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A Guide to Winter Pool Covers
So, the swimming season has come to an end, and you’re ready to winterise your pool? One of your top priorities should be finding the right winter pool cover. This is a vital barrier between your pool and the elements, so we recommended investing in good quality kit that you know is going to last.
We consider a couple of frequently asked questions to help you make the best decision for your pool.
Winter pool covers are long-lasting and robust; they are designed to protect your pool against harsher weather and ensure no debris gets in while it’s not in use for months at a time.
These covers must have a strong fixing system to ensure they remain in place throughout the off-season. They will only need to be handled twice a year, so are firmly attached along the pool’s edge with anchors pulling the cover taut.
Winter covers are opaque to ensure sunlight cannot penetrate and encourage algae or bacteria growth. Most winter covers you’ll come across are made from a tightly woven mesh – this blocks anything unwelcome from entering the pool while ensuring harmless rainwater can pass through.
Our winter pool covers are made from a durable polypropylene material.
You might be tempted to see if you can get away with just buying one cover for all year round. However, summer and winter covers are designed with different primary purposes in mind. While both aim to protect your pool from debris, regular covers for use in the swimming season are more concerned with heat retention and perhaps even solar gains, while winter covers are specifically intended to cover pools that have been closed for the season, prioritising security and durability.
The short answer is yes; we certainly recommend using a winter pool cover for outdoor pools in the off-season. Using one means you won’t have as many opening tasks when spring comes around again, and you’ll protect your pool from any easily-avoidable damage.
Rather than using any old cover, a purpose-made winter cover is usually your best bet – you will not get the same benefits from a solar cover or simple tarp. Advantages include:
While both of these types of swimming pool cover are hardy and robust, they are not necessarily interchangeable.
Safety covers are designed to prevent people and pets from accidentally falling into the water, being strong enough to support their weight. Regular winter covers do not usually have these additional safety features.
If you are not worried about anyone falling in, a good winter cover is more than enough to cover your pool when it’s closed.
Once you’ve followed your winterising checklist, it’s time to get the cover on. At 1st Direct Pools, we provide a selection of winter debris covers, offering some great products that cannot be beaten on price.
Aquaflex winter debris covers are tried and trusted. We offer several designs to cover a range of needs and budgets – styles on offer include:
Please note that all of our winter covers are made to order, allowing for custom sizes. To find out more about each product and the size you’ll need or to purchase a cover and any accompanying fixings, follow the steps on our winter pool cover calculator.
Also note that an additional 2ft/0.6m will be added to your cover width and length to ensure that the final product overhangs the edge of the pool and can be fastened properly.
Once you’ve chosen a suitable pool cover, you’ll need to get the right fixings. These springs or bolts are what will anchor your cover to the side of the pool to prevent it from being unsecured by wind. Our options include:
Some common questions we hear concern how tight or loosely winter covers should fit to your pool and whether they should be secured in order to touch the surface of the water. In most conditions, your winter probably won’t touch the water as the anchors will pull the cover tightly over the pool, secured taught and flush with the surrounding coping stones.
However, for some covers, the water level will need to remain high enough to support the weight of the cover if it gets pulled down with the weight of snow or excess water. This isn’t as much of an issue with mesh covers as the excess water will be able to drain through, so there won’t be extra weight pulling on the cover fixings and springs.
Once your cover is secured, there isn’t much you’ll need to do. However, if you want to keep it lasting for as long as possible, there are several things to keep an eye on.
If you maintain it well and review it regularly for damage or tears, a really good quality swimming pool cover can last for up to 10 years, if not longer. The right winter cover will see you through the cold season again and again.
While you could use a winter pool cover in the summer, it’s not really the best thing for the job.
They just don’t have the same heat retention properties that summer solar covers do. We would always recommend investing in different covers that are fit for purpose, as a good solar cover in the summer can help you reduce running and heating costs.
Hopefully, we’ve given you all you need to tuck your pool away safely, ready for next spring. If you’re just getting ready to fully winterise your pool, you may also find our range of pool winterising chemicals particularly handy.
