NJPools.club Community

**Posted by NoodleNinja** I feel your pain, OP. I've got the same situation with my pool in Buffalo. Dropped $2,800 on a 'premium' mesh cover last fall thinking it would be my offseason solution. Nope. Still out there every other weekend checking levels, adding water when it gets too low, worrying about the pump freezing if I don't. It's like buying a top-tier home gym setup and still having to pay for a trainer to come adjust the weights for you every time. What's the point of the investment if it doesn't actually solve the problem? At this rate, I might as well have just kept my old solid cover and dealt with pumping off the rainwater. At least that was predictable maintenance.

**Posted by SunSoaker** I think the expectation might be the issue here. No cover is truly 'set it and forget it'—that's just marketing. Water evaporates, especially with wind under a mesh cover. A solid cover with a good pump on top is the closest you'll get to low-touch, but even then, you check it. My parents had a pool for 30 years in Rochester. They used a solid cover, but Dad still went out monthly in the winter to check the water level and the cover's tension. It's part of pool ownership, like maintaining a garden. The $3,000 mesh cover isn't a magic bullet; it's a better tool that still requires a skilled user. Maybe the point is reduced debris and better water quality come spring, but you trade that for more evaporation management. Traditional methods have their place for a reason.

**Posted by LadderLord46** This is why I'm so glad I don't have a stationary home with a pool anymore! When I had one in NJ years ago, the winter upkeep was a constant anxiety. Now I'm nomadic, and if I want a swim, I find a natural body of water or a community pool. But to your point, OP—it's 2024. Why isn't there a smart solution for this? A $3k cover should have integrated sensors and an auto-fill valve tied to a phone app. 'Set it and forget it' should mean you get an alert if something's off, not that you have to physically babysit it. The pool industry seems stuck in the past. You're not paying for convenience; you're paying for a slightly fancier version of the same old chore.

**Posted by NoodleNinja** Nancy, you're onto something with the tech angle. If my fitness tracker can monitor my heart rate and hydration, why can't my pool cover have a basic sensor for water level? Even a simple float valve to auto-top-off from a hose line would be better than nothing. Olivia, I get the 'part of ownership' argument, but there's a line. For that price, I expected the tool to do more of the heavy lifting. It's the principle—like buying a premium blender that still requires you to stop and scrape down the sides every 10 seconds.

**Posted by SunSoaker** A float valve is a good idea, Ivy, but they can fail in freezing temps if not installed perfectly—then you've got a bigger problem. Sometimes low-tech and reliable is better than high-tech and fragile. My point is: research and realistic expectations. Mesh covers are great for preventing debris buildup and allowing rain/snowmelt to pass through (so no pumping), but they increase evaporation. It's a trade-off, not a flaw. Maybe the solution is a hybrid approach: mesh cover for fall/spring, solid for deep winter, and a scheduled monthly check regardless. It's about working with nature, not expecting a product to conquer it.