We have 3 kids under the age of 6 and only one of them could save themselves if they accidentally fell in the pool. I'd love to hear pro and con opinions and experiences from automatic cover owners, espicially those in the snowy climates. I've received quotes for the cover from $5,300 to over $8,000. He said we should use the money saved for more decking, a nicer fence, etc. This pool builder says a better way to go is to use a conventional solar cover at the beginning and end of the swimming season (when the heater is being used) then put that away during the hot summer months and use a product like "Liquid Solar" or "Heatsavr". I had my wife convinced that the auto-cover was the way to go, now I'm not so sure. He recommended them for people with very young or mentally-handicapped children. He only advocated putting an automatic cover on a pool for safety. Who wants to spend all that money and not see the water when you look out the window. He stated that the cost and mechanical problems increase significantly when used on larger free-form pools as the cover width increases. They are expensive, even for a simple rectangular pool. It makes a poor winter cover because the snow can't be left on the cover (will pull cover from tracks) and the cover will become very dirty, requiring a big scrub down in the spring - more hassles. The leaves and other junk must also be removed before the cover is fully retracted. I'll need a pump to remove rainwater from top of cover, which adds to hassle factor. Will result in increased chemical usage, as covering the pool during the hot weather will keep the pool warmer which increases need for chemicals and reduces their effectiveness. Will not reduce pump run-time because the water will still need sanitized. We are installing a vinyl-liner diving pool in the Cleveland area (lots of snow). This suprised me, considering he would make more money if we included it in the build. During a visit with my wife and I at our house, a very well established pool builder (30+ years) strongly recommended against an automatic pool cover.
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