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To fix it, or to replace your automatic pool cover? That is the question.

As you walk around your pool, you should visually inspect your automatic pool cover from time to time, because you may not know it but it may have some potential service issues.  An automatic pool cover contains  parts that can be repaired. However, depending on the age of the cover and how well it has been maintained, it might be time to replace it.

Let’s take a look at components of an automatic pool cover system,and how you might be able to determine if they can be repaired, or if it’s time to call a pool cover professional to replace these automatic pool cover parts.  

1.The vinyl. It is important to take a close look at the entire cover. You’re looking for faded worn areas, small holes or tears. If you find a hole that’s less than two inches in diameter, or a tear that’s less than three inches long, that may be able to be fixed with a patch kit. However, if you find larger holes or tears, or if the vinyl is worn, it might be time to think about a new cover. Remember that a persistent puddle of water in the same spot is a dead giveaway that there’s a hole or tear allowing pool water to seep through.

    Fix or replace? What starts as wear or a tiny hole can quickly turn into a bigger problem. Continuing to patch holes in the cover instead of replacing it can compromise the integrity of the cover and the safety of your family. Holes more than 6 inches definitely need to have an expert      technician take a look at it.

2. The webbing. The webbing is the 2” material on the side of every automatic pool cover. It slides back and forth inside the track and holds the cover above the pool water. As you inspect the webbing, look for worn, frayed webbing or webbing that has separated from the vinyl. Depending on how bad the wear and tear is, webbing may be repairable.

    Fix or replace? The webbing is a key component of the overall safety of an automatic pool cover. If it’s tearing or catching as it enters the track, the webbing and/or pool cover will likely need replaced.

3. The ropes. The ropes attach to the webbing and pull the automatic cover closed. Check the ropes to make sure they’re not worn or frayed. If they are, you’ll need to give a local pool cover specialist a call. Ropes typically can not be repaired, but need replaced when they are worn or frayed.

     Fix or replace? The ropes should last the lifetime of an automatic pool cover  depending on use and maintenance of the system. They can be replaced as long as the vinyl and webbing are still in good shape.

4. The track and gliders. Aluminum tracks are found on both sides of the pool and need to be clear of debris. The gliders need to be in good shape to keep the automatic pool cover opening and closing smoothly. If the track has debris built up, it must be sprayed out with a low-pressure hose nozzle.

     Fix or replace? Tracks rarely need replaced. However, gliders are a wear item and if the gliders are worn, but the rest of the cover is in good shape, they can most likely be replaced to extend the functionality of the pool cover system. .

5. The motor and controller. If the cover is failing to open or close properly, you’ll need to have an automatic pool cover specialist take a look at the system to diagnose the problem. There are a variety of potential causes for the motor or controller of an automatic pool cover to not open and close as it should.

    Fix or replace? Your local automatic pool cover service company can most likely fix or replace the motor or controller.

Knowing the basics about your automatic pool cover is key to a happy, stress-free swim season. The best thing you can do is stay on top of regular maintenance of your automatic pool cover by having an annual maintenance performed during the year.  Calling in the pros once a year to get an honest, expert opinion is good advice.

About Cover Care
The first to respond. The fastest to re-cover.

At Cover Care, for more than 40 years, our mission has been to help pool owners better enjoy their pools and protect their investment in their pool by installing and maintaining the best automatic pool covers in the industry.

Cover Care has automatic pool cover repair specialists across the country and near you.
We work on every brand of pool cover – including yours.

Cover Care has locations across the United States and continues to grow. 

We service these cities and surrounding areas:
California: Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco
Colorado: Denver
Georgia: Atlanta
Idaho: Boise
Indiana: Indianapolis, South Bend
Kansas: Wichita
Kentucky: Lexington, Louisville
Michigan: Detroit
Missouri: Kansas City
New Jersey: Red Bank
New Mexico: Albuquerque
New York: Long Island
Ohio: Cincinnati, Columbus
Texas: Austin, Dallas, Lubbock, San Antonio
Utah: Salt Lake City, St. George
Wisconsin: Milwaukee

We’re committed to giving you the information you need to keep your pool and your family safe. Get more tips about your automatic pool cover.

To get more information or to schedule a service call for your automatic pool cover, visit www.covercare.net/contact/.

The best quality automatic pool safety covers are made from premium-grade components, and the cover vinyl is coated for maximum life expectancy. Properly cared for, the cover should last for many years. However, it is possible for the vinyl to develop small tears or holes from natural causes, such as the impact of weather and the sun’s powerful UV rays, or from accidental damage. Here is what to do if your automatic pool safety cover gets a hole or tear:

1. Identify the source of the problem. A puddle of water that keeps reappearing in the same spot is a clue that a hole in your cover is allowing pool water to come through. Do a complete examination of the pool cover, and look for discoloration and worn areas for holes and small tears.
2. Take quick action. Much like a small chip in your car’s windshield, a small hole or tear in your pool cover is likely to grow if it’s not quickly remediated. Don’t assume that a small hole won’t cause problems. The longer you let it go, the more expensive it might be to fix it down the line.
3. Measure the hole or tear. If you find a hole in your cover that’s smaller than 2 inches in diameter, or a tear that’s less than 3 inches long, you may be able to fix it yourself. Look for a patch kit with a variety of colors to match your cover color. The kit should include a premium grade vinyl cement adhesive along with instructions on how to apply the patch for best results.
4. Don’t hesitate to call in the pros. If you discover a hole larger than 2 inches in diameter or a tear that’s longer than 3 inches, it’s time to call an automatic pool cover repair specialist. You should use a company that is responsive and able to have a specialist at your door within 24 to 48 hours.
5. Replace your cover if necessary. Your automatic pool safety cover specialist will be able to quickly assess your vinyl cover and let you know your options. A service company that specializes in automatic pool safety cover repair should have all the parts and tools necessary on their truck to repair your cover, if repair is, in fact, an option. If your cover is beyond repair, they can provide you with information about replacing your automatic pool cover on the spot.

Not all automatic pool cover repair companies are created equal. When it comes to keeping your family and friends safe around your pool, don’t take chances with general repair services who also happen to work on pool covers. Your automatic pool cover is a specialized pool accessory that protects the value of your investment and your peace of mind. Look for an automatic pool cover repair company that’s highly rated and has years of experience and gets you back in your pool!

About Cover Care

The first to respond. The fastest to re-cover.

At Cover Care, for more than 40 years, our mission has been to help pool owners better enjoy their pools and protect their investment in their pool by installing and maintaining the best automatic pool covers in the industry.

Cover Care has locations across the United States and continues to grow.

We service these cities and surrounding areas:
California: Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco
Colorado: Denver
Georgia: Atlanta
Idaho: Boise
Indiana: Indianapolis, South Bend
Kansas: Wichita
Kentucky: Lexington, Louisville
Michigan: Detroit
Missouri: Kansas City
New Jersey: Red Bank
New Mexico: Albuquerque
New York: Long Island
Ohio: Cincinnati, Columbus
Texas: Austin, Dallas, Lubbock, San Antonio
Utah: Salt Lake City, St. George
Wisconsin: Milwaukee

We’re committed to giving you the information you need to keep your pool and your family safe. Get more tips about your automatic pool cover.

 

You love your automatic pool cover for the safety and convenience it provides as well as the time and money it saves you on pool maintenance. It’s been working like a dream, but all of a sudden, you have a problem. You need it working again. ASAP. Do you need a service call from an automatic pool cover repair professional, or can you troubleshoot the issue and correct it yourself? Let’s take a look at some issues other pool owners have encountered that will help you diagnose the problem at hand so you’ll know what action to take to get your cover back up and running.

Issue: Your cover won’t open or close and the motor is NOT running.
Troubleshooting tip: Check the power.

Sure, it sounds obvious, but you certainly don’t want to make a service call only to find out that your unit has no power. Follow these steps to ensure your issue is not a power interruption:

• Check the breaker or ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). Make sure the breaker is not tripped or the reset button doesn’t need to be pushed on the GFCI.
• Follow the path of power. If the touchpad is illuminating and the breaker is on, check the junction box near the motor for any possible disconnections. If you find damaged or exposed wiring, do not attempt to fix it yourself! Disconnect the power source immediately if possible, and call your pool cover specialist right away.
• Check the motor and its connections. Your motor may have a reset button on it, and it may be as simple as pushing it.  

Do you need a service call?
If you restore power, and your cover goes back to normal operation, you’re all set. But if you can’t find a power failure anywhere on your own, or you find damaged or disconnected wires, it’s time to call in the automatic pool cover repair professionals.

Issue: Your cover won’t open or close and the motor IS running.
Troubleshooting tip: Check the tracks, touchpad and cover.

If your unit does, in fact, have power, but the cover won’t open or close, don’t try to force it, and don’t try repeatedly to get it to move. You can do a lot of damage by trying to force your cover to operate. Instead:

• Check your tracks for any obvious obstacles. A pool toy, pine needles, sand or other types of debris may be activating damage prevention sensors that tells your pool cover motor to turn off.
• Check your touchpad. If your touchpad has backlighting feature, does it illuminate? If it’s lighting up but failing to operate your cover, it’s possible that your touchpad is faulty.
• Check your cover for water. If your cover is weighed down by an excessive amount of water, it will strain to open and close properly. Drain the water off with your pump.

Do you need a service call?
If you don’t find any obstacles on your track or issues with your touchpad, and removing water from the cover fails, it’s time to call in the automatic pool cover repair professionals.

Issue: Your cover doesn’t move smoothly or is crooked.
Troubleshooting tip: Check the tracks and ropes.

You should start troubleshooting as soon as you notice your cover fail to operate smoothly. It can be an indication of a larger problem, and forcing it to operate with impediments can damage your mechanism and create bigger problems.

1. Check and clean your tracks. The most common culprit to uneven (jerky) movement in operation is dirty tracks. Take your hose with a low pressure nozzle and spray the debris out of them. Open the pool cover completely and then direct the stream of water into the slot of the cover track.  Spray along the full length of the cover track. At the end of the track, keep spraying until the water exits clean.
2. Check your ropes and pulleys. Look at and listen for malfunctioning pulleys or frayed or cut ropes.

Do you need a service call?
If you’ve cleaned your tracks and the cover still won’t open or close smoothly, your ropes are frayed or cut or your pulleys are loud, it’s time to call in the automatic pool cover repair professionals.

What’s the takeaway?
Proper automatic pool cover maintenance, such as keeping your tracks clear and clean, can alleviate a lot of problems. It’s easy enough to check your power source, and it’s great if that’s your only problem. However, for mechanical or wiring problems, you’ll need to contact an automatic pool safety cover repair professional near you.

About Cover Care
Cover Care has been an industry leader in the automatic pool cover repair and replacement business for more than four decades. This experience and expertise allows us to provide the most efficient service in the industry. Our field technicians will be the first to respond to your call, and the fastest to re-cover your pool. We’ll restore your cover’s operations and your peace of mind as soon as possible.

We service these cities and surrounding areas:
California: Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco
Colorado: Denver
Georgia: Atlanta
Idaho: Boise
Indiana: Indianapolis, South Bend
Kansas: Wichita
Kentucky: Lexington, Louisville
Michigan: Detroit
Missouri: Kansas City
New Jersey: Red Bank
New Mexico: Albuquerque
New York: Long Island
Ohio: Cincinnati, Columbus
Texas: Austin, Dallas, Lubbock, San Antonio
Utah: Salt Lake City, St. George
Wisconsin: Milwaukee

When it comes to inground swimming pool accessories you can’t live without, your automatic pool cover is at the top of the list. You love it for the convenience and safety it provides. That’s why it’s so frustrating when your automatic pool cover isn’t working as it should and you need automatic pool cover repair.

But as you’re choosing an automatic pool cover repair service near you, keep in mind that all pool cover repair companies are not created equal. Before you schedule a service call, do a little research and make sure you’re choosing a company that’s experienced and trustworthy. Here are some tips to ensure you’re choosing the best pool cover repair service for your inground pool.

1. Check their customer reviews. Just as you would with any repair service for your home, you need to make sure your pool cover repair company is recommended by other happy customers. In addition to reviews on their website, look for a four or five-star rating on sites like Google. While an occasional bad review may just be a hard-to-please customer, overall, the reviews should be positive. 
2. Check their employee reviews. Happy employees mean happy customers. Make sure you’re choosing a pool cover service company that is committed to hiring good people and taking care of them. That way, you can rest assured that the service technician who comes to your house is courteous, respectful, honest, experienced and committed to safety and great service.
3. Check their website. A reputable pool cover repair company will have a website that outlines their processes, with helpful tips to troubleshoot common problems you may having with your pool cover. If they don’t have a website, you might be dealing with someone who offers other types of general handyman services and dabbles in pool cover repair, but doesn’t have the necessary experience to do the job right or access to replacement parts when they’re needed.
4. Make sure they’re specialists. Even if they do have a great website, there are plenty of pool service companies who offer pool repair and maintenance service but don’t specialize in automatic pool covers. These folks are an excellent choice for weekly pool maintenance and other pool equipment replacement and repair. However, automatic pool covers are a specialized piece of equipment and require a service technician who is an expert in servicing all brands of automatic pool covers.
5. Check their experience. The automatic pool cover industry has evolved and grown exponentially over the last 30 years. Make sure you’re dealing with a company that’s been around for a while—one that embraces the latest innovations and is ahead of the curve when it comes to servicing new technology.

All automatic pool cover repair services are not the same. Protect the investment you made in your automatic pool cover by doing a little legwork before you need to schedule a service call. Having found automatic pool cover repair service that has great reviews, fantastic, experienced technicians and a commitment to doing things right, you can spend your time relaxing by your inground pool instead of worrying about pool maintenance and repairs.

We service these cities and surrounding areas:
California: Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco
Colorado: Denver
Georgia: Atlanta
Idaho: Boise
Indiana: Indianapolis, South Bend
Kansas: Wichita
Kentucky: Lexington, Louisville
Michigan: Detroit
Missouri: Kansas City
New Jersey: Red Bank
New Mexico: Albuquerque
New York: Long Island
Ohio: Cincinnati, Columbus
Texas: Austin, Dallas, Lubbock, San Antonio
Utah: Salt Lake City, St. George
Wisconsin: Milwaukee