How To Choose A Winter Pool Cover

As August approaches and the end of summer is in sight, it’s the time of year where everyone is starting to think about closing their pools (at least for those saps up North like me!) and everyone starts running to purchase a winter pool cover. It’s not something we all like to do but if you can get an early start now on researching the best ones to purchase, you won’t have any issues of old-man-winter decides to show up earlier than normal.

When it comes to your winter above ground pool cover, there are a few things to think about when making a purchase. It normally always boil down to size, cost, color and warranty (not necessarily in that order.) Coming from a person who has owned an above ground pool since 2008, I can tell you that I’ve made some OK decisions on covers and a bad one or two as well. Let me tell you my story and and then I’ll discuss size, cost, color and warranty and what my recommendations are for you.

My Winter Swimming Pool Cover Story…read and learn!

When I originally purchased my above ground swimming pool, it was a late season purchase and it wasn’t installed until early August. So by the time it was installed and the deck was built, it was time to close it for the season. We ended up purchasing a close out special at our local pool supply store and long story short, it was a piece of junk and just barely lasted the winter. We had ducks and birds making use of the cover as well and that didn’t help things so we were very disappointed in our first cover.

Then in 2009 we decided to invest in something a little more sturdier with a better warranty so we went with a “Ripstopper” Pool Winter Cover that had a 15 year warranty with 5-years full replacement value. Well guess what happened? Yup, the cover ended up flapping in the wind during the next two winters and it did have tears and holes that made it a mess to clean up in the spring. Remember, when they tell you it’s a “rip stopper” that just means it may not rip, but it can certainly develop holes or punctures depending on the situation. Needless to say, we followed the warranty and were able to obtain a replacement.

The replacement swimming pool winter cover ended up lasting us until 2013 and it was about this time we decided that any pool cover we buy will ultimately not end up lasting very long no matter what the warranty tells you. Since we live in the Northeast, we’re bound to have lots of snow and ice and when that stuff piles on top of the cover, melts, freezes, melts and freezes again, there is going to be stress on the fabric and the grommets and ultimately it will fail. Sometimes the rip was in the middle and sometimes it was on the sewn edges, but over time it eventually failed.

So what did we learn? Well, for one I’ve learned that mentally I feel better if we just spent $50 or so on a cover every other year and accept the fact that these things will eventually break. This past season I went out and purchased one for about $50-60 and it wasn’t anything spectacular and I accepted that. I simply want something I can get a fair amount of time from (1-3 years) with the understanding that it will be just a cost of maintaining the pool.

So let’s talk about the four things you’re going to consider when you purchase a seasonal cover for your above ground pool.

SIZE

This one is pretty easy as they make a winter cover for pools of every size imaginable.

For ROUND above ground pools, you will be able to find the following sizes with little problem: 12′, 15′, 16′, 18′, 21′ 24′, 28′, 30′ and 33′.

For OVAL above ground pools, the sizes include: 12′ x 18′, 12′ x 24′, 15′ x 30′, 16′ x 25′, 16′ x 32′ and 18′ x 34′.

Finally, for those who have a RECTANGULAR shaped above ground pool, here are common cover sizes that you can easily locate: 12′ x 20′, 12′ x 24′, 14′ x 28′, 16′ x 24′, 16′ x 32′, 16′ x 36′, 18′ x 36′, 18′ x 40′, 20′ x 40′, 20′ x 45′, 25′ x 45′, 30′ x 50′ and 30′ x 60′. (and I’ve never seen 30′ x 60′ rectangular above ground pool before but wow would I LOVE to try it!)

In a nutshell, there’s a cover for about any size pool you can think of and most major pool supply stores will have covers for most if not all of these sizes listed above.

COST

Here’s where things get a little crazy as you can spend $20 for a cover and you can spend $220. The two things that are going to affect your cost are SIZE and QUALITY. If you’re looking for a small rectangular or round above ground pool winter cover and you want average quality, you can find them for under $30-40. But as you step up the size and thickness of the fabric, you also up the price exponentially.

Again, in my experience for my 24′ round Sharkline pool, I’ve spent as much as $120 and as low as $50 and to be honest I’m more happy about the $50 cover. It’s not as thick and sturdy quality-wise as the $120 cover, but I think it did a nice job for me last season and I was quite happy about how it held up.

One other thing you need to realize is as the price goes up, the thickness of the thread weave goes up too. So if you have a larger pool and you’re older and not as strong as you were in your prime, it will take some doing to get that cover over the pool without some help. I found that out when I needed myself, my wife and my in-laws to help get that $120 cover over the pool one year. Needless to say, I wish I had that on video as I would have made some decent money with America’s Funniest Home Videos for sure! Sometimes it’s best to go with the medium or lesser priced options merely to save you headaches getting it on the pool.

COLOR

This is totally preference, but in general you will find pool covers that are either green, tan, blue or black. Some covers only come in one or two colors so if you’re dead set on buying one specific quality of cover, you may have a limited color choice.

Sometimes you may opt to spend more (or less) to get the color you want to and I totally respect that. If everything about your home on the outside is green and you don’t want a blue cover messing with your style, than by all means select a color that matches your outdoor decor. Remember, you’ll have to look at this cover out your back window for many winter months so best to purchase something that’s appealing to your eyes, not everyone else’s.

WARRANTY

This is one of the most important things to consider when buying a pool cover. Most warranty’s are Pro-Rated meaning the manufacturer or the dealer will only reimburse you a certain percentage of the original cost over the life of the warranty. Below is a chart showing a typical warranty coverage with the percentages being the amount that the BUYER is responsible for. Take a look at the chart and I’ll explain more below it:

So for instance, let’s say you purchased a winter pool safety cover with a 15-year warranty and all of a sudden in your 2nd year the cover rips or tears. In this case, you will see “0%” in that column which means the dealer will reimburse you 100% of your cost. This particular warranty is listed as 15 Years (5 years full) meaning they will cover some portion over the 15 years but they will cover 100% during the first five years. As another example, say you purchased a 10-year warranty cover and it ripped in the 4th year. In this case you will see 40% listed and this means you are responsible for the 40% while the dealer/manufacturer would cover the 60%.

Typically the higher the number of years, the higher the price. The lower the number of years, the lower the price of the cover. I’ll cover warranties in another post as that is a whole article by itself.

The way things are made today, I’ve switched gears and now lean towards the 8-10 year warranty covers. For the most part they are cheaper, cost-wise, and they’re easier to work with when installing. Plus I know things just don’t last like they used to so I can’t see spending tons of money now only to deal with warranty problems later. It’s just my personal preference.

So there you go, my forty-cents on how to choose a winter pool cover. I hope you enjoyed it and if you ever have any questions or would like my input on which cover you should purchase, feel free to contact me here and I’ll respond as soon as I can. Be sure to also check out my other reviews, especially on pool cover pumps as I’ve had quite a bit experience on keeping these covers free of debris and water to help preserve them a little longer. Thanks!

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