to plug it in. Pump has been flawless. I brought them inside during the winter. I use my pool brush to push the pump into position. Don't throw them. We have the little giant pool pump and they have worked perfectly.
4. I got mine last year and it was $18k in NJ before the crazy price hikes and inflation because we had contracted in dec of 20. Our pool is 16 x 40. Our is a cover pools brand T4 (love the steel cables) in lieu of ropes. Would highly recommend from the research I did.
5. The fence beyond the shed is 6ft as that faces a conservation area which has deer every night, they just walk over to my neighbors yard. They haven't jumped the fence ever (knock on wood). Every place else the fence was 5ft. It's a Jerith Aluminum fence (Regency level) with the upgraded thicker pickets. I'm told in order for any fence to be completely deer proof it has to be 8ft. They are smart and choose the path of least resistance.

As for the Steelers hope we don't have an 80's Malone, Bubby Brister era. We shall see.

 

[Wolfepack88]

BTW, if you do a surface mount box, be sure it is far enough back that you if you use a winter safety cover in lieu of your autocover that you have enough space for the anchors for your winter cover. We use a loop loc mesh for the winter and use the autocover solely for the pool season. Also we cut the top of the box cover to access the power to open the pool cover (so its two pieces). We had the switch put inside the box to give another level of weather protection. I will take a picture so you know what I mean.

 

[FSDpool]

Have you considered one of the big covers that are usable when closed? (I have!) I have a ton of trees, so does my neighbor, and we get a lot of snow, so my pool season is officially May-September, but I'll extend that ~1.5 months each direction sometimes.

The quote you received was higher than I expected, I looked at some of these just a little but don't recall any pricing.

 

[Jmen]

We had an Aquamatic cover retrofitted on an existing pool about 15 years ago. The surface mounted tracks have not really bothered us aesthetically and the tracks have not been a tripping hazard whatsoever. The surface mounted reel cover also has blended in fine with the landscaping.



We have one track tight to coping - other track is a few feet away from coping to accommodate the pool stair. Earlier covers seemed to last 5-7 years. Latest cover had an upgraded web available - we did choose the upgraded webbing as that seemed to be primary point of failure with prior covers. No premature wear was ever noted regarding the portion of the cover that drags across the concrete.

The cover serves as a “horizontal fence” for safety as well as preserving chemicals/water and keeping debris/animals out of the pool. Pool maintenance and chemical costs went from annoying to reasonable (hours per day to hours per week).

Drawbacks (besides initial cost) are need to maintain a cover pump for removing rainwater from cover, and occasional need to clean the cover surface of accumulated dust, pollen, leaves, etc. All in all though it has made pool ownership much more of an enjoyable experience than a nuisance.

Joe M in WV

 

[poolboy234]

@Wolfepack88 thank you again! And @Jmen, thank you as well!

My installer just told me I can SKIP the bench, as they can cut into the concrete and put it all there, and it would look like the photo attached here. Aside from added cost, seems like a no-brainer, right? I like the look better.

And a question, we get snow here. Can I get by with this cover as a winter cover too if I ensure I pump any melted snow? The installer swears so, as he said the water supports the snow, and I tend to believe him as he's financially incentivized to separately sell me a safety cover/LoopLoc, but he isn't, which tells me he's being honest. Thoughts?

 

[poolboy234]

And one more quick question, do you guys use a digital keypad to open/close it? Thank you!

 

[Wolfepack88]

And one more quick question, do you guys use a digital keypad to open/close it? Thank you!

I have a key that opens a weather proof outdoor cover that has what looks just like a light switch to open and close it. For safety it needs to be within sight of the pool for safety (you don't want to close a cover on someone in the pool because). You can use it if you want. I chose not to as the cover was $18k and the replacement material when needed is about $5k in my area. So my loop loc was less than that so I wanted to avoid any large snowfall putting a ton of weight on it and having to deal with pump covers in the winter (freeze thaw) working throughout all of that. So I chose the loop loc for the winter.

 

[FSDpool]

I have just a keyed switch, search Cover Pool Keyed switch, it's the red one. There was a friendly guy at the cover shop who threw one in when I bought a new motor a few years ago.

I've replaced my cover twice in 18 years, getting ready to replace it again in the next couple years (tear from misuse, my fault).

Cover replacements have been around $1600, last time I paid a little more to get a bigger bullnose leading edge instead of just reusing the old one.

Snow's no problem, keep the pool full and the snow just sits on top of the cover, if the water was too low then the snow's weight could cause problems with the tracks. You set out the pool cover pump whenever there's water on the cover (not frozen)- I don't leave the pump out. Late December-February when it's the coldest, the pool will sometimes freeze, and the water on top will freeze, you just have to pump it off when you get a chance when it melts.

My pool/spa share equipment, so whenever there are warm periods, I'll run some topoff water.