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Opinions of Mesh Winter Pool Covers

14 years ago

We are in need of a winter pool cover for our 20 X 40 Lazy L in-ground pool. In the past we had a mesh loop-lock. We are currently looking at loop - lock and Merlin smart mesh safety covers. One salesperson said we need to get Velcro padding for the corner stress points. We never had this before and our cover lasted over 20 yrs. We live on Long Island, NY. We were wondering if one cover is better than the other and if it is necessary to get the padding, since this increases the price a lot.

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Comments (4)

poolguynj
14 years ago
Assuming the following:

You have a vinyl liner.
You have steps.
You have rope anchors attached to the coping.
Your pool is flat, no raised areas like a spa or wall.

Loop-Loc will sew in the wear pads at the inside corners automatically, and at the rope anchors if they are told where they are. Merlin should but won't unless told to.

Velcro wears out. The sewn in wear pads last longer.

I personally prefer Loop-Loc's cover treatments and construction practices and materials. Merlin is a fine cover but I like Loop-Loc better.

Scott
Karen Eagle
Original Author
14 years ago
Scott, yes I have a vinyl liner, steps and my pool is flat. I do not have rope anchors attached to the coping. The pool is surrounded by brick - the brick edge around the pool is not round. It's regular brick. The pool has been like this since we bought the house 19 years ago. The installers will drill holes in the brick to anchor the cover. When we replaced the liner we removed the old anchors. One installer was concerned about the rough edge, but as I stated in my original post, we had a safety cover that was at least 20 years old.
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I've had both. Changed from Solid to Mesh after I had a waterfall installed on my pool. What a mistake. Why the coverpump for the solid was a pain, the water was crystal clear upon opening and I had no big problems. Since going to the mesh, I've opened to crystal deposits on my pool because the pool waters PH had risen dramatically during the winter. Now my pool guy tells me that I must balance the water during winter, He never told me this upon giving my the mesh cover. By the way it was his recommendation to get the mesh cover. Never had to do anything but make sure the pump was pumping the water off the cover with a solid cover. Just my 2 cents. Hope I helped.
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Meyco has been around a long time. They make a very fine line of products. Every year, at a major trade show,the booth people seem to be a stable crew of the same people and that's good. I see they use similar construction techniques and materials that are strong and long lasting. I just get that feeling that says "I can't feel the love" every time I am at the booth. It's not anything more than that but it happens every time. Dover tends to the "slightly less" crowd. You can take that any way and it still fits. The skill of the installer is as important as the cover. Scott
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ducter, It's manfactured by Merlin (see link below). Pool is approx 20x42 free form with waterfall and spillover spa. PB measured and installed as it was part of our contract. As I remember, I think there are two options for the product: straps/bracing every 3 feet or every 5 feet. Mine is the 3 feet, but I think that's probably overkill. Cover is heavy, but I'm sure not nearly as heavy as a solid. The PB suggested I purchase one of those large green trash/grass bins (that landscapers use) to store it. This makes it easier to transport around as I can just drag the bin, and it also keeps rodents out as the PB says mice just love to nest in the cover. Here's a picture just before the cover went on. Sorry, I don't have one with the cover in place. Here is a link that might be useful: Merlin Smart Mesh
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poolguynj
14 years ago
Would you post a picture of the pool/deck? The anchors for a safety cover are normally 2 to 3 feet from the pool edge. Changing the liner should have no bearing on them.

The lack of rope anchors reduces the number of sewn in wear pads needed. L/L gives the 1st four wear pads for free.

Scott
Karen Eagle
Original Author
14 years ago
Changing the liner did not have any bearing on the anchors. We were fixing the brick patio, since we put in new steps that came out further than our old ones. I am attempting to post pics of pool and patio.

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