Pool Safety Covers

Safety Covers

Pools are fun and make a great addition to any house, but there are serious safety issues that a pool owner must take into consideration throughout the year.  Pool safety covers dramatically help make a pool much safer and will help protect your pool and equipment as well.  

Protect Yourself, Your Family and Others

Unfortunately, the second highest cause of death for children under fourteen is drowning.  Even worse, 75% of children who were involved in swimming pool submersion or drowning accidents were between one and three years old.

Even the most attentive parents can’t always watch the pool and it only takes a split second for tragedy to occur.  So, when your pool is not in use it should be properly equipped with a safety cover to minimize the risk of anyone drowning.

Even if you live in a location where you can use your pool all year long, it should be covered when you go on vacation, on a business trip or other extended time frames when you’re not at your home and using it.

Protect Your Pool

If you live where you have to close your pool for the winter, then a safety cover will not only keep people from drowning, but it will also help protect your pool and its equipment from being damaged by ice, snow, rain, wind and the elements.

Less Cleaning

When your pool is covered, you don’t have to worry about leaves, debris, dirt, bugs and other nasty stuff that can get in it.  If it’s covered for the winter, your spring time cleaning and preparation will be a lot less strenuous and require less chemicals and replacements.

Not All Pool Covers are Safety Covers

While you may already have a solar cover or standard winter tarp cover for your pool, do not make the mistake of thinking these are adequate safety covers. 

While they may be able to support some weight, these covers can easily give way and trap a person who has stepped onto them.  In order to qualify as a safety cover, it must be able to hold a minimum of 485lbs per five square feet.   This is the only way you know that you’re getting a quality product that will support the weight needed.

Safety Pool Cover Options

Solid vs. Mesh

The biggest choice you’re going to have to make when it comes to your new cover is whether to buy a solid or mesh one.

Solid pool safety covers are made from highly durable vinyl and do not let any water, dirt, debris or even sunlight in.  When properly secured, they form a barrier that is difficult for anything to get through.  The major downside of solid pool covers is that they require the use of a pump to insure that water doesn’t pool on top of the cover and weight it down.

On the other hand, mesh pool covers do not require the use of a pump.  Their construction allows water to pass through from outside into the pool.  While this keeps out leaves and other debris, the water from rain, ice and snow can still be dirty.  And, since mesh covers allow sunlight to pass through as well, you may have to deal with algae issues when you open the pool.

Many people think that their current cover is “just fine.”  But, if you want to be confident that nothing tragic will happen in your pool while you’re not watching it and that it lasts as long as possible, then you need to invest in a quality safety cover.