Maintaining Your Safety Pool Cover
Tips for Maintaining Your Safety Pool Cover
Unlike solar covers, leaf nets, or winter covers, safety pool covers are designed to provide a protective barrier over the swimming pool to prevent people and animals from accidental submersion and drowning. No other type of cover can be called a safety pool cover. In fact, a pool cover must be able to hold at least 485 pounds of weight per 5 square feet to be considered a safety cover, according to standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM standard F1346-91).
To ensure that a safety pool cover can adequately perform its intended purpose, though, it must be inspected and cared for on a regular basis so that it stays in top condition. Here are some easy-to-follow maintenance tips:
1. Secure springs very tightly when first installing the safety cover. Over time, tension eases as the cover relaxes.
2. When removing the cover from the pool, fan fold it before storing it away. The fan fold makes the process of replacing the cover much easier.
3. Store your safety cover in the storage bag when it’s not being used, and hang the bag off the floor to allow water to drain.
4. Each time you place the safety cover over the pool, make sure it lies completely flat against the pool deck. There should be no spaces or gaps through which a child or pet could squeeze and enter the water.
5. Hose out any dirt or debris in anchor casings on the pool deck several times each season to prevent sticking.
6. Hose off any debris from the cover while it is installed over the pool.
7. Cleaning the mesh debris screen in a solid safety cover — Remove the cover from the pool. Then, open the mesh screen, fold it back on top of the safety cover, and use a hose to rinse the screen from behind. Close the panel and store your cover away until it’s time to place it back onto the pool.
8. Use a cover pump regularly to remove excess accumulated water from the surface of a solid safety cover that doesn’t have a debris screen.
9. Patch small holes in your safety cover right away using an appropriate safety cover patch kit.
10. Large holes that cannot be patched make the cover unsafe and unusable. A new safety cover is recommended.
Taking the time to regularly inspect and maintain your swimming pool’s safety cover is an essential step in helping to prevent submersion and drowning accidents. A safety cover can only be relied upon if it is kept in proper condition.
