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It is important to use a swimming pool cover when your pool is not in use. A swimming pool cover that has been properly fitted and installed maintains your pool’s temperature, reduces the evaporation rate, and helps to keep the pool clean. You are probably most familiar with the old swimming pool cover stand-bys – blue plastic sheets that look like bubble wrap – but there are many other types of swimming pool covers each with their own advantages and disadvantages. To help you consider them and make the right swimming pool cover choice, we’ll review the options here.
Bubble Solar Cover This is the swimming pool cover we all know and wrestle with every summer. Like the bubble wrap it basically is, a bubble solar cover has one flat side and one bumpy side. Typically a bubble solar swimming pool cover is made from two sheets of plastic – usually blue – that have air pockets in between. The cover is laid bubble side down on the pool surface, so when the sun hits the flat side, it warms all the air in the bubbles, which is then transferred to the water. As well, the air serves as an insulator against heat escaping the water. Further, the spaces between the bubbles trap air, which insulates the water even more. A bubble solar swimming pool cover is easy to install, lightweight, flexible and cheap. A sheet of bubbles can be ordered in any size and cut to fit any size and shaped pool. Unfortunately, they do not last very long – about two to four years depending on care and environmental and pool conditions – and are prone to blowing away in wind storms. As well, they can be a hassle to remove and replace, and store, and often drop as much debris into the pool as they keep out, though roller systems can lessen the removal and storage issues. After a while, the sun and pool chemicals will cause the bubbles to become brittle and deteriorate, leaving little pieces of blue plastic in your pool and filter system. Foam Cover A foam swimming pool cover consists of sheets of lightweight compressed foam (1/8-inch thick) that float on the pool surface. Foam is a great deal more expensive than bubble sheets, so it is usually only used on spas. Sheet Vinyl Cover A sheet vinyl swimming pool cover is like a bubble cover without the bubbles. This type of swimming pool cover is very cheap, but it doesn’t insulate very well and it does not float on water. A sheet vinyl cover must be anchored to the pool deck, but they can be reinforced with wire to form a completely kid-proof seal over the pool. Further, a sheet vinyl swimming pool cover is the best way to keep your pool clean during the winter. Vinyl covers are durable and usually last longer than bubble covers, and need not be stored during the winter months. Mesh Cover A mesh swimming pool cover is made of woven plastic mesh, reinforced with steel wires that crisscross the mesh. Like vinyl swimming pool covers, mesh covers must be anchored to the deck. A mesh cover does not touch the water. It lets evaporation and rain through, but not debris and, importantly, not children. This is another swimming pool cover designed for safety and security, not energy efficiency. Electric Cover System The electric cover system is the most state of the art swimming pool cover. It basically consists of a sheet of vinyl that is rolled up on a hidden roller when the pool is in use and stretched between tracks on the edge of the coping when not in use. The roller and the motor-driven pulley that removes and replaces the cover are hidden either under the deck or in a bench box at one end of the pool. This is the most expensive swimming pool cover option, and it comes with high maintenance costs too, as it is usually has to be serviced by the manufacturer. However, the electric cover system protects and insulates the pool as well as keeps kids, pets and debris out.
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Equipment for Upkeep 
