Don

I just went with a safety cover for the first time, and am very glad I did. I got the Merlin Smart Mesh, which supposedly lets water pass through but no light. My installer put it on a couple of weeks ago, and it looks so much better than the tarp type cover, that I used to use, that just layed on the water, and the edges held down on the deck by water tubes. Plus gives me much more peace of mind, knowing pets/ children can't get caught up in it and accidentally drown. I do have trees, so I can just blow the leaves off the top of the cover. While it was more expensive than what I have used previously, I think it will be well worth the investment for me. My wife is much happier with it's looks as well.

Thanks for all the feedback gang, it is much appreciated! Here is where I am - have got a local pool contractor, who has done some work for me in the past, I am going to go with the safety cover and let him install for me. I think it is best to leave that to a professional, and honestly I am not as young as I used to be, just don't want to try and tackle that on my own. I am leaning towards a " Smart Mesh " safety cover, I understand it will let water drain through it, but no light. I will probably let him go ahead and winterize and close my system as well when he does the cover. It is a bit of an investment for me, but will look the best and be the safest I am sure. Thanks, Don

Thanks for the feedback! I am really leaning toward looking at investing in a safety cover, there are just some things I am unsure of. My pool is an 18x36, however the corners have angles that go in , so it has 8 sides rather than 4. I am not sure say a standard 18x36 rectangular safety cover would work, might have to get a custom cover made? And how difficult installation might be? Thanks, Don

Hmm, just took a look at some prices on PoolSupplyWorld. Maybe it is not totally out of range for me. Questions: What would be better, mesh or solid? Would the pool need to be closed, or can it be left running? Installation - is it very hard, can I do myself or better to let a professional install? Looks like for me, this might be the lowest maintenance option. I think my wife might like it's looks better as well Don

Thanks for the reply. No the mesh cover, is just an inexpensive tarp type cover that lays on top of the water, and is secured with the water tubes on the pool deck, laying on the cover. I think I would really like a safety cover, but those are pretty costly right?

Hey gang, Well here it is August already, won't be long and I will have to decide what to do this year about my pool for the off season. A little background: I bought this house in Oct of 08, pool already here - first time I have had a pool, boy was I a newbie. The pool is app 18x36, app 18k gallons. Behind the pool, around 15 ft away, is one heck of a tree line. Nice in the spring/summer, as it gives us total privacy in the pool. Fall/winter though, is a total pain. So the first year, I left the pool open. Whoa, was I fishing a ton of leaves out of the bottom for several weeks. I am pretty sure some leaves came froom several counties away! ( I live in mid TN ). It was pretty, having the pool open and running throughout the winter months, was a lot of work for a while though. Second year - I had the local pool store, close up and winterize the pool - had a plastic cover put over it, with the water tubes to hold it in place. Still somewhat of a pain, as I had to pump the rain water off the pool cover every time it rained much.And of course, scoop the leaves off the top. Third year - last year - I odered a mesh cover , it had a very fine mesh in it, to allow rain water to drain through it into the pool. I left the pool running all winter, with this mesh cover over the top of it. Still of course, had to scoop the leaves off the top, but did not have to pump rainwater off it. After the majority of the leaves had fallen, like around Christmas time, I took the cover off. So here I am contemplating what would be best for this year. Winterize and close it again? Put the mesh cover on and let it run? Leave it totally open and just scoop the leaves off the bottom? I guess there are no truly great options, as each of them still requires some pain level. What I truly would really like, is a safety cover or an automatic cover, but think both of those would be out of my budget, at this time. My wife would like it to be left open all the time, as she thinks those covers with water tubes are ugly, but understands the work involved. So I am curious, what do most people here do, that have a pool close to several trees? Thanks for any feedback, Don

Thanks for the recommondation, I will check that out - being how I travel for work, I can see that may be a wise thing to have.

Unfortunately, I do not have any type of timer, just a toggle switch on the pump motor, for hi speed-off-low speed. Thanks, Don

Thanks gang, I was always under the impression I was supposed to run it 24/7. What about switching to low speed? My motor is a two speed motor. I am gone at times on business. My pool is 18x36, app 18k gallons. The motor is an A.O. Smith 1hp two speed motor. Not sure what the actual pump is. Thanks, Don

I will try to answer some of the above questions: Normally I take a water sample down to the pool store and have them test, yesterday I tested with a kit, using the dye, and the chlorine is still high. I am running the system 24/7. The plumbing is 1.5" No other equipment, just the pump, sand filter, and chlorinator. I only turned it to 0 yesterday evening, have not checked it today yet. The equipment I would say is about 12 ft from the shallow end of the pool, if that far. Don't know about the other levels, the pool store has been telling me all other levels are fine when I have them test. The PH has been low a couple of times recently, and have added PH increaser to correct. Also, as a side note, the first chlorinator I had was a cheaper off brand, and I did not have this issue with it. However it started failing after one season of use, so replaced it with this Rainbow chlorinator, and it has always seemed to get high chlorine levels. Thanks, Don

Hey gang, I have a Pentair Rainbow in line chlorinator for my inground pool. I had it installed last fall. I have been having trouble keeping the chlorine level down in my pool, it continually runs high, like in the 8-10 ppm range. My pool is app 18K gallons. The chlorinator has a dial, with adjustments between 0 and 10. I currently have it turned down to 0 to try and get the chlorine level down, but normally run it about halfway between the 0 and 1 position. It has been very hot here in the SE, like it has been everywhere, and the chlorine tabs are dissolving very quickly. I am wondering, if I am doing it right when I put the tabs in, or if I am contributing to the problem? Let me explain, when I put new tabs in, I turn everything off of course, remove the lid, load 4-5 tabs in the chlorinator, close the lid, turn everything back on. I let it run for a minute or so, then while it is running, I remove the lid again, and let the water level in the chlorinator run up to just above the top chlorine tab. According to the manual, it shoud do this on it's own without the need for me to remove the lid, but oftentimes when I remove it after adding the tabs, it looks dry to me, so I watch till the water level is at least at the top of the stack of chlorine tabs then return the lid... Thanks for any advice, Don

Thanks for the info Scott!

Thanks for the replies gang, sorry for not getting back sooner have been out of pocket last few days. I will do some more investigating...

Hey gang, I am considering adding a pool heater for my inground swimming pool. The pool is app 18x36, 18,500 gallons. I have natural gas here in the home, and am thinking I would be perhaps better off going with a natural gas heater , versus a heat pump? I love in the southeast ( TN ), and the reason I am considering, is the water is pretty cool up until around mid June or so, and starts to get too cool again for swimming, around early September. I figure if I go with a heater, then I could at least extend the swimming season by a few weeks? Another consideration, is how much the gas bill will be to heat a pool. I would be curious to know of others experience with this. I am looking at something like this: http://www.poolsupplyworld.com/poolsupplies/poolheaters/products/LRZ250EN.htm I would certainly appreciate any feedback/advice on this topic. I may not add until spring of next year, just trying to do some research on the pros versus cons. Thanks, Don

Ah ok thanks, mine is not SWG.