Is a winter pool cover better than a tarp?

Pool owners should invest in a more durable and effective solution when it comes to covers. While tarps can be useful, winter pool safety covers are a smarter option. Both tights and solid vinyl covers offer more durability, low maintenance and higher levels of protection. While tarps are a good short-term solution, long-term safety covers are the most cost-effective option for pool owners.

However, your choice goes beyond financial, and where you live and who uses your pool will determine how you maintain your pool during the winter and how you open it in the summer. A winter cover is essentially a large tarp that is placed over the pool during the winter to help keep debris away. Pool maintenance is done all year round and how you protect your pool in winter is just as important as how you treat it in summer. This means that if your pool is not properly insured, you, as the pool owner, could be held responsible for injuries or even accidental drownings of neighborhood youth, even if they entered the property without authorization.

High-strength mesh safety covers: they are still made of mesh that allows water and light to filter, the high-strength mesh covers allow less light, since they prevent nearly 99% of light from penetrating the water. Using pool tarps is still an option if you're looking for an affordable pool cover, however, the costs of replacing the tarp every few years, combined with the cost of replacing several water bottles every year due to leaks, make the price between these two pool cover options closer than you think. Because they are solid but bear very little weight, canvas pool covers require a submersible pump to prevent water from accumulating on the top. Both water and physical waste accumulate in these covers that are completely isolated from the pool water below.

Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Brands backed by Swimming Pool Steve The following links and products are for affiliates of the Swimming Pool Steve website. The strength of the cover is sufficient to support the weight of the whole family, although it could be said that it is less resistant than sturdy or solid mesh covers. Pool safety covers can be the ideal solution for the winter season, when you are going on vacation or when you are going to be away from your house and pool for a long period of time. Taking some additional steps can help you extend the life of your pool cover, whether it's a tarp or a safety cover.

It takes some technique to get a solid cover in a pool and a little strength (from more than one person), so I imagine that the average pool owner without experience with them would have great difficulty with this process. Well, maybe it's not that easy, but there really is a difference day and night between a solid cover and a lightweight mesh cover.

Ben Young
Ben Young

Ben loves pool covers