How to Choose the Perfect Safety Cover for Your Pool

Having a pool cover during the off-season serves multiple roles such as not only just protecting your pool from debris but people around your home and animals who may be harmed by it like pets and kids and even adults who may accidentally fall through.

A safety pool cover prevents accidental entry of the swimming pool. Functionally, it also acts as an insulating barrier preventing the loss of heat in the case of heated swimming pools.

This is insulation barrier will cut down your heating costs very significantly.

Keeping debris out will reduce the amount of maintenance work required to keep your pool clean. This means that you'll spend less money hiring a pool maintenance personnel and also less money purchasing pool chemicals.

At Anchor Inc. The categories of safety pool covers we have available for sale include

• Solid pool cover
• Mesh Pool cover
• And finally, a turn-key replacement pool cover

Each of these different pool covers has different characteristics that make it suitable for different applications. We not only replace pool covers that we stock but also those of competitors as well including free form and custom pool shapes.

Solid Pool Cover

These provide an incredible barrier between the pool and environment outside the pool. The typical material of choice is usually coated vinyl. The material has reinforced webbing enabling it to withstand weights of up to 4,400 pounds.

When selecting a solid pool cover also ensure that it comes with anchoring to the side of the pool. Simply selecting a tarp covering that doesn't have a provision for anchoring does not make it a pool safety cover.

The anchors are the guarantee against accidental entry even if someone was to fall on the pool cover.

Because a solid pool cover is absolutely impervious to penetration by the sun’s rays it absolutely prevents the growth of algae at the bottom of the pool and around the pool walls.

A pump or a drain is required when using a solid pool cover to get rid of pools of water that may form on top of the cover. Whether it is snowmelt this water needs to be removed to prevent damage to the pool cover.

These pumps and drains are available for sale at Anchor Inc.

In case your pool has a custom shape which is the non-geometric you don't need to worry because at Anchor Inc. pool covers with customizable shapes are available.

As an additional note, they also prevent loss of the chemicals that are used to clean the pool.

The anchors are spring loaded to ensure a uniform and aesthetically appealing stretch and tautness on the pool cover.

Mesh covers

Mesh pool covers are not as opaque to light as the solid pool covers. There are options like the Defender Mesh which blocks out as much as 98% of the UV rays but still let’s moisture seep into the pool. The Defender Mesh covers effectively prevent the growth of algae and provides the owner with a clean pool if it is open it up during the spring.

Anchor Inc. also has mesh covers that are made of polypropylene that is a lighter material and more cost-effective than the Defender Mesh covers.

Mesh covers are lighter than solid pool covers and therefore easier to maneuver and store. So in some cases, they're the preferred option for private residences that cannot afford to hire staff members to maneuver the heavier solid pool cover and would have to do this exercise themselves.

Mesh covers from Anchor Inc. also come with a spring-loaded tautness for an aesthetically appealing tautness on the pool cover.

We strongly advise engaging the services of professionals that is installed correctly. This is particularly important to prevent the occurrence of accidents where someone falls on the cover and falls through because it was improperly installed.

Selection criteria

After the description on how the different pool covers work you can now decide on which type is suitable based on which priority is most important for you.

Mesh pool covers are the most budget-friendly followed by solid pool covers.

The easiest to open and maneuver are mesh covers because they are the lightest.

The type of pool cover which absolutely keeps light out and prevents the growth of algae with less use of pool chemicals is a solid pool cover. So a solid pool cover can be used for longer durations.